Just to get some minor flaws out of the way: - No dedicated freeroam/exploration mode is a little disappointing considering how fun these maps are to explore - Load times kinda suck, especially with the track creator - Splitscreen multiplayer setup is confusing because it uses the same format as the online lobbies (which was an excellent online system back in the day
Now with that out of the way, this is my favorite "realistic extreme motorsports" game of all time for tons of reasons. The responsiveness of the leaning/steering controls is something that peaked with this game, try playing with both thumbs on the sticks if you don't believe me, gamefeel is extremely natural here and it runs flawlessly on the old PS2 hardware. AI is tough but fair. The shop system has just the absolute perfect amount of customizability and practical versatility, giving you clear cut upgrade goals while also allowing preferred racing styles to be explored.
And oh my lord, the tracks in this game. The downhill sponsorship tracks and the incredible P2P campaign systems alone are worth the price of admission for this game, but it features some of the best motorcross levels in gaming history as its bread and butter.
Great progression, great performance, great level design, great AI design, this is everything a racing game needs to be, and the trick system, the custom levels, the multiplayer and the extremely fun heavy-class vehicles are heaps of icing on a delicious cake. Anybody saying 2 is the best in the series hasn't played this long enough.
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