Jeremy McGrath Supercross World review (GameCube)

The control of the game adds even more to the frustration. Driving and steering while on level ground work fairly well, but once you start catching air, things fall apart rather quickly. Landing is the most difficult part to deal with. Some landings will happen almost supernaturally--you'll come down on the front tire and magically be racing away, having lost a negligible amount of speed. At other times, you'll land on one or both of your tires and crash. The game moves along a little faster on the GameCube and holds a steady frame rate, but aside from those two points, the game is essentially unchanged.

The sound is probably the strongest point in the game, mostly due to the soundtrack. While it's not on the same level as the soundtracks in the Tony Hawk or Mat Hoffman games, there are a few good songs by some alternative and punk bands. The contributions of Millencolin, Mudhoney, and the Supersuckers are quite good in particular. While the music is good, the sound effects don't fare as well. There is a standard set of engine noises that are reused liberally, and while there are sounds to accompany your landings and such, overall, sound effects are used sparingly.

On top of all this, the game's AI is sorely lacking. Calling to mind the AI of Midway's CART Fury Championship Racing, the computer-driven opponents are given scripted laps that they diligently drive, whether you're in their way or not. If in fact you are in their way, they won't hesitate to plow into you or even land on you after a jump. This isn't intentional on their part--they just aren't made to understand if something is in their way. Every once in a while, after being knocked off their bike, they'll get back on only to drive in circles like madmen until they are knocked off again or the race ends.

Some might have hoped that McGrath Supercross World would improve as it made the transition from the PlayStation 2 to the GameCube. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The game looks downright terrible on both systems and plays little better on either. The new improvements for the GameCube release are so minimal that Acclaim might as well have left the game entirely unchanged. The new intro is slapped together from gameplay footage, with a few effects thrown in to spice things up. Even then, it's nothing that couldn't be put together by an efficient video editor in less than a day. The new images of the riders are better, but one must suspect that these, along with the intro, were only included so that the publisher could claim that changes have been made to the game. Unfortunately, there aren't any other MX games due for release on the GameCube anytime soon, so there are those who might pick this game up as a rental, or even worse, pay full price for it. Even taking the lack of MX games into consideration, this game is bad for everybody, and it's our sincerest hope that potential players will take our advice and stay very, very far away from this game.