> Driving the Driving Genre, Nuts

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Motocross Madness 2
Rainbow Studios/ Microsoft

Absolute Madness!

Similar to those suspiciously similar sequels is the besiegement of driving games in the video game industry. While it's a natural to accommodate our perverse love of all things automotive, it does get a little tricky trying to find a driving game that makes us feel like driving and offers something novel to differentiate it from all the other games that made us feel like driving. In fact, it's enough to drive you nuts. Nuts, tits, will it ever end?

Unlike those sequels that come rushing out on the heels of their predecessors seeking to yank on the teats of the cash cow, the long wait between Motocross Madness and this sequel (2+ years) shows exactly how one should handle a franchise. Take your time, wait for the technology to become notably better. Take your time; re-invent that which was so glorious in the first place. Take your time; do it right. The titillating anticipation of Motocross Madness 2 was half the fun. The other half is actually getting to play the remarkably improved version of a perfectly awesome dirt bike madness game in the first place.

Like the old, the new Madness offers a vast variety of Motocross racing: indoor and outdoor, free range, vague circuits and well-defined tracks. An overwhelming amount of variety, in fact, save for the fact that in videogames, variety is a major key to long term and repeat play. Bang for buck.

As you'd expect, graphics are very much improved. No more fog, pop-up or draw-in. Terrain is more detailed, bike and rider animations more fluid and complete and, most importantly, the environmental interactivity has a much more realistic feel.

Too, Madness 2 is more diverse than both its predecessor and most games like it. Nearly everything is customizable, from the bikes and riders to the skills and deficiency of the player. That is to say, "easy" mode is frightfully easy while still ludicrously fun. Or, some rider skills, like balance or clean-landing proficiency, can be automated (as always) while things like steering and trick pulling remain completely manual. Customizable handicaps, in essence. A game for all ages, all skill levels.

More than the original madness, however, the customization feature plays a larger role, considering the fact that they not only added trees to the various outdoor landscapes, but said trees can be interactive, if you want, and bikes and riders can get terribly hung up or launched unceremoniously by a big ol cedar. Or, the trees can be relegated to "ghost" status, just nice to look at but unaffecting during play.

The fact that they've licensed real live bikes should get a few gamers' engines going, those game freaks that also happen to love the sport as seen on TV or down at the local mega dome (and some folks I've raced online actually race in real life, too).

But what's got yours truly all hot and bothered is the addition of a new race mode called Enduro, a free-for-all gaggle of intricately interactive levels involving jumps over trains, hay bails, and airplanes at an airport. Oh the madness!

A small peeve is that they've added prize money to a new Pro Circuit / Career mode. It always bugs me when games expect the gamer to spend their purse on bike upgrades. That's what sponsors are for, dammit. Sponsors get huge returns by seeing you finish on their bike. Sponsors are supposed to give bonuses on top of a rider's winnings. Spending one's winnings on anything other than booze and chicks takes all the fun out of it. But that's just me.

Other than that, Madness 2 is astounding. An easy fit for avid fans of the original (note to PR people, when a media guy is demo-ing your product, always hang over his shoulder and say "oooh! You're really good at this! I can see you've played before!" That will go a long, long way.) and an adaptable easy fit for newcomers to the greatest dirt bike racing game of all time.

Don't stop the Madness.

-Shaun Conlin

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