Top Gear
Think BMX. Think Raleigh Burner. Then think 500cc Harley Davidson-alikes. That, in a nutshell, is Edgar Torronteras Extreme Biker. This is a motorbike game which offers thrills, spills and stunts galore. The game is endorsed by the eponymous Edgar, who is apparently some big fish in the Motocross world but he could be a bus driver for all I care. His somewhat graying mug is, unfortunately, splashed across most of the game, but apart from this minor annoyance there is a very enjoyable game under the hood.
This is actually several games in one. The Supercross and Motocross modes off straight bike races against a variety of two-wheeled opponents on both indoor and outdoor tracks. However the game also offers a Freestyle mode where you can ride around an open arena and practice various stunts such as riding with no hands, sitting on the handlebars or doing somewhat bizarre headstands while you race.
You perform these by keying in various key combinations (much like trying to pull off a special move in Tekken. In addition, the somewhat pretentiously named Dynamic Stunt System means you have to keep your balance on the bike for some of the funkier stunts. It certainly makes a novel addition to the game, but why anyone would particularly want to do headstands whilst riding on a motorbike is made clear in the manual. But, hey, it's just a game...
You have a choice of bikes from 150 to 500cc, something which really affects the gameplay. Whilst the smaller models are nippy and agile, the larger ones appear to be fitted with an unerring ability to home in on the nearest wall. Overall though, handling is good, if somewhat arcadey (no gears here!), although I miss the ability to reverse out of tight spots which more conventional car games provide. Then again, you're hardly buying this to practice for your driving test, are you?
A word on the graphics, which are suitably lush. Textures map and lenses flare in all the right places, although the intro videos suffer from running at a horrendously low resolution. The riders are all presented in their motion-captured glory and loading times are fairly snappy. However, the real pride and joy of this game are the tracks, which offer a refreshing blend of the old and the new.
As well as the standard types of motocross tracks - mud-pits, forest glades and the like - there are a variety of excellent and well-designed maps to play. These range from a Parisian street-course, tropical islands and a desert oasis which are suitably sprawling and nicely detailed with rolling hills, trees, buildings and the odd helicopter. In the Freestyle mode there are some even more off-the-wall options, including an pipe-strewn playground and a huge underground cavern, all liberally equipped with jump ramps, obstacles and pitfalls galore. Although there are a couple of bare levels which appear to have been thrown in at the last minute, the games offers some of the most entertaining driving arenas since Carmageddon 2.
All in all, there is much to recommend Extreme Biker (apart from Edgar). It successfully combines several different styles of play without taking itself too seriously. If there were any criticism it could be that it feels a little too lightweight and arcadey, but given I can hardly cycle down the Cowley Road without endangering myself, who am I to argue?
18th Nov 1999