Downhill Domination : Games : Web Wombat

The shelves are full of titles like Extreem Mountain Klimbing, Razor Turbo Surfing, or my pet favourite, Psychotic Psyberian Sno-bording 2: The Splatterhouse Effect.

Before long, something's gonna hit the fan and it ain't gonna smell sweet or look good, that much is for sure.

But while the growing number of extreme sports games increases, there are still a handful of titles out there that are far from cheap and nasty cash-cows, and Codemasters' slick mountain biking game is one of them.

Despite a largely unoriginal premise, Downhill Domination (DD) manages to impress with slick menus, nice visuals and a solid method of progression that rewards players with cash, in turn allowing them to spend money on better bikes and related components, such as crockery and haberdashery.

From the outset, players have a huge number of options, including the options. In addition to this, there are also single events, training, time trials, four different careers (Freeride, Freestyle, Mountain Cross and Technical Downhill) and lots of multiplayer action for those with friends, or perhaps with people who pretend to be your friend just to play new videogames, and who probably dislike you for getting cushy with their sister. Yeah, I'm talking to you Bobby…

Graphically DD is one very sweet PS2
game. Just watch out for the vermin

As the name suggests, you'll be trying to dominate while going downhill on a mountain bike, though it must be said that riding the bonus Llama down a treacherous mountain pass is pretty cool - and very extreme. Have you ever seen an angry Llama?

So it's basically a downhill race on mountain bikes, and could be compared to the SSX franchise in many ways.

For instance, the way in which you can explore the huge levels and the sense of speed you get are instantly impressive.

The fact that all tracks are made up of very steep slopes, again like SSX, adds tension to proceedings, because there's no shortage of tall pine trees and sharp rocks to impale yourself on.

Further to this, and beyond simply nudging a rival rider into a cliff face, you can even dole out the hurt while riding, simply by punching or kicking other riders off their bikes and potentially snapping their already weak spines on the proceeding 120 metre rocky fall into a pit full of hydrochloric spine-snapping acid.

That said, the combat aspect of the game isn't brilliant, and even with different attacks and weapons, such as projectile water bottles, there's far more fun to be had navigating the breathtaking courses than there is breaking jaws.

The first-person view is tough, but adds
another difficulty level for those who are
rock hard nut cases thriving on adrenaline

Controlling the mountain bikes involves a fairly uncomplicated series of rapid button mashing (for pedalling faster) and analogue stick twiddling (for turning left/right and changing the bike's angle of approach up/down).

Learning the courses helps greatly in the pursuit of complete and utter success, and upgrading one's bicycle is also important, and making use of strategically placed jumps and adrenaline boosts to skip rougher parts of the course also assist.

Of course, there are a whole slew of tricks to perform via the shoulder buttons, about 30 in all, including the Whipped Cat-Nac and the Heel Clicker.

Tricks can be linked for big combinations, and successfully landing them will increase your score and cash flow, but also add to your energy meter (needed for pedalling/acceleration), in another tip of the hat to the SSX franchise.

While speeding down the courses, which have been very lovingly designed I must add, there are numerous pickups scattered about the place. Ride through an 'energy' pickup and you'll be able to pedal/accelerate more often, while the 'adrenaline' boost causes your onscreen persona to blur as you reach implausible speeds on your tredley.

The feel of the bikes and gameplay in general is really quite cool, thanks to a solid physics engine crunching away at the numbers, and impressive collision detection makes for some seriously dramatic crashes.

"Pull my finger"

Even if you're not out for glory in one of the many career modes, the game is always fun, and with a detailed and very clean graphics engine pumping out polygons as far as the eye can see @ 30fps, there are far worse extreme games out there to waste your time with.

Though it may be akin to SSX in many respects, from where I stand this is not a negative thing.

It's not a complete copy of Electronic Art's snowboarding romp, and manages to inject a bit of pizzazz into proceedings with forgiving play mechanics and a satisfyingly gruesome bails engine, employing some neat rag-dolling to boor.

So, is it worth your hard-earned spondoolies? Yeah, I think so.

Casual gamers will find lots to like here, with the accessible gameplay, sweet graphics and sensible physics making up the top three of the list.

Those who actually partake in downhill mountain biking should check out it too, as with all the official sponsors and bikes it comes across as a high quality production.

What more needs to be said? How about this: watch out Psychotic Psyberian Sno-bording 2: The Splatterhouse Project, there's a new kid in town. Boo-yaah.

Game: Downhill Domination
System: PS2
Players: 1-2
Online: No
Developer: Codemasters
Distributor: Atari

Rating: 75%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Downhill Domination is on the shelves now.

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