MX Unleashed - Review

Added April 26th, 2004 by Sallizar

Introduction:

Alright gamers, now’s your chance! You’re chance to race against a bi-plane on a motorcycle! Why has it taken this long for the gaming industry to realize that’s what we’ve wanted since Pong? Ok, well not really, but it’s still a really cool idea. MX Unleashed attempts to leave other motorcycle games at the starting line, by giving gamers more than just straight up motorcycle racing. You’ll race against vehicles other than motorcycles, like the aforementioned bi-plane, attempt to accurately land multiple jumps in a row, and engage in frantic trick competitions. All those new features combined with a solid racing mode sounds great on paper, but let’s see how MX Unleashed handles when the rubber hit’s the road. Or should I say, hit’s the dirt?

Gameplay:

MX Unleashed provides gamers a ton of different ways to race. Motocross mode is the standard indoor style tracks you can see at your local sports arena, while Supercross races are set outdoors with tracks that have a more natural look to them. Freestyle let’s riders roam the open countryside competing in various events at their leisure. All three modes can be played on their own or in a career mode spanning fourteen different leagues. By winning races and completing events, gamers will gradually unlock the 40+ tracks in the game along with more bikes and machines.

Motocross and Supercross are pretty much straightforward racing, but the various events in Freestyle deserve a little bit more discussion. First and foremost are the machine races. You’ve all seen the ads with a cyclist racing a bi-plane or a dune buggy, right? Well that’s just what you’ll get to do in the machine race event in freestyle mode. Beat the machine through all the gates and it’s yours to drive around with from then on.

Stunt challenges require the rider to reach a certain stunt point total before time runs out. Once airborne, gamers have a decent arsenal of tricks that can be activated by tapping the Y or B button and press a direction on the left thumbstick. Hold the trick to get points or take a risk and attempt more then one trick to rack up combo scores. Not only will you be pulling tricks in the air, with good clutch and brake work you’ll be able to pull off wheelies and stoppies (the opposite of a wheelie basically). Once you master the controls you can try landing no-handed or landing in a wheelie to keep the combos going.

Hit and Run challenges are similar. Both require the rider to take off of a jump from a certain area marked by a green box, and then land in another area marked by a red box. In hit competitions the rider’s goal is to make ten of these jumps before any of the AI riders complete them all. If you miss a jump you can hit both triggers to reset yourself in line with the jump you just missed to save the time of turning around. Runs give the player a number of jumps in a row to attempt solo. The catch being you can’t miss any and you have a fairly strict time limit.

Graphics:

The tracks in MX Unleashed look muddy and I don’t mean the dirt looks wet. Blurry textures and a good bit of pixilation up close definitely remind the player that this is a multiplatform game that wasn’t designed to take advantage of the Xbox’s hardware. The draw distance also seems to be a bit low in the freestyle and supercross events. I’ve yet to be hampered by it, but I’d like to be able to see a bit further down the track. Luckily, you’ll be moving so quickly that you’ll hardly notice either of these flaws. The motorcycle and characters models are extremely well done and the tricks are animated perfectly. Crashes have the “Oh geez! That had to hurt” factor thanks to what I’ve dubbed “controlled rag doll physics”. Instead of the rider flopping all over when he wrecks, he seems to still have a bit of control over his limbs as he careens across the landscape. The effect makes for a much more realistic looking crash and has made me wince more than once.

Audio:

One of the things we all love as Xbox gamers is custom soundtracks and MX Unleashed delivers. Now, why on earth won’t it save my settings? Every time I play I have to go in to the Jukebox sections of the Options screen and deselect all the lounge music I have on the hard drive. What? It’s for DOA: Extreme Beach Volleyball, sue me. Other than the minor quirk with soundtracks the audio is nice and polished. The game ships with a good variety of licensed punk and rock alternative tunes that fit the genre well. Engine sounds are nice and whiny and wrecks make all sorts of noises that I wouldn’t want to hear in real life. And to top it all off, THQ gives gamers a nice audio options screen that lets players independently adjust the volume levels of everything from music to spectator noise to engine sound. This way you’ll be sure to hear the roar of the crowd over that Britney Spears song you forgot to turn off again in the custom soundtrack screen.

Controls:

Like most of the jumps in MX Unleashed the learning curve is a bit steep. I highly recommend watching the training videos, practice a bit, and then watch the videos again before jumping into career mode. The clutch control is tricky to pick up, but mastering it will give you a huge edge in the competition.

Left Thumbstick - Steer/Lean
A Button - Gas
B Button - Trick
X Button - Brake
Y Button - Trick
Left Trigger - Clutch
Right Trigger + Left Trigger - Reset vehicle
Start – Pause

Replay:

Huge landscapes to free ride on, split screen multiplayer, and a long career mode will keep racers playing MX Unleashed for a good while. Split screen lets riders play through all the various modes with a buddy. Freestyle is extremely fun in split screen, because both players can choose to do whatever they want. For example, one player can race against the monster truck while the other works on a hit run, or both players could engage in a stunt contest against each other. Just freewheeling around the landscape becomes twice as fun when you’re attacking the course with someone else.

Summary:

If you’ve ever wondered if you could outrun a helicopter on a motorcycle then MX Unleashed is the game for you. The over the top races, and freestyle mode really make the game in my opinion. If you’re looking more for straight up motocross and supercross racing you’ll also be pretty satisfied. The tracks are well done and the AI riders are tough (almost too tough at first), but I always get bored after a few tracks because I’d rather be racing a monster truck. Good, but not great graphics, good controls, and lots to do make this a good choice for motorcycle racing fans, but I’m not sure how long it will hold the casual gamers attention.