High jumps, awesome tricks, and kicking your opponents sounds cool, right? Only if it's new, original, and unique presentation, which is very hard these days, because all of these "xtreme sports" games that are being cranked out. Overall, I'll start by saying that there really isn't much new here, but there is fun to be had.

G R A P H I C S
Muddy, sloshy, and blurry are the best words to describe the graphics in this game. It's a little hard to describe, but the graphics are not very detailed, but have details. What I mean is that the game has the little details, like exhaut fumes, but all the objects are undetailed, because the textures are just so plain. Animation is pretty choppy at times, with just a little noticable slowdown when there are a bunch of players on the screen (mostly in two-player). A game like this that has such a shallow skin in the gameplay department should focus on graphics, but, like most, this doesn't. You can easily tell that not much time was spent on these visuals. There are many glitches that happen all over the place. One example is jumping and landing on a platform. There is one particular situation in the Tower Challenge mode where you have to jump from one platform to another. If you land a certain way, it's almost as if you are landing inside the platform. Once you start moving, your car jerks up and down very quickly and makes the normal wall-crunching noises. This is rediculously annoying because it also affects your movement - there is none. Well, there is movement, but you move as slow as a tortoise, trying to get to the other side. This is partially a control problem, but it happens graphically as well. The colors seem to wash together and occasionally it's hard to see what the heck you're about to crash into. Animations are not done very well at all, and it doesn't look as satisfying as it should when someone crashed head-on into that pesky tree that's always right in the way at 80 miles an hour. The character just ... flies off the bike-type-vehicle very stiffly and just thuds onto the ground with maybe a bounce or two that you'd see with, oh, a bouncyball. Yes, not very realistic. The surroundings in the game look no better than average. There are a few objects which, as with he rest of the game, don't look great, and then there's that hated impenitrable wall of trees that looks just absurdly fake. Textures in one player mode, such as the dirt and mud of the track look pretty bad, but (for some reason) other textures look muych better, such as the platforms in Challenge mode. Too bad they all couldn't be like that...

See that rock back there? Yeah. It looks bad.

G A M E P L A Y
It's unusual for an xtreme sports game to have too many interesting options other than the main game. ATV 2, however, succeeds in this department. There are multiple options for both one- and two-player, and a couple are actually interesting and engaging. (Amazing, huh?) There are Freestyle, Career, Time Trial, Challenge, and other modes availible for anyone to get their sticky little hands on. What I think to be one of the best modes is the Tower Challenge mode. For some reason, it just reminds me of 18 Wheeler's Parking mode... it's just so fun for so long. The object is to guide your ATV up to the top (or bottom) of the tower, without falling off, and passing all the checkpoints. Half the levels go down, the others, you need to get your ATV up. There definitely could have been more Tower Challenge levels. There are a few Ground Challenge levels, which consist of many different types - slalom, obstacle course, wheelie challenges, etc. Even though there are more levels than in the Tower mode, there definitely could (and should) be more. What is very unfortunate is that the one-player mode is not very intriguing. The setup and excecution of it is odd - you often find yourself doing the same 3 levels over and over without an explination for why. There are things to unlock, such as vehicles, ATVs, vehicles, and... more vehicles. There's pretty much nothing to be had except vehicles, which is not very rewarding. The freestyle mode is rediculously unsatisfying. The tricks are definitely not worth enough. You can spend the whole time doing left and right bicycles and easily beat the other guy who is doing genuine tricks, flips, and hoodazzles the whole time. It's very annoying. The Time Trial mode is just like a single race except (holy crap!) there's a timer added. As you can see, there really isn't much special here, just the two challenge modes, which are pretty interesting.

Yeah, like you can really do this in the game. Pfft.

C O N T R O L
Sloppy. Very sloppy. You skid and slide all over the place, and this is more than just simulated mud. There is way too much sliding here. Bad. Also, the control scheme for the tricks is not only bad, but the excecution is horrible. When you push the B button and the corresponding direction on the control stick, 7 times out of 10, it doesn't work. It just doesn't happen. This is honestly the most unresponsive control system I've ever used. And this is in a game in which the trick system is vital. Another function that is vital is the Preloading. Without Preloading, you can hardly jump at all. That's bad. What's also bad is that Preloading doesn't seem to work sometimes. Sure, it was probably meant to be difficult, but it shouldn't be an entirely different job trying to get your Preloading right so you can pull off a nice jump to get some extra bonus points. Pretty much, you have to hit the button exactly at the right time, and that is very hard to get used to. Of course, this is just unacceptable. The C-Stick also being accelerate, reverse, and brake, is a rather nice touch. There are times (pretty much just in Tower mode) when you have to go very slowly to make it around the turn, when you can't be hitting A, revving the engine all the way, and braking right away. So, there's one plus to these controls. The layout of the controls in this game just doesn't seem right. Z being the kick button is just wrong, for some reason. In one-player races (especially the higher-level ones), the kick becomes vital. It's just odd to be moving your finger to hit the Z button. You do, however, get used to this scheme, so it does the job (after a while).

S O U N D
Of course, all xtreme sports games now need to have that cool, awesome, rock soundtrack. This game follows this rule, but there really isn't much variety. You will most likely end up hearing the same song at least 2 times in one single-player race, which is very tedious and tiresome. Let's get some variety, folks! The songs that are featured fit the game very well, of course. The developers of the game also picked just the right song to play as the game does its own short little movie of each level. Each song fits the environment and feel of that level, and just plain feels right. However, there is something huge missing from this game: voice effects. There aren't any. Pretty much the only sound bytes of voices you will hear will be "ahg," "uhnf," and "guh" when you crash and the character smashes onto the ground. There could be a chuckle when you kick someone off their ATV. There could be a "yes!" when you get in first place. There could be a lot of things here that aren't. The sound effec ts, fortunately, are not on very short supply and sound pretty good, overall. They are not of the best quality, but you will here effects as you smack into things, scrape against things, and stuff like that.

I N - B R I E F
Graphics - 6.8
GamePlay - 8.9
Control - 5.2
Sound - 8.6
Overall - 7.5