BMX XXX

Published by Acclaim
Developed by Z-Axis
Platform: PlayStation 2
Released - Out Now
Price : £39.99

It's a sign that gaming is becoming widely accepted when the games contents begin to reflect all the stuff that goes on in society. We have violence, abusive language and sex in our games. Of course there is a place for all this as sales of various titles have proved. BMX XXX is the first of probably many titles that attempts to take what can only be termed as soft porn and mix it with the extreme sports genre. It's a bold move and it simply doesn't work. Let's take a look at why.

Of course you all know about this title. You all know that the Xbox and GameCube versions have the naked girls riding the bikes and that Sony insisted the riders be clothed and therefore what we have here is the sanitised version so all of those who planned to sit on the sofa whilst wearing your long Mac will be disappointed. But hang on a minute, all those movie clips of virtually naked women from the Scores lap dancing clubs are still in there and can be unlocked for you to view, so it's best to keep this game away from those younger gamers.

What people might not realise is that this was going to be Dave Mirra BMX 3. To be totally honest it should have remained that way but what we have here is a title that relies on it's pornographic content to appeal to gamers and it's probably here where it's downfall lies. It's not just the movie clips where the rather adult theme exists. Like in the rather excellent Aggressive Inline and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 the levels are not time limited and you'll have to speak to people (by pressing the triangle button) to obtain your time limited goal. Some of these goals are rather seedy though and have sexual undertones.

The real shame of it all is that taking out the smut leaves you with a half decent BMX game but the smut permeates the gameplay so much that a lot of fans of the previous Dave Mirra titles or indeed fans of Matt Hoffmann's Pro BMX 2 would probably avoid it. The game contains six, and it's fair to say, huge levels. The control feels OK and more responsive than the last Dave Mirra title. The animation too is now less wooden and is definitely a step in the right direction. Still these good points are going to be lost on many who'll probably avoid the title because they have children who like to play the games too.

Even though the movies clips have to be unlocked and the riders are fully clothed, be careful to make sure you don't have the music turned on as it's contains rather a lot of swearing in the lyrics and any hearing people within earshot will be surprised to say the least. The speech in the game is not subtitled but the mission goals you can obtain are. There is nothing here to disadvantage the deaf gamer though as all instructions etc. are shown in text.

The game is a curious one. For just under £40 you have to wonder why somebody would purchase a game that shows women bearing their breasts etc. in short movie clips. For £40 you could buy a few adult DVDs that would show a whole lot more than that. Fans of the Dave Mirra BMX series are going to feel alienated by this rather embarrassing game and it's those gamers that I feel sorry for. Let's hope these fans get a true sequel and this game is quickly forgotten.

Overall Game Rating: 2.0/10
Some would say it was a bold attempt to bring something different to the extreme sports genre but it doesn't work.

Deaf Gamers comment:
Objectives are given in text but mostly the speech in the game is not subtitled.