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ANYONE WHO HAS ALREADY played a game designed by EA Big will know what to expect by now. Fast, arcade-style romps filled with tricks, stunts and silky smooth visuals are just some of the merits that go into each and every game this design team touches. Now, as we turn our attention to their latest title it's clear to see EA Big have grabbed some of the best elements of their previous games and sunk them into making Freekstyle. But does this also mean we have seen it all before? Or maybe its better to ask ourselves, if we have seen it all before, does it really matter with something this fun?
Freekstyle has a very "heavy metal" feel about it, with much of the presentation revolving around a bunch of characters that appear to have been ripped out of a really corny-looking gang. There also seems to be tattoos and tags everywhere which seeks to create a feel for a target audience of those people who enjoy engaging in extreme sports. The actual in-game graphics and animation are on par with Sled Storm, so there's nothing majorly special or innovative to be seen, but this doesn't matter so much due to the great sense of overall speed you will experience throughout different sections of the tracks. This game certainly isn't slow.
The tracks themselves can get extremely long. Some may see this as a good thing, but I have to admit while playing through the second track it was often hard to tell how far through a lap you were, because most of the track looked the same. The majority of the tracks have a bit more variety thankfully, and the horizon distance is impressively long, meaning you can see well ahead and can plan what you will do on the next ramp before you reach it. Each stage also appears to have its own theme, spanning from factories to gnomish mazes with each look being vastly different from the previous track. EA Big have also made some great use of special effects, including some nice-looking flames and explosions, and an impressive motion blur that kicks in when you activate your turbo boost.
Looking down the barrel of dirt bike sound effects, you may need to tell your family and friends to head for the hills. Like Formula One racing cars, dirt bikes have an extremely droning engine that could drive an innocent observer stir crazy after a few minutes of listening to it. Its not so bad for the players themselves, as they'll be using the changes in engine pitch to know when it's a good time to use a turbo (to get past slower muddy patches etc). The engine sounds are actually nicely sampled too, so whereas the game itself is stretching reality somewhat, at least a player has no trouble believing they are using a real dirt bike. Other sound effects include grunts, groans, and the usual whoops and hollers you'd expect to hear from the characters when they pull off a nice trick, and the music is all performed by Dry Cell, not that you'd notice past the high-pitched whine of the motorcycle itself. |
