BMX XXX is a game that gained so much attention for it's content, that it seemed like it was a must play game to see what all the fuss was about. But then it encountered problems for it's release. Many places wouldn't carry the title, so many probably wouldn't have had the chance to play this game. So right there, Acclaim takes a fairly big loss on the game. Then with the lawsuit from Mirra with a whole bunch of allegations that stemmed from this game (even though the pro riders were taken out of the release), this is probably one of Acclaims biggest dissapointments. But when you actually get into the game, you can't help but to think what all the fuss was about.

BMX XXX is pretty much the successor to Mirra 2, except you really can't distinguish any "enhancements" made to the game. The frame rate has been locked down a little more, but thats about it. The graphics are the same, if not a little downgraded. The soundtrack is pretty much in the same vein as the other BMX release. And even the controls are the same. So what's so special? Well, the content of the game was designed for mature audiences. There's a lot of swearing, a lot of adult themes and even some nudity. But the way it's all presented is like a face plant on the sidewalk.

First, let's talk about the scripting of the game. BMX XXX supposedly had "Hollywood writers" for it's humor and character elements. What we see and here is something that seems like it took about two hours to come up with, and only sounded funny to the writers at the time. The jokes and the humor really falls flat. If the idea of hearing the same f-words over and over is funny, then your life must be a sad existence. And instead of calling things of what they should be, they came up with some rather retarded euphemisms that is also not funny. Who calls a port-a-potty a "sh*t box"? The characters that are tossed in to this crude environment is very low class. Pimps, prostitutes and hobos fit the bill here. This ain't funny. This is pretty much rejected humor from a Rob Schneider movie. If you want to see a very well scripted game that is loaded with humor, check out the "You Don't Know Jack" series.

Now we get to the "controversial" nudity. I guess it was so bad, Sony made Acclaim take it out of the PS2 version, and the X-Box version made it difficult to make a topless player (it can be done). But as funny as it seems, the Nintendo version has the option to create a topless rider off the bat! But is it all that important? Not until you see how the body looks. There are some of the sickest looking boobs I've ever seen, dressed or undressed. If these women were supposed to be sexy, Z-Axis has an odd perception of beauty. Beach Spikers, an E rated game, mind you, had much more gorgeous player models, and that was just a volleyball game. Then there's the "Scores" videos of actual women prancing around, which really doesn't seem all that bad to me (content wise). There is a girl in a wet T-Shirt in the opening credits, so perhaps that's something to look forward to.

The graphics in this game are average at best. The overall design never really changed from 2001's Mirra 2, and now the textures seem a little more blurrier. There game's color palate is fairly bright to be taken seriously (which was Mirra 2's problem). The rider models are not that good, as they look kind of rigid in their design. Take a look at a game like Freekstyle, then look at this and you'll notice a difference. The game does run at a constant 60 fps and the camera was fixed a little, but it just doesn't help the overall look. Plus, theres some pop-up.

The sound is fairly decent, if you ignore the voices. The soundtrack is compiled with some listenable tracks, including artists such as Saliva, New Found Glory and 311. But then we get to the voices, which is where most of the humor is contained. There's a lot of swears to be heard here, but they become very repetitious. There's only a couple of funny moments, but for the most part, it's just not good. And all this can be traced back to the poor scripting.

Basically, BMX XXX is Mirra 2 with just a lot of dirty humor and a tad bit of nudity. There's nothing much that is new, and really is set a step back from the 2001 release of DMF BMX 2. On top of that, the objectives are even harder and paced even worse. Why, after doing so well with Aggressive Inline, would you resort to lowering your standards on this game. I'm not sure if it was Acclaim or Z-Axis who made the decision to porn up a BMX game, but it was a really poor decision. It's a shame that the BMX category isn't as broad as other areas of extreme sports, and the unfortunate truth is that the better game in the series is one established one year back.