Crusty Demons: Freestyle Moto-X
- June 29, 2006 00:00 AM PST
Metal loving moto-cross puts a mildly demonic twist on the well-worn Tony Hawk formula with mixed results.
Picking on a bargain priced game with outdated graphics, worn-out play mechanics and the word "Crusty" in its title just wouldn't be nice. Instead we'll just kindly point out that, for the most part, Crusty Demons doesn't offer gamers anything they haven't already seen or played through dozens of times before. To be fair, the game does offer a few clever gameplay gimmicks (like the cool crash bonuses and bail camera), but the majority of the game feels like a watered down version of any of the Tony Hawk titles from the past few years. And therein lays the crux of Crusty Demons' problems.
Setting aside the nonsense story about having to travel the globe pulling off literally suicidal stunts in order to win back your eternal souls from the dark lord Satan, the core gameplay has you exploring free-roaming levels in seven major cities, pulling off tricks, collecting tokens, and completing random objectives. Sound familiar? It should, because Crusty Demons borrows liberally from the genre's predecessors (particularly TH). But mimicking popular and entertaining features of beloved franchises isn't necessarily a bad thing, as much of what made the Tony Hawk series (and similar skating/biking) games so much fun shines through here as well. The biggest problem is that the formula seems to have been followed too closely, leaving us with an enjoyable but terribly familiar formulaic gameplay that lacks the big-time production value and ingenuity of the source material.
Blood Bank
Fortunately, the game does manage to formulate its own identity in a few fun (albeit gimmicky) ways. The aforementioned crash bonuses put a nice spin on the point-earning system by rewarding you for particularly nasty accidents and driver fatalities. Basically, the bigger the crash, the more bones you break, and the more blood you lose (measured in pints you spill) the greater your score. This is a lot of fun for a while, but the frequent, prolonged death scenes grow tiresome quickly. The game also provides a few opportunities to temporarily ditch your motor bike to ride in silly vehicles like a mini-pimp car and tiny ice-cream truck.
In keeping with the outdated feel of the game, the ho-hum graphics seem on par for early Xbox titles but look out of place at the end of this console's life cycle. The audio presentation consists of a handful of appropriate metal tunes and heavily recycled vulgarities (like hearing your characters repeatedly yell: "That f@#*ing stings!" every few crashes). Crusty Demons offers a decent selection of split-screen multiplayer options for up to four bikers, with game variants ranging from straightforward races to trick competitions. The game also presents a nice variety of multiplayer stages as well, but since many of the levels (and even some of the play modes) can only be accessed as unlockable extras, you'll have to slug through the tiring story mode first to play them.
Ghost Riders
On the bright side, Crusty Demons adds to its replay value by offering a large number of unlockable extras including photos, videos, new bikes and additional playmodes. Also featured are more than a dozen playable characters and a nifty trick editor. If you're still not tired of the extreme-sports trick performing/exploration formula, Crusty Demons offers a pleasant but outdated rendition of Tony Hawk style gameplay at a bargain price.
