Good things can come from copying successful titles that not only have revolutionized a particular genre but are also extremely fun to play.  Gravity Games brings its extreme sports attitude to the Freestyle BMX crowd.  The question is does it have the goods to go up against the games that inspired it?  Read on, BMX fans.

There are four playing modes: Quick Start, Career Mode, Free Ride and Multiplayer.  The Quick Start takes you right into the action and is a good place to practice some tricks since there is no tutorial to lead you by the hand.  Career Mode has you completing various objectives to move on to another location (ten in total). Free Ride is practically the same as Quick Start only now you can choose any of the sixteen riders (with five to unlock), six bikes (Diamondback, K2, GT, Mongoose, Redman Bikes, or Eastern Bikes) or any location unlocked in Career Mode.

Career Mode also features a slew of objective challenges in each location.  Some objectives are quite fun such as breaking a pinata or catching vandals in the act, others are basic such as earning X amount of points or collecting floating letters to spell the word GRAVITY.  My biggest gripe is with the fact that sometimes you just can’t figure out how to complete certain objectives.  For example, one objective has you trying to get a guy off a garbage bin and I’ve tried everything from ramming into him to jumping on the garbage bin itself with no results.

There’s is also a running timer that doesn’t allow much time to complete at least three objectives.  A power-up would have been the merciful item to add; but then again you can always retry the same level until you accomplish all of the objectives.  This, of course, is a game that requires a lot of time and patience. 

My second gripe is with controls, which is, no doubt about it, one of the game’s major weaknesses.  While the game’s flow is smooth and hardly suffers from any major glitch, the controls are just too difficult to manage when it comes to such things as sharp turns or attempting to turn around after you made a complete stop.  The basic tricks are easy to perform, but attempting the harder ones is a feat that can become completely aggravating.  The manual lists many of the moves but try pulling them off . . . it’s easier said than done.

A multiplayer option with interesting multiplayer games is always a winner in my book.  Gravity Games lets two players go up against each another at the same time in five different games.  High Scores is a game where the player with the highest points wins while Grind Attack has players grinding objects like pipes and rails to “paint” them . . . the player that who painted the most objects wins the game. Then there’s Best Run, a game where players compete for points while trying to beat the timer. High Five offers players five chances to earn points while performing combos. And Team Attack is a game that has you teaming up with a friend to earn 100,000 points before the timer runs out.

Gravity Games is not a winner when it comes to the graphics, though, and this is quite a shame considering there are more than sixteen riders to choose from.  While many of the characters are well known in the freestyle BMX community--such as Tim “Fuzzy” Hall and Andre Ellison--neither one is rendered neatly enough to make an impression on games.  Still, the same can’t be said about the locations.  Many of them do look pretty good, especially in Career Mode when they throw in interactive objects and people.

And thankfully the game has a wide selection of tunes that feature artists like Sevendust and Verbal Assault to get you in the right mood.  The game includes a Playlist Editor that lets gamers add only the songs they’d like to hear while playing the game.  There are sound effects in the game but they are just small blips on the radar that is sound.  The only dominating sound is the painful wail of the rider during falls and the sound of the wheels against concrete or metal.

Gravity Games fails to capture the raw intensity that is the Freestyle BMX realm and while it does have its few charming moments and interesting challenges, the game just doesn’t compete with the fully interactive worlds of Tony Hawk Pro Skater of Aggressive Inline.  I highly recommend game players and BMX extreme sports fans rent this before considering buying it.

Gameplay: 6.8
The games controls are the core of this game’s problems and while it is easy to jump ramps and perform easy tricks such as the Bunny Hop, the other air tricks require a miracle to carry out properly.  And forget trying to slow down or make sharp turns, the controls aren’t as responsive as those seen in other extreme titles such as Dave Mirra 2 Freestyle BMX.

There isn’t even a tutorial that would help ease gamers or teach them how to perform various tricks.  Many of the tricks are learned by accident while often times you’ll be repeating the same tricks over and over again.   

Graphics: 7.0
Gravity Games, sorry to say, is not a very great looking game when it comes to characters. With sixteen very distinct riders to choose from, it’s upsetting that neither one was rendered well enough to be visually pleasing.  In fact, the riders look as if they would have been more comfortable in a PS1 title. 

All is not bad on the visual front, though. The playing environments are actually very well done.  Each of the ten locations are massive and have enough detail in them to admire, for example, Mount Magma has plenty of ramps and things to grind but the background volcanic eruptions is just a marvelous detail you just can’t ignore.

Sound: 7.7
Gravity Games exhibits quite a collection of hard hitting tunes and some soft hits from bands such as 311 and Sugar Ray.  The jukebox is filled with tunes game players can easily switch during the game in the pause menu screen or arrange the songs to be played via the Playlist Editor in the options menu.  Since the songs on the list are pretty good, it’s a treat coming up with your very own soundtrack.

It’s pretty clear why there is such great soundtrack--it has to make up for the hardly-there sound effects in the game.  You never hear actual peddling (although you do hear the bike’s wheels against smooth surfaces) or any sound when your bike strikes up against something like a metal bar.  The only sounds effects you’ll find is the occasional atmosphere sound (e.g. distant train or the wail of a cop’s siren) and the rider crying out in pain when he or she takes a nasty tumble.

Difficulty: Hard
Aside from the not-so-cool control issue, Gravity Games is a challenging game with plenty to do in Career Mode.  Unfortunately the controls do get in the way of accomplishing the many tasks issued to you in the beginning and with the unfair time limit, completing the necessary tasks almost seems impossible.  While each task is fun (example), it would have been more thoughtful offering power ups that add more time or freeze the timer.      

Concept: 7.4
It is always interesting to see the evolution of extreme sports titles especially those in the Freestyle BMX genre.  Gravity Games has the right attitude to be considered extreme with the collection of combos’ gamers can perform. The game also included a number of locations and enough objective challenges to keep a gamer busy. Some of the objectives are even interesting such as the one where you’re to untie a girl tied to the train tracks. Alas there is no Park Editor to create your own riding arena--a feature that would have been more than appreciated.

Multiplayer: 7.5
A multiplayer option is always a welcome feature in extreme sports games like this and thankfully gamers get the chance to take on a friend simultaneously in five diverse multiplayer games (High Scores, Grind Attack, Best Run, High Five and Team Attack).  Most of these modes have been seen before in other games but Team Attack, by far, is one of the most challenging and enjoyable of the five since you team up with a friend rather than playing against him or her.

Overall: 7.0
Gravity Games would have been a spectacular game, yet everything about it feels like a rushed production and in the end this is what finally brings it down.  While things such as level design and objective challenges are decent enough, the overall visual appearance and the not-so-smooth controls are hard to dismiss.