Sound:  
The sound in the game really blew my mind. I came in with the expectation of typical extreme sports tunes coming out of the GBA speakers. What I found instead, was actual licensed music. Yes, there are actual songs from actual bands in Mirra 3. There aren’t full versions of the songs, but the loops are roughly 45 seconds to one minute long, if I had to estimate. You’ll get songs from Green Day, Saliva, and more. It may not be everyone’s taste, but it IS real music, and it actually sounds good on the GBA. I can relate my surprise in this situation to eating cereal. (Bear with me here.) Sometimes you have a bowl of cereal, and the cereal-flavored milk at the end turns out to be the best part. Unexpected, but definitely a pleasant surprise. So essentially, the music in Dave Mirra 3 is like… milk. Tasty, enjoyable, and, umm, an excellent source of calcium. (Or something.)

Gameplay:  
Mirra doesn’t do a whole lot new in terms of gameplay, but it does the usual stuff very well. You can do a single session, free ride around a board for as long as you want, or take up the Proquest. Proquest returns in the same style as last year’s version. You take your rider through a series of boards, completing tasks and gaining cash to buy upgraded stats or bikes, and to unlock new boards. It still varies from other extreme sports games, because you need to go through boards with multiple riders to be able to earn enough cash to open up later boards. You won’t be opening up all the boards with just one character, boys and girls. As with last year, it is nice that it encourages players to use multiple riders, but doing the same board repeatedly with different characters can be a bit tedious. I don’t mind it, but I can understand how some people would grow tired of doing the same thing repeatedly.

The goals remain standard extreme sports fare. Collect these, get this score, find this super secret thing, etc… It isn’t a lot of progression, but it does maintain the standard of previous games. You still need to find the letters for MIRRA, find the “Superstar”, and collect 5 spray cans. There are also board specific items to collect. Tools, sponsor boards to knock over in the Skate Park, etc, etc… Typical stuff, but enough fun to keep you interested for a good while.

So, as a whole Mirra 3 doesn’t do a whole lot more than Mirra 2 did, it just does it a little better, and makes it a little prettier. It remains a lot of fun, and is a good (albeit small) step forward for the series. If nothing else, they didn’t make the mistake of turning this into another idiotic XXX title, thus allowing me to enjoy one Mirra game this year.

Control:
The controls in Mirra remain largely unchanged. The control pad moves you (duh), the A button jumps and does quick tricks in the air. B is the grind button, L does spin/flip tricks in the air, and R does Big Air tricks. The scheme works well, and I really can’t come up with any complaints about it. Well done.

Multiplayer:
Mirra finally bellies up to the multiplayer bar with link play this year. Last year had alternating players on one GBA, which felt more than a little empty. This year, you get actual head to head play against a buddy who also owns a copy of the game. There are three main modes to compete in: High Score (best score on a single run), Trick Attack (highest scoring single trick in a run), and Combo Attack (highest combo in a single run). These are standard modes in multiplayer extreme sports games these days, and Mirra keeps up with the pack magnificently.

OVERALL:
While not really launching the series into another stratosphere, Mirra 3 does what the last game did well, and adds a few nice touches. Licensed music and link play are definitely welcome additions to the already quality title. So, if you like the past GBA Mirra offering, you’ll find nothing to be upset about here. If you like extreme sports, you probably find plenty to like here. And many people who may not even like extreme sports would get a lot of enjoyment out of it. It sticks to the “if it ain’t broke” style of evolution, and keeps the game fun, which is a lesson that the console versions probably could have benefited from. (Hopefully the whole XXX thing has proven itself a bad idea, because the consoles need actual Mirra action that is as good as this GBA game. Please Acclaim, I beg you, bring our Mirra back.)

 

The Lowdown on  Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 Aesthetics: Very Good Control: Very Good Gameplay: Very Good Multiplayer: Very Good Sound: Awesome Innovation: 3/6 Lasting Appeal: 4/6 Overall: Very Good! "A Must-Buy"