Freestyle Metal X
Score: 88% ESRB: Teen Publisher: Midway Developer: Sports Asylum Media: CD/1 Players: 1 - 9 Genre: Racing
Graphics & Sound: Welcome to the engine roaring, blood-filled, and bikini poster world of Freestyle Metal X. The graphics are quite respectable in Freestyle Metal X, but much of it seems a little washed out. Maybe Sports Asylum was consciously going for this effect, but I didn't care for it. It isn't that noticeable in any event, and the excellent animation more than makes up for it. Well, good animation except for the riders, who end up moving like rag dolls more than human beings. When will we see a game where a guy can fall on the cement and crack his skull open, realistically? Another odd little quirk you see in the riders is that they seem to bleed inexplicably. Guys spouting blood and smearing it all over the pavement is all well and good, but do they need to do it every time? Should a guy wearing a helmet leave a trail of blood on the concrete every single time his head hits the ground? How about when you eject from the bike because you know it's about to crash and burn; should my head start spewing blood mid-air for no apparent reason? Blood is all well and good guys, but it would mean more if you cut back a bit. Roaring, or maybe merely buzzing engines, crashing dirt bikes, and the sound of bees, these are just a sampling of the odd assortment of sounds you'll find in Freestyle Metal X. All the FX sound just fine; no glitches, static, or the like to be found here. The music, likewise, performs well. I just hope you like rock/heavy metal, cause that's all you'll find here. That seems to be pretty much the staple for games like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and the like (cause let's face it, whether it be skateboards, BMX bikes, or motocross, these games all play pretty much the same way).
Gameplay: Music isn't the only similarity these games share, their gameplay is also usually pretty closely related too. The gameplay of Freestyle Metal X is no exception. The core gameplay is divided into doing tricks and/or racing. Performing tricks is pretty much the same as every game like this. While in the air, you use a combination of directional buttons and the circle or triangle buttons to perform different tricks. As you perform tricks, you'll build up your 'X-Meter'. When the 'X-Meter' is full, you can do your best tricks. The game has the usually quick play, multi-player, and mini-game options, but the meat of the game is in Career mode. In Career mode, you complete different events in various locations, unlocking new events, locations, bikers, and bikes. You'll also earn cash from this which you can use to improve any bikers or bikes you would like. The game auto-saves so you can't have different career files on the same memory card, which is kind of annoying. There's a bit more to it all than just going really fast up a ramp. Aside from accelerating and braking, there are two other things you can do with your bike. You can manipulate the clutch with R1 to give yourself extra speed and you can use the L1 button to preload your bike's spring, giving you a bigger jump at the top of the ramp. This brings us to my biggest problem with the game, and it's something monumentally foolish on the part of the developers. The clutch meter is located on the left side of the game's HUD, and the preload meter is located on the right side of the HUD. This wouldn't be such a horrible thing except the clutch is controlled with the R1 button and you preload with the L1 button. You'll be pressing the wrong button for each for hours and hours. Oh yeah, and there's no way in the button configuration menu to fix this. There is a way to remap the clutch and preload buttons, but they are still on the wrong sides. Guys, what were ya'll thinking? This game also suffers from a problem I've been seeing in far too many motocross games. The in-game tutorial will take you through all the in's-and-out's of performing stunts, but will barely touch a hair on racing, and there's definitely something to it that neither the manual or tutorial touches upon. It will help you learn to jump high and maybe even far, but not how to maximize speed through jumps.
Difficulty: Sadly, the only things that ever create a real challenge in Freestyle Metal X are the two complaints I just listed. This leaves the game only mildly irritating and rarely gives you a really constructive challenge. Not that clearing each location's various events is really all that difficult anyway. The only one that proves mildly annoying is each area's ten 'challenges'. Of course, the hardest part about each one is just finding them all in the damn level. Riding around for half an hour just to find the location of the last few challenges is an exercise in patience. After you've cleared all the game 'events', you can go back to each location and find all the hidden items. These will unlock things such as show clips and posters of things such as bikers, bikes, and babes. The plethora of mini-games as well as the multi-player options will also keep the game interesting for awhile.
Game Mechanics: Freestyle Metal X probably has more of an 'adventure' feel to it than any other dirt bike game I've played. For starters, there's no load time between levels; they're seamless. Of course, you get a long tunnel to go through instead most of the time which isn't a huge improvement. There's also tons of optional items and sights to see in each level. There's definitely more exploring in this bike game than any other I've seen. On the whole, I'd say Freestyle Metal X is an excellent game that's worth a purchase from any fan. However the reversal of the clutch and preload buttons from their location on the game HUD is a serious problem that can't be overlooked. The player is going to want to press the wrong button just about every time; there's no getting around it. This and the few other gameplay flaws have cost the game a few points, but it's still a great title after the fact.
-Alucard, GameVortex Communications AKA Stephen Triche
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