MX Superfly featuring Ricky Carmichael

As you feel the vibration of the motor between your thighs, you rev the engine,
and the adrenaline starts building. Wait for the starting gate to drop and you
fly through the course against 7 other opponents. MX Superfly: Featuring
Ricky Carmichael gives you the most realistic motorcross experience
available featuring real world racers and tracks from around the world, over
22 tracks and 27 riders in all, plus real gear and real motorcycles from five
different manufacturers, and more available through the Xbox Live content downloads.
More heart pounding tricks than you can shake a 125cc engine at, let’s see your
skills!

MX Superfly
is based on the previous release of MX 2002 and carries many of the
same gameplay elements, if you’re familiar with the previous version then you
already know it was a good title, and MX Superfly has made improvements on an
already stable and popular release. Offering tracks to prove your talents filled
with obstacles and jumps, you gain points by performing different tricks, and
placing high at the end of the race as well. The most well developed section
of the title resides in the Career Mode where you create a
rider and compete for the championship in Race or Freestyle
modes. Right from the start the game gets off in the right gear, offering a
very brief tutorial that will allow you to become accustomed to the controls
easily, and gain a few bucks in the effort. You’ll need enough points to enter
certain competitions and to start different seasons of races, it’s a points/cash
based progression system.

Throughout
your career you’ll race on tracks in several different areas and cities of the
country; New Berlin NY, Washougal WA, San Bernardino CA,
Southwick MA, Buchanan MI, Delmont PA and Hurricane
Mills TN. All of the tracks have a unique terrain and come with different
challenges. Some have extremely tricky corners, some have rocky terrain, some
have steep elevation changes, each requiring a slightly different approach to
be successful. If you want a little more pizzazz added to the tracks, or somehow
feel they are lacking the types of obstacles you enjoy the most, then feel free
to create your own track. Add your own platforms, ramps, and other objects using
an effective track editor that makes this task painless, just be
sure to name and save it so you can load it in quickly!

Exhibition Races get you on the track in no time if you feel
like having a quick race without any strings attached. Freestyle
mode will allow you to test your skills and experience with different combinations
to see what combos and moves will yield the greatest number of points so you
are ready when it comes time to rack ‘em up in the Freestyle Career
Mode. Another game mode that MX Superfly has to offer are the Mini
Games, somewhat of a diversion from the heart of the game. You start
out having the ability to play Step Up, Horse, and Stranded.
As an example, Stranded is a game where you pick up gas cans and deliver them
to stranded friends along the map, gaining points for each friend rescued. Some
of the unlockable Mini Games are Bus Jump, Pizza Delivery,
Moto Golf, Balloon Toss, Target Tag, and more.

Any
good racing fan knows that a good racing/trick/combo game requires an intuitive
and effective control scheme to stay in the Xbox for any length of time without
damaging a few controllers in the process due to frustration. Luckily THQ has
included a control method that quickly becomes second nature, and feels natural
soon after picking up the title. As with most racing titles, the left thumbstick
is used to control the direction of your motorcycle, the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons
are used for acceleration and braking respectively as well as doubling as stunt
selectors (as are ‘X’ and ‘Y’) when in the air and in conjunction with the right
trigger. The right trigger will preload your struts when approaching a jump,
allowing for extremely long and high jumps. There are also combinations for
low jumps, and a combo to bail of your cycle if the need should arise. Tricks
are performed by pressing the right trigger and one of the four stunt buttons
(A, B, X, and Y) while in the air. They come in the form of one, two, and three
button combos, a fairly simple execution method which makes performing some
spectacular stunts come easily even to a newcomer.

When
it comes to multiplayer gameplay, Xbox Live is not supported. However, Content
Downloads are, and I think I would be right to say that MX Superfly
was one of the first games to have content downloads available over Microsoft’s
Xbox Live service. When I last checked there were about 10 different downloads
available including different tracks, riders, and bikes. The multiplayer gameplay
offers two players the chance to duke it out in Mini Game, Race, or Freestyle
matches. True Xbox Live support would have been a blast!

The graphics in MX Superfly are done well, a polished version
of the original release. The tracks are unique and varied, and the animations
during stunts are very satisfying. The riders and bikes are detailed well, whether
you’re riding on the streets or in the dirt, the only complaint I did have is
that the riders seem a bit stiff (when not doing stunts) during the
race. In comparison to the Playstation 2 version, the graphics are a bit more
polished and have a more finalized appeal to them. The frame rate is consistent
and proved effective throughout the game. The developers incorporated the subtle
use of lighting and shading effects to create some interesting scenes, and as
a whole the graphics stand up well to the merit of the game.

This title comes packed with a wide range of hard riffs and
rumbling engines. Some of the artists performing on the included
soundtrack are The Coup, Hotwire, Spineshank, The
Vandals, Body Jar, and many more. If they’re not your speed then
you can listen to tunes right off the Xbox hard drive. One thing’s for sure,
you’ll be real tired of the title music real quick if you’re like I am. The
sounds of the motorcycle engines are convincing, as are the sounds of you tires
on different terrain. I had a hard time picking out many ambient sounds, but
it’s not like you’d be listening for the sounds of birds chirping
while doing a suicide flip off a ramp 50 feet in the air anyhow!

MX Superfly gives you more than enough reasons to keep on
playing. Lots of unlockable content, different difficulty settings, custom tracks,
race or freestyle modes, multiplayer, varied mini games, etc . . . Not to mention
future level downloads through Xbox Live. You’ll be tearin’ up the tracks
more in this game than any other motorcross game out there!

MX Superfly Featuring Ricky
Carmichael is a solid title with a lot to offer. For the casual motorcross gamer
the controls are simple, and the game quickly becomes addictive. It’s good to
see content downloads available, but what happened to full blown Xbox Live support
or even System Link, that would have rocked! Even without the Live support fully
scaled, THQ needs to be commended on their work regarding Motorcycle games.
While MX Superfly may not be the killer title that took the world by storm,
it certainly has made an improvement to an already descent title, MX 2002. Fans
of the dirt-bike games can turn to this title, the same as fans of rice-burners
(that’s Motorcycles) can turn to MotoGP.

Overall
Score: 8.0/10 [Not an Average] Recommended

• Official Game Site
• THQ
• MX
  Superfly: Featuring Ricky Carmichael Screenshots (Temporarily Unavailable, Sorry.)
• MX
  Superfly: Featuring Ricky Carmichael Hints and Cheats
• Buy
  MX Superfly: Featuring Ricky Carmichael from Amazon.com

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