Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 review (Game Boy Advance)

One significant difference between this and the previous game is the way rewards are earned. In order to increase your rider's skill points or use a new bike, you have to earn cash by accomplishing the goals within each level. Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 doesn't hand out stat boosts as readily as its predecessor, so you actually have to think about what skills you wish to enhance from the beginning in order to properly guide your development. Another new feature involves the inclusion of a trick book for each rider. As you perform the techniques listed in your trick book, you'll gain experience that will make subsequent executions of those stunts faster and flashier. It may not sound like much, but the increases to spin and hang time can lead to higher scores and improve your chances of snagging items in hard-to-reach spots.

The additions of flatland tricks, grind tricks, new levels, and the enhanced stat system don't really represent significant departures from the last game, but they're all tweaks that generally improve the formula. Even the new create-a-rider feature isn't much more than an excuse to play with different clothing styles, but it does give you some control over your character's build and fashion. Other options include session and freeride modes that let you challenge your own high scores, as well as three multiplayer games in which you and a friend can compete to see who can get the highest score, perform the sickest trick, or perform the most tricks in a single combo.

It also bears mentioning that Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 is only the second extreme sports game on the GBA to include a real licensed soundtrack. The first was Acclaim's Aggressive Inline, which was also developed by Full-Fat and released this past summer. The soundtrack includes 10 songs by Saliva, Green Day, Ten Foot Pole, and others. While each song is merely a 40 second clip from the original track, Full-Fat has done a good job of tying together the loops such that you don't really notice when a song restarts. More importantly, the quality is on par with what you'd hear on an FM radio station. The sound effects for stunts and spills aren't nearly as impressive, but they're crisp and more than adequate to get across the action you're seeing onscreen.

Taken as a whole, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 3 is a worthy successor to Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, even if it doesn't do much to improve the overall formula. Owners of the last game will enjoy the enhancements to the current iteration, while newcomers will have that much more to explore. Once again, people who enjoy action sports have a legitimate alternative to Tony Hawk.