Tony Hawk's Pro Skater from Activision became a megahit last fall. Since then, dozens of companies have tried to bring fringe sports like surfing, sky diving, and other "me, too" extreme sports titles to market, and all of them looking to cash in on the craze. Up until now, none have matched the quality or replayability of Tony Hawk, and only a small few have come close, including this month's challenger, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX from Acclaim.

Instead of using a skateboard to race against the clock and perform dangerous midair stunts for points and prestige, this game is all about daredevil BMX bike riding, so that players can aim to pull off a "Superman," "Icepick," "Tailwhip," or "Toothpick." In total, there are over a dozen unique environments, such as Camp Woodward's backbreaking "Lot 8" or the San Jose Ramp Club, to name two.

First, players must select their rider of choice, be it repeated World Champion biker Dave Mirra, 1999 Dirt Circuit Champion Ryan Nyquist, or eight other stars of the sport. Each of the riders enjoys his own signature moves, plus even more riders can be unlocked over time. However, there is no create-a-player feature, as there is with a few other games of this kind.

Fortunately, controlling the rider is a cinch to learn for younger or novice gamers, and there's enough substance here to keep players pedaling long after the goals are met. In fact, along with the "Free Ride" mode, the timed "Session" mode, and the challenging, career-based "Proquest" mode, there are 10 different two-player games, including our favorite, dubbed "B-M-X", in which the second player has to mimic the first rider's moves (remember basketball's H-O-R-S-E variant?).

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX's visuals

BMX Biking on Playstation!

Average Customer Review: ( 39 customer reviews )
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Comparisons to Tony Hawk's game are inevitable, but I found DMFBMX to be quite a bit deeper and more flexible, especially with regards to trick performance. (I was never into skating that much anyway). This game lets me relive and exceed the BMX dreams of my youth, and for that, 40 bucks is definitely a bargain.

39 of 45 found the following review helpful:

I'm hopelessly addictedSep 17, 2000

I played Hawk like mad, but since I got this game on Thurday, I haven't been able to put the controller down except to sleep and eat. It's that good. IMHO, even better than Hawk--and that's saying a lot. Mirra BMX has this Modifier trick system that lets you combine tricks on the fly. So for example, you can turn a Superman into a Superman Seatgrab or Superman One-Hander. There's 10 pro riders in the game, including Mirra, who's the reigning champ of BMX today. The sound track was awesome too--Sublime, Rancid, Social Distortion, Cypress Hill--the list goes on. Last but not least, the graphics rocked. The animations were silky smooth, and I still haven't seen nearly all of the 1,300 tricks you can do. I'm still playing the ProQuest mode, which lets you compete as a rider and earn real life sponsors like No Fear and Adidas and Fox, and then upgrade your bikes (all real bikes in the game, btw). I could go on and on here, but I gotta get back to playing!

11 of 12 found the following review helpful:

Mirra's awesomeOct 14, 2000
By Freddie Lee "fatragdoll"
This game has turned out to be much more awesome than I expected. It was real easy to ride and do tricks. I like how the buttons are set up. The challenges are just hard enough to keep you working on them, but not so hard that you would completely give up. The levels are fun to play, especially when you can start doing superman's, flairs, and grinds. This is truly fun and addictive game!

7 of 7 found the following review helpful:

A MUST GET FOR ANY GAMER WHOS NORMAL!!!!Sep 19, 2000
By Dalton Dye
This was the best game I have ever played. The graphics are awesome. The different levels of multiplayer are the best, like Gnarliest Crash, Sickest Trick, and a bunch more. Since I bought this game two days ago, I have played it constantly and it is awesome. The gameplay rocks and the amount of tricks to perfume are endless. The game is very addicting. If you like gaming and you have any common sense. Then this game is the best game you will ever play!!!

12 of 14 found the following review helpful:

Best game of it's kindDec 10, 2000

When I first saw this game I thought it was exactly like Tony Hawk, except with bikes. I was wrong. The first thing you'll notice is the graphics. They are very clear and the riders look realistic. All the levels are full of places to pull tricks. The tricks look very realistic, and you can combine different tricks to get combo points. There are over 1,000 tricks in the game! The controls are very easy to learn. You be pulling backflips in 10 minutes! There are many modes in this game, including Pro Quest. In this mode you pick a rider and try to complete objectives such as grind 50 feet, pull a 900 and get on to the roof of a house! The more objectives you complete the more bikes and sponsors you get. All the bikes are from real companies such as: dk, S&M, Haro and others. All the sounds are clear and realistic. It's soundtrack features Cypress Hill, Rancid, Pennywise, Sublime and 6 other top bands. It has all the top BMX riders like: Dave Mirra, Ryan Nyquist, Mike Laird, Tim Mirra Joey Garcia and 5 others. I am glad I made this purchase. Buy this game if you liked Tony Hawk, or like BMX.

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