Control:  
The air-time of a supercross game is where the proverbial blood collects the proverbial oxygen. And, tragically enough, this is where Supercross World displays its most glaring lack of designer investment. Truthfully, Acclaim provides us with some big jumps. It is pretty fun to hit those big jumps, and the slow-motion feel of gliding through the air, wheels (sort of) spinning, is the perfect setting for all of those stunts we are supposed to be pulling. But after your bike leaves Terra Firma, the controls become immediately beastly. There are terrible delays that prevent you from being able to successfully time your stunts. This translates into wasted air and unavoidable tumbles. And these guys should have known better! Anyone can see that one of the beautiful things about the Pro Skater series is the player’s ability to glide seamlessly from one trick to another at the speed of thought. Supercross World offers the opposite, forcing the player to watch a trick be preformed from preparation-start to relaxation-finish before the next trick is even begun. It makes you want to slap the back of your rider’s insufficiently-glossy helmet, bellowing at the poor simpleton to think ahead instead of taking his air-time one stunt at a plodding time.

To be fair, it must be said that the simple things were done right. The sharp turns are sufficiently sharp, and the speeds are relatively exhilarating. The A-Button was a fine choice for allowing player-prompted acceleration. But everything that could have been different and special about this title was botched. The designers should have learned from the successes of the Pro Skater stunt system and taken innovative advantage of the trail blazed therein.

Gameplay:  
The goal in this game is to win races and perform little side tasks, like collecting helmets. If successful, the gamer can expect to open up new tracks and upgrade his/her supercross bike. It’s not very original, but racing games seldom are. It’s the controls (Super Mario Kart) or the environments (Beetle Adventure Racing) that make racing games shine. But since the controls are half-baked, and the tracks are monotonous, one must hope that Jeremy McGrath Supercross World has a riveting plot. Of course, it doesn’t--and it wouldn’t be fair to ask one of it. So…where to begin?

The “tasks” one is expected to complete are oddly reminiscent of the Pro Skater series, with one major difference: they are sort of cheap. Since the racer is not allowed to leave the designated track, it seems kind of silly to make a task in which the goal is to collect a group of somethings. You can’t exactly hide the little tokens, can you? The best you can do is stuff one of the bike-related doodads under the far side of a jump. Sadly enough, this makes the task challenging only because collecting the item makes your run a little more boring.

The silliness of creating a racing game in which it is impossible to drive off the track in the pursuit of shortcuts or out of the pure spirit of adventure is a testament to either the lack of time or the lack of ambition held by the design crew. Even more inexcusable is the fact that one is not permitted to turn around and drive backwards. This sort of restriction was understandable a decade or so ago, but now only serves to remind the player that he or she is indeed toying with an electronic game that exists only in numbers stored on a disk. Submersion subverted. It also makes head-on collisions with your least favorite opponents virtually impossible.

So…opening new tracks is boring because they are cut ‘n’ paste monotonous and one can’t even explore them properly. Performing the tasks (collecting wrenches, making especially large jumps) leaves the player with the same feelings one might expect from arbitrary government. And, I’m sorry to say, upgrading the bike you were born to ride is a little fruitless because they are all the bloody same and they all stay the bloody same no matter what you do to them. Sounds like a winner, no?

But hey! Here is something cool about Supercross World: the turbo boosts one earns by performing wicked-sweet stunts can be stored up for selected use. This was a very good idea. Wave Race: Blue Storm could have done with that idea. Also, in one stunt track there are barrels to knock over. That was kind of fun! There should be piles and piles of stuff to knock over if one can’t try smacking into trees because the computer resets your butt every time you stick a toe off of the track.

Sound:
The music is all right, but this should be no surprise because nobody was responsible for that but the bands whose songs were used. The sound effects are sparse, consisting mostly of buzzing motors whose pitches shift at times and places that indicate anything but gear changes. Nothing else is worth mentioning. The yelps of pain are a little difficult to inspire from your rider, but this just serves to make them a more rewarding.

Multiplayer:
Every strength and every weakness present in the single-player game is exaggerated in the multiplayer mode of play. The textures are worse, the sound effects doubly annoying. Thanks to some questionable multiplayer camera decisions, it is mighty difficult to see ahead while playing with a friend. This means that one isn’t insulted so much visually by the pop-up, but rather verbally by the frustrated friend who is wondering aloud why you have asked him/her to play a bad game that they can’t even see well enough to ridicule properly. Better to let them tinker with the stunt mode until they lose interest.

OVERALL:
I don’t typically write ruthless reviews. I want to support the decision that Acclaim took to port this game over to our wonderful cube, and I want to support the folks who work day in and night out to bring us our gaming joy. But this game seems to me like a partial effort; a Playstation-esque shot in the dark; a game designed to be purchased by well-meaning Grandmothers but not played by their disappointed birthday-boys. The basic foundation of a good race is here--and this gives me cause to believe that Acclaim could have made a good supercross game if they had been willing to spend the time and money necessary to deliver. If they simply were not, this thing shouldn’t have been published at all.

The sloppiness of the control design, the sheer boringness of the tracks, the lack of engaging sound effects, and the one-track mind exhibited by the computer are some of the many failures that make this title unrewarding. It is, I’ll admit for a second time, fun to hit those big jumps. The sharp, speedy turns are a pleasure to pull. In fact, I think the turning dynamics are actually above average for this game! But cool turning is not enough to warrant the purchase or even the playing of a game that has a general feel of imitation and mediocrity. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the parties responsible for Jeremy McGrath Supercross World seem to have shot low and hit lower. That is something that I always hate to see.

 

The Lowdown on  Jeremy McGrath Supercross World Aesthetics: Below Average Control: Below Average Gameplay: Below Average Multiplayer: Terrible Sound: Below Average Innovation: 1/6 Lasting Appeal: 2/6 Overall: Below Average! "Has Some Detrimental Problems"