Introduction

If there was a "Rookie of the Year" award for developers, the people of EA Big would definatly have grabbed it. First they take snowboarding and make it even more extreme with SSX, probably the best PS2 launch title. They followed it up with an even better title, NBA Street, followed by SSX Tricky, the sequel to SSX. Now they turn to motocross with Freekstyle, looking to garner the same results.

Presentation

EA Big tries to present you with a punk, :in your face" type attitude with Freekstyle. For the most part, they succeed. Each character has a distinct personality and riding style, not to mention individual phrases and comments, be them taunts or whines. One of them will call you blind if you try to pick a bike thats unavailable. Each character is actually different, a first for a motocross game.

The menus are typical EA style. Nicely presented and easy to navigate.

Graphics

Like most motocross games, Freekstyle features very nicely detailed riders. Not only that, each of them have tons of tricks to pull off, and each one is animated brilliantly. The bail animations are also top notch and will have you wincing in pain along with your rider.

A standard for EA Big games, the thing most wil notice is how fast the game is. No slowdown whatsoever found here. And when you fill your "freakout" meter, its even faster.

All the speed comes at a cost, however. While the riders look great, as do the tracks, the backgrounds are pretty bland and look like crap.

Sound

Sticking to the hardcore theme of the game, theres plenty of guitar heavy music to listen to. Aside from that and the crashes of bikes and bodies, the only other sound is the announcer, who is, like announcers in all extreme games, annoying, and theres the throttle of the bikes. Whether you like the sound depends on whether you like the music. I do.

Gameplay

Picture SSX on wheels, and you have Freekstyle. Basically, you are racing against 5 other bikers on huge sprawling tracks. Each track has tons of air and shortcuts. In said air, you can perform a slew of tricks, each one adding to your turbo amount. Land enough and you’ll fill your freekout meter. Then perform a trick in mid-air and theres a sweet 360 degree camera turn and the screen goes blurry as you fly through the stage. During this time you can breeze by competition, not to mention get massive amounts of air for better longer tricks.

Theres a few modes to play. The usual circuit mode is there, which you can play through to unlock more riders and their bikes, plus more tracks. Time trial is also here, for basically a "free ride" through the tracks to learn them. For multiplayer, theres racing and a cool "stunt arena" mode where you compete in a small arena, performing as many tricks as possible to accumulate the highest score. Each one comes complete with stat records, adding some replay value.

The tracks are varied and long enough to keep you playing them for awhile, and the strong AI keeps every race close.

Conclusion

Another hit for EA Big, Freekstyle is good enough to keep motocross fans or "extreme" fans satisfied with their purchase. The game takes a bit of time to comepletely beat, but afterwards unless you’re just an insane fan there isnt much reason to return. The multiplayer is as good if not better than the single player game. A great game, lets just hope the sequel has a bit more tricks.