Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2
North American PlayStation 2 cover art
Developer(s)	Z-Axis, Full Fat
Publisher(s)	Acclaim Max Sports
Platform(s)	PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy Advance, Xbox
Release date(s)	PlayStation 2 NA August 27, 2001 PAL October 5, 2001 GameCube NA November 17, 2001 PAL May 3, 2002 Game Boy Advance NA November 25, 2001 PAL February 15, 2002 Xbox NA November 28, 2001 PAL March 14, 2002
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer (2 players)
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: T OFLC: M Game Boy Advance ESRB: E PEGI: 3+
Media/distribution	CD-ROM, Nintendo optical disc, Cartridge

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 is the 2001 successor to Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX and one of the last videogames created by Acclaim Entertainment before going out of business. It was first released for the PlayStation 2 in August 2001, and in the following months it was ported to the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, and Xbox video game systems. Both the GameCube and Xbox ports featured two extra levels that were not present in the PS2 version.

In the game, players can take on the role of one of 13 top BMX riders, or a number of other characters. Along with the pro riders, there were 3 hidden characters. One of which was a teen who had won a contest and got his likeness put in the game, the Slim Jim man from the Slim Jim commercials, and then Amish Boy, who rode around on a wooden bike and had Amish clothing and a corn cob pipe. Some of the stages included in this game are Woodward Camp, Venice, Greenville, North Carolina, and the Manhattan train yards.

In 2006, Crave Entertainment re-released this game on PlayStation 2 with the Greatest Hit label, under their copyrights and trademarks instead of Acclaim Entertainment since they closed their doors in 2004.

Gameplay

The game has several different modes of play.

Proquest

The first, and main mode is Proquest, a story mode. The player selects a character to portray, and then has several 3 minute runs to complete set goals (ranking from Beginner to Insane), such as grinding 50 meters down a grind bar or scoring 50,000 points in a single run. By completing these quests, the player earns respect points. After collecting enough respect points, they then unlock new areas and bikes. In each new area the set of goals is different. After earning enough points, the player will be invited to a competition, where they have to show your skill at biking by not only scoring high, but also by performing a variety of tricks, modifiers, spins, and grinds. You can also earn 1000 respect points by finding all the gaps in a particular park. Gaps, as the name implies, are gaps between two items, such as between two jumps, or from one side of a river to another. There are usually about 10-20 gaps in each park.

Session

In Session mode, you take part in 3 minute runs just as you do in Proquest, but without any set goals. You can just try to score high, or you can try and explore different areas of the park, break records, or discover gaps.

Freeride

In Freeride, you take part in runs, but this time without any time limits. This mode is useful if you're just trying to explore all the nooks and crannies of the park, or trying to discover secrets. The player cannot break records or discover gaps, since there is no time limit, and it is technically considered cheating. Therefore, any score gained is disregarded.

Park Editor

The Park Editor is a fairly powerful feature of the game that allows the user to create their own Bikepark to ride in the Session, Multiplayer and Freeride game modes. The park is created by placing premade objects on a blank area of a themed map. Gaps between objects can also be added. The player can then save the park and ride it. You cannot, however, create goals like the ones featured in Proquest.

Multiplayer

Two people can play different game types in this mode, on any level unlocked or created. Being one of the major areas where the game could have used improvement, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 supports only 2 players at one time, and they must alternate instead of playing simultaneously (as in many other extreme sports titles). One of the multiplayer games was similar to the basketball game "HORSE", except you could name the game whatever you wanted. The object of the game was to perform a trick, and then the next player would have to perform the same trick, otherwise end up with a letter. Once the word was complete, the game was over. Another one was called Wipeout. The two players took turns crashing the hardest to get points. Who ever had the most points in a single hit wins.

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score GBA GC PS2 Xbox GameSpot 9.2 out of 10[1] 6.9 out of 10[2] 7.0 out of 10[3] 7.4 out of 10[4] IGN 8.4 out of 10[5] 8.0 out of 10[6] 8.0 out of 10[7] 6.9 out of 10[8] Aggregate scores GameRankings 80.3% (12 reviews)[9] 78.6% (30 reviews)[10] 79.7% (41 reviews)[11] 73.2% (32 reviews)[12] Metacritic 85% (7 reviews)[13] 78% (15 reviews)[14] 81% (21 reviews)[15] 76% (18 reviews)[16]

References

1. ^ "Game Boy Advance review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gba/sprots/davemirrafreestylebmx2/review.html. 
2. ^ "GameCube review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/sports/davemirrafreestylebmx2/review.html. 
3. ^ "PlayStation 2 review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/sports/davemirrafreestylebmx2/review.html. 
4. ^ "Xbox review". GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/xbox/sports/davemirrafreestylebmx2/review.html. 
5. ^ "Game Boy Advance review". IGN. http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/166/166728p1.html. 
6. ^ "GameCube review". IGN. http://cube.ign.com/articles/166/166390p1.html. 
7. ^ "PlayStation 2 review". IGN. http://ps2.ign.com/articles/166/166294p1.html. 
8. ^ "Xbox review". IGN. http://xbox.ign.com/articles/166/166740p1.html. 
9. ^ "Aggregate score for Game Boy Advance". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/541079.asp. 
10. ^ "Aggregate score for GameCube". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/4880035.asp. 
11. ^ "Aggregate score for PlayStation 2". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/476761.asp. 
12. ^ "Aggregate score for Xbox". Game Rankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/516516.asp. 
13. ^ "Aggregate score for Game Boy Advance". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/gba/davemirrafreestylebmx2. 
14. ^ "Aggregate score for GameCube". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/cube/davemirrafreestylebmx2. 
15. ^ "Aggregate score for PlayStation 2". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps2/davemirrafreestylebmx2. 
16. ^ "Aggregate score for Xbox". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/xbx/davemirrafreestylebmx2.