Occasionally, a sport so great comes along that it warrants a new spelling of a word and I'm not sure who exactly coined the term "Xtreme" sports, but apparently, it applies to all things extreme, or Xtreme, for that matter. This time around we get all of the Xtreme Sports that are ATV (we humble Northern folk call that "Four-Wheelin'") racing, mountain biking, snowboarding and some hardcore speed gliding through the air.
There are also two events that are locked: bungee jumping and sky surfing. Sound fun? Well, it's not Xtremely Fun, but it's all right. Innerloop has managed to crank out a pretty uneven program here. Some of the events are actually borderline enjoyable: snowboarding, mountain biking, even ATV racing. But either there have been some stunning advances in the field of speed gliding or else this game is Xtremely unrealistic. What's the deal with having BALLOONS as your primary source of navigation? A little airplane flies you through the course and attached to said airplane is your hang glider. You glide around but in order to win, you have to fly through blue balloons in order to gain acceleration. Have it be air thrust or something, something that has a logical explanation or consistency. The other games don't require you to board or bike through balloons, so why the speed gliding? Ooh, I get it. After all, it is SPEED gliding as opposed to HANG gliding, after all this is Xtreme. But Balloons? Hey, keep in mind to watch out for the red balloons, after all, they slow you down!!! It's just Xtremely stupid, and nothing more.
The control between the different games remains fairly fluid and responsive, if a bit sluggish but it's easy to adapt to after playing the game for an adequate amount of time. There are only four characters for you to select from, and while this seems like a small amount, it really makes no difference.
If there is an area that Xtreme Sports actually succeeds in, it would definitely be the graphical department. The game looks great though I must admit that the lens flare graphic is a little ... uhh ... Xtreme. The whole screen does not have to be overtaken by a flaring yellow circle. You'd think the sun went supernova or something. The rest of the graphics look great though. There is a strange graphical addition (I hesitate to call it a glitch) where the terrain seems to morph into the track when you're traveling at great speeds. I don't know if it was done to up the frame rates but it sure looks trippy and it can be a distraction on some of the courses.
If Xtreme Sports are your thing, then I think this title will do you well. One great feature that Innerloop achieved was tying the events to each other so that you experience most of the events on one track though, once again, this forsakes a little realism now and again. Snowboarding down a live volcano in Maui? I don't know about that one ...
All in all, the better events should keep devotees coming back for more with this game. Though it isn't a great game, it is Xtremely average and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Give it a try if you're interested, you may just find something to suck your time away.
-Jake
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