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Well, nothing really went wrong, I just found a safer way to jump those big hills (and I don’t even have to leave my room to do it). Of course, that safer way just happens to be one of the better Motocross games I’ve ever played, MX vs. ATV Unleashed. The game is very user friendly, simply pick up a controller and you can pretty much start playing the game without having any experience with such games. Don’t worry; your inexperience will catch up with you shortly.

As the game’s title might suggest, you can not only race dirt bikes but ATV’s as well. The game is basically split between the dirt bike and ATV portions but don’t worry, you do get to have dirt bikes and ATV’s on the track at the same time. This is called MX vs. ATV Unleashed after all. As you get further into the game the tracks will get more and more difficult. This is where inexperience catches up to you. You need to learn in this game to land properly otherwise you’ll be hurting, a lot.

What do I mean you ask? Well it’s simple. If you land on the very very top of a jump, you’ll be crashing hard. If you land on the portion of the jump that is going down then you’ll be in much better shape. To make sure you land right every time you need to preload your bike’s springs. To do this you’d simply push down on the D-Pad and release it as you hit the jump. This gives you more air and a better chance to land on the other side of the jump without crashing hard.

Doing tricks is fairly simple as well. Simple button mashing while in the air will likely get you some sort of a trick. Backflip’s, Three Sixty’s and so on are all possible in this game. For me the tricks aren’t a big deal, I just want to win the race. But hey, that’s just me.

The meat and potatoes of this game are the championships of which there are two. The THQ Supercross Championship and the Nationals Championship are the names and you can compete in them in either the dirt bike or ATV. Winning races and eventually winning the championships gets you points. What good are these points you ask? Well you can use these points towards buying new goodies in the in-store game. These goodies consist of new gear, dirt bikes, ATV’s and more.

As you race through a championship every now and then you will be challenged to a race driving something other than a dirt bike or ATV. I know what your thinking, your saying “Well what else is there?” Oh my friend, there is so much more than just dirt bikes and ATVs. In these races you get the chance to use trophy trucks, dune buggy’s, sand rail’s, monster truck’s, golf cart’s, airplane’s and helicopter’s.

Now that was a nice idea, adding all those different little vehicles into the game, but they could have done a better job on the controls with those vehicles. The controls on the helicopter are just downright awful. I couldn’t even get the darn thing to go straight. I spent half an hour going around in circles just trying to figure out how to work the darn thing. Funny? Not so much. Truth be told the airplane’s controls aren’t much better. You have to worry about using the left and right rudders, not to mention banking left and right. Luckily the controls on the other vehicles are MUCH simpler and very easy to understand.

The graphics in this game are nothing to jump up and down about. They can actually be a bit annoying at times because of the shadow causing you to miss a turn on the darker tracks. This of course would send you flying off in a direction that is totally incorrect. Don’t worry though; the game will put you back on the track if you don’t return to it within 5 seconds. How thoughtful.

The sound quality in this game isn’t great but it isn’t awful either. The dirt bikes sound like dirt bikes (thankfully) and the ATV’s sound like ATV’s. The sound doesn’t echo or anything like that but at least the game sounds realistic. You can’t ask for much more than that sound wise in a game like this.

I’ve certainly played better games but for what this game is I can’t complain all that much. Maybe some better controls on some of the bonus vehicles and a little better lighting in certain areas, but other than that this game is easily passable. If you are a racing fan in general you’d probably like this game because it has some interesting quirks. If you’re a big MX or ATV fan, then you’d better get this one. If you don’t you should be ashamed of yourself. Really.