Sound:  
The sound in the game also fits the bill. There’s some typical groovy little tunes playing behind your game as you run through the levels trying to accomplish the objectives laid out before you. You also have sound effects like the sound of your bike as you pedal it, and the obligatory “ugh” type sounds when you bail on a trick. Nothing here that you’d crank up to listen to, but you don’t end up wanting to throw it through a wall after extensive play, like in some games. It holds its own, which is really all I’ve come to ask of any sports game that I play. I’m not here to be wowed, just tided over.

Gameplay:  
Mat brings with him a handful of modes for a single player to utilize. First and foremost, it provides an excellent training mode. There are around a dozen walkthrough exercises to choose from. Everything from basic navigation (how to move your bike around) to advanced tricks and combos. It really goes in depth to show you every nuance of the game. After you have suitably figures out how to control your rider, you can go on a Free Ride, which lets you roam around an area with no time limit to practice tricks, learn the landscape, and generally work on your skills.

You then have a Career Mode to tackle. This is similar to the Tony Hawk games, in that it gives you a series of objectives on each board that you must do to earn “covers”. The more covers you get, the more boards you can go to. The objectives consist of things like scoring certain amounts of points, collecting stars on a board, doing a number of tricks in a row, and finding a secret cover, to name a few. Some are definitely tougher than others, but most remain pretty well attainable without extreme frustration, which is a nice change from some games, where some goals force me into anger management from the unnecessary difficulty. There are also competition levels, which are medal-oriented competitions, that I will describe when I describe Tournament mode next.

In the Tournament Mode, you compete in more of an X Games style competition, where you have to go on a run and try to build up a big score from the judges. You do this by pulling off different tricks and utilizing as much of the course as possible. You are penalized for things like bailing and being repetitive in your tricks and line within the course. Variety is a big key here. This is a medal competition, like the competition levels in Career Mode. No objectives here other than to win.

Finally, for one player, there is a Time Trial Mode. This is a dirt track race where you are trying to finish a cross-country type event in a race against the clock. You add to your timer by pulling off tricks along the way, and better tricks add more time than simple ones. That’s really all there is to this mode. Simple and straightforward.

Control:
This is where the game took a turn for the worse in my eyes. Once again, I had visions of Tony Hawk in my eyes, which may be unfair, but it’s how I envisioned it. Free roaming, fast paced gameplay is what I had in my mind’s eye, and this fell well short of that. The game plays in what is essentially a 2-D environment. You move left and right, and while you do, you can change lanes (as I think of them) up and down. It just seems clunky compared to the smooth flow of Tony Hawk 2. (Sorry to harp on this over and over again, but I had wrong expectations and I think many others may as well.) The trick scheme is well utilized, and is easy to pick up, especially if you utilize the training sessions. In all, the control scheme is pretty good for what it is, but I really expected a lot more from this game, since its cousin game (once again, I refer to Tony Hawk) had such a great scheme and this game had months beyond that game to be worked on. For the most part, I wanted to be objective, but my expectations set me up to be disappointed.

Multiplayer:
There are also 4 different multiplayer modes. They each offer their own individual flavors of play and allow for 2 players. (Sorry to those hoping for 4-player madness. Not this time, guys.)

Versus – This pits the competitors in a score based competition. The one with the highest score wins.

Star Hunt -- requires the riders to attempt to grab as many stars as they can that are scattered throughout the level. Whoever gets 16 first or has more when time runs out is the winner.

Bomb – This mode is a game of tag, where one rider has the “bomb” and when he tags the other player, they take the bomb.

Tug-O-War – This is a tricks contest. When one competitor pulls off a trick, the rope tugs their way a little. A bigger trick brings a larger tug on the rope in your direction. Getting big tricks in the quickest amount of time is the trick to this one.

OVERALL:
In all, I had high hopes for this game after the greatness of Tony Hawk 2, but it really isn’t in the same vein. My expectations got the best of me, and in the long run it kept this from being an incredibly fun game for me. It is a decent first effort in the BMX department, but I was really expecting the GBA Tony Hawk 2, but on a bike, and not what ended up seeming more like a glossed up GBC game. Those who are fans of the BMX circuit or biking in general will probably get much enjoyment out of this game, but for a passing fan of the sport, such as myself, I was less than thrilled with what I was given. Expectations can be a great thing, but sometimes, as they did to me here, they can build you up to be let down.

 

The Lowdown on  Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX Aesthetics: Below Average Control: Below Average Gameplay: Below Average Multiplayer: Average Sound: Average Innovation: 3/6 Lasting Appeal: 2/6 Overall: Below Average! "Has Some Detrimental Problems"