Now to be straight with the situation, none of the extreme sports games features any kind of realistic physics. There is no way that a skater can jump up off of a lip that high in Tony Hawk 3, and there is little chance that a biker can do the same in Dave Mirra, but it still doesn’t lend itself to make the entire game utterly unbelievable, as Z-Axis does with Dave Mirra.

The most glaring problem that can be found is the reaction of the biker when you bail or biff. It seems like Raggedy Ann and Andy got into some extreme crack and went for a little ride on their bikes, or that could be the game’s excuse for human beings falling down. Once the biker leaves the bike they must lose all bone substance and muscle, because they just fall to earth slowly, and hit and roll as if every bone in their body has been sat on by a parade of elephants in India. It is somewhat disturbing, but all too comical when your twentysomething biker tries a back flip in mid-air and falls off and plummets to earth not giving a care in the world, nor even attempting to protect himself. Neversoft was able to at least make the skaters look like it hurt, with pain animations and facial expressions, not the mention the overly used blood splatter. Z-Axis poises their riders with a blood curdling scream and they hit the ground. In fact, more times than I can count, it appeared that the biker’s head disappeared upon impact. Freaky.

The next problem is the game’s graphics, which scream Playstation 2. The textures are low quality and leave much to be imagined. They appear blurry and outdated when compared to the rich bump-mapped textures of Rogue Leader and Pikmin. It just shows that the game was hurried and ported for the system’s launch. It is an unfortunate circumstance that the game looks so ugly, but as they say, graphics don’t make the game.

The gameplay is where the game really shines, but lacks innovation. As a Tony Hawk veteran it is hard not to compare this game to the skateboarding masterpiece. The controls are almost identical to that of Tony Hawk 3 on the GameCube and the levels play out just like the Pro Skater predecessor. Instead of earning money or finishing goals, you earn Respect in Dave Mirra 2. The Respect is used to open new levels and open new items for the players to collect (such as bikes). As always linking multiple tricks will increase your score by using multipliers and you can even further link your stuff by performing a wheelie and maintaining your string. Although sometimes you may be lost as to what you are exactly doing because the camera will get stuck on a roof, or a poll, and leave you guessing into where you are going until you hear the familiar blood curdling scream you have grown so accustomed to.

The trick system is where it is all at, and the only point in which Mirra overcomes Hawk. The development system allows for an amazing number of tricks and combinations that is so huge, don’t even bother looking over the manual to find them all, there are just to many. Linking tricks with the modifiers and stalls can amass some serious Respect and points.

Dave Mirra 2 does manage to greatly impress in one area and that is the included soundtrack. With hi-fi songs from the likes of Sublime, Godsmack, Sum41, and Rage Against the Machine, the sound track doesn’t disappoint, although it is sad it must be edited.

While Dave Mirra 2 triumphs over the clearly genetic and generic Mat Hoffman, it certainly doesn’t bring the extreme sports genre any new life or stabilization. The genre looks to be getting full and worn, and with the recent announcement of Tony Hawk 4, there may not be very much left to introduce into the mix. Clearly a rental title, and hopefully revised for a killer third game release, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 is still the best BMX game around.