Frankly the developers could have used the title “Dale Winton's Downhill Domination” and no-one would have cared, because mountain biking isn’t cool anymore, plain and simple. To be fair, it’s not the fault of the mountain biking fraternity, it’s just kind of hard to make skin tight lycra look cool, despite the best efforts of The Darkness. Taking this onboard, the developers have thrown out any thoughts of a semi-realistic mountain biking game and plumed for the arcade approach instead, designing a game arguably similar to SSX tricky or to the more arcade aware, Rolling eX.tre.me, the Gaelco/Midway street luge coin-op. In essence, the player races down a course littered with an assortment of obstacles, be it animal, vegetable, or mineral, competing against other riders to get to the bottom first. Add powerups, a reasonable trick system and combat to the mix, ‘et voila!’

The results are undeniably fun, and the graphics engine does an excellent job of conveying both a sense of speed and altitude. Thankfully the PS2 has plenty of power in reserve, to add some attractive particle effects, smoke, and a whole host of scripted events, such as lightning strikes, rock falls and express trains. The overall package is a deliciously solid environment, which makes for some eye watering wipe-outs when it all goes a bit pear-shaped.

The courses themselves are split into 3 categories, FR, TD and MX. FR and TD courses are pretty similar, the main difference being that the TD or technical downhill levels are generally much narrower and tighter and contain lots of obstacles to negotiate. It’s on these tracks that the combat system really comes into play as the riders are funneled together through some very tight sections. The MX tracks are generally much shorter and are more like a Supercross track in design, with regularly spaced ramps and jumps to provide a true test of jumping skill. Jumps which are landed correctly on the down ramps cause a momentary but vital speed boost. Generally the courses are excellently designed, with plenty of shortcuts, ramps and powerups to play around with. However, there are brief moments when course design falters. Mostly these are the larger ramps, where it’s impossible to see what lies beneath. A leap of faith is required, usually followed by a long drop down a ravine or a smashed skull against a tree. Only after repeated play does the hidden topography become second nature.

For the first few hours the game holds its own, but once the arcade mode has been rinsed and the player is settling into the career mode, the games shortcomings become ever more apparent. First to the stand for cross examination is the trick system. Gamers with an extra digit and a customised dual shock controller will be right at home here. The rest of us will have to make do with the standard anatomical setup. Tricks are executed by using any combination of the 4 shoulder buttons and triangle, building bigger and better tricks with each successive combination. This in itself is all well and good. However, due to the sheer number of buttons required to control the game, the button for bunny hop, has to share one of the shoulder buttons. This means that to execute a trick correctly the player has to perform an incredibly complicated series of actions using six digits - the left thumbstick is used to modify the type of bunny hop and orientate the bike whilst airborne. Some might argue that this provides depth to the trick system and to a degree it does; on the other hand, the risks involved with attempting these complex manoeuvers far outweigh any benefits or rewards.

The payoff for landing a trick successfully is a boost to the rider's stamina bar. It’s imperative to keep this topped up to maintain maximum speed and any simple trick will add enough stamina to tide the player over until one of the numerous stamina powerups can be collected. Nearly every trick, regardless of complexity, charges the gauge a little, so the best tactic is to use safer more frequent tricks, rather than go for big and flashy. At the end of each race a series of cash bonuses are awarded for finishing place, combat, tricks and how much of the more perilous ‘black diamond’ route was attempted. Additionally, the game awards a number of race credits, based on finishing position. Twelve points are required to continue to the next level, but the system is cumulative.

Perhaps this is the games biggest flaw of all, the game doesn’t let you lose. Progress is never hindered, simply keep playing the same courses over and over until twelve race credits have been earned to reach the next course and repeat. It becomes all very tedious, especially when the bulk of the courses can be experienced within a few hours of play. It’s quite clear that the developers recognised this problem, but failed to figure out how to address it effectively. Instead of building in more varied play modes and proper championships, they opted to throw every conceivable unlockable extra at the game, hoping to create enough of a smokescreen to bamboozle the player into submission. And bamboozle is the right word here, because this has to have the most unstructured and random approach to hidden extras of most any game. The game throws out these extras in 3 different ways. Some are simply unlocked through progress, some are activated by a code, which is spat out when a career has been completed and yet more have to be purchased from the drip feed of money earned from racing.

The result is a game that in spite its solid design and adherence to the extreme sports game blueprint, just seems a bit too formulaic. What’s missing is that intangible ingredient, which keeps the player coming back for more. The game tries to tempt the player with a myriad of unlockable extras, including plenty of special options to buy in the shop, but there’s little structure to this and the drip feed of toys isn’t enough on its own. Simply put the game is too repetitive. Perhaps an endorsement from Dale Winton would have injected a bit of sparkle after all.