Gravity's designers don't have Hawk-like accuracy when trying to Mirra the quality of other extreme sports titles - perhaps their testers should have been more Aggressive, Inline with today's gaming standards.

For those of you who prefer not to read an entire review, Gravity Games is dull. Average, mediocre, uninspired. It's not a masterpiece and neither is it a big pile of manure. It is simply adequate. As with all games of this type you can pull an amazing amount of trick combinations, but this is where it falls down a little. There is not quite so much variety as with other titles I could mention, but also the tricks are not particularly easy to pull off. I'm not saying I want it all to be dead easy, but the system of button presses doesn't flow very well. It's just a little awkward and not that much fun. Also, it takes quite a while to build up enough speed to pull off most of the moves, meaning that you spend a lot of your time ramping back and forth to pick up speed again after the last trick you tried didn't quite work. However, the most annoying aspect of this is that you have to push forward on the directional stick to increase your speed. You also have to press forward to exit a ramp. So when you want to speed back and forth, pulling off trick combos, you have to remember to let off the joystick just as you reach the top of the ramp then push forward as you go back down. It might sound like a petty thing, but it isn't. It's a very big thing that adds to the clumsiness of the controls. Also, you can't back pedal, which wouldn't be quite so bad if you didn't keep getting stuck in corners of the scenery. But you do. And it is.

There are ten levels to explore, but there's nothing remarkable about them. The locations are dull, most of them look pretty drab and the level designs are forgettable. There're plenty of opportunities for ramping up some speed, pulling off endless tricks and grinding to hidden locations, but it's just not as interesting or enjoyable as it should be. I will give credit where it's due for a good and imaginative variety of objectives in the Career mode, there are plenty of quirky tasks to complete and humour is used to good effect, if you're not already too bored to laugh at anything. So as well as reaching a certain score or performing a combo, you are asked to flick switches, catch or rescue people, smash things and so on. The unlocking system is good too, meaning that most levels are unlocked simply by completing a set number of objectives overall, so you can pick and choose the objectives you want to aim for and ignore the ones that you can't do or can't be bothered to do.

The graphics in this game are (like everything else) average. They are competent, but there's no spark of imagination or flair of creativity, in fact I didn't realise so many different shades of grey existed until I played this. They really must have used the whole palette of greys. Okay, so I'm exaggerating a little, but the levels could have been a lot more vibrant and colourful than they are. The rider animation is not that great either, the falls and smashes aren't that funny and the smears of blood that occur from most falls are just stupid. The camera manages to be more jerky than other similar titles I've played, I don't know what it is but it can be dizzying at times. One good feature is the use of overhead cameras that are activated when you get big air on a ramp, so we see the rider fly up towards it and back down. The sound effects are mediocre and although there is a good range of music tracks (with a customisable playlist), the quality of the selection is questionable. There is a range of players to choose from and bikes to unlock. There are free ride and multiplayer modes as well as the Career Mode where you have 3 minutes to achieve your objectives.

Gravity Games fails to do anything different or even imaginative in almost every aspect of the game. It's dull and will leave you feeling empty inside. If you must have BMX larks then Dave Mirra's your man but if you long for something other than Tony Hawk, give Aggressive Inline a try. Then you'll see just how colourful and imaginative games like this should be.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).