Nate Adams: Freestyle Motocross (Mobile)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 3.5 stars Very good
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 7.3 (3.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Steve Palley
• Reviewed on: 04/13/2005
• Originally published on GameSpot: Nate Adams: Freestyle Motocross (Mobile) Review

There are few sports that are as awe-inspiring as freestyle motocross, where a highly skilled athlete can treat a motorcycle as a kind of aerial dance partner while gravity is temporarily held at bay. I-Play's Nate Adams Freestyle Motocross deems itself a racing game, but only in the simplest sense of the term. While finishing courses as quickly as possible is the objective, the gameplay is primarily concerned with the delicate balance of forces that emerge when motoring over rough terrain at high speeds. Truth be told, there have been many side-scrolling-racing offerings that have leaned on this time-honored mechanic, such as the classic mountain-biking portion of California Games and the mobile racer Moto Maniacs. Though Nate Adams Freestyle Motocross doesn't get the physics of freestyle motocross exactly right, it's still a worthy entry to the genre, and it's a fun game overall.

Like most other motocross games, Nate Adams keeps its gameplay as simple and intuitive as possible. There are three simple controls that are all you need to flourish in this basic Newtonian physics model: accelerate, lean forward, and lean back. All the other buttons let you perform secondary tricks during your frequent trips off the track and into midair. Basically, your bike is inherently unstable, and it only becomes more dangerously flighty as you guide it over the courses' many bumps, hills, and ramps. It takes a steady hand on the tiller to keep your rider in his seat and off the ground. As a result, you have to constantly correct the bike's balance and acceleration to ensure that you don't over-rotate on a jump or collapse backward while riding up an incline.

To advance through the game to unlock more of its 20 or so tracks, you need to satisfy certain goals on each level, which consist of some combinations of time limits and certain required tricks. For example, you might need to pull off a backflip, a wheelie, and a "big air" (pulling three seconds of air off a jump) during your run, as well as finish the course within 40 seconds. Every trick you successfully complete fills up your nitro meter a bit, boosting your speed and prompting flames to shoot from your tailpipe. Nitro is a fickle force indeed, because the momentum it provides can help you get more air off jumps, and you can finish courses faster with it. However, you'll need to be that much more careful with your balance whenever it's involved in gameplay. Crashing your motorcycle isn't the end of the world, either. You'll quickly get back on your bike, losing any nitro or in-progress trick points you may have earned in the process, in addition to losing precious time and velocity.

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