Back in the early noughties
, when angst-driven teenagers walked around the streets in baggy torn trousers and dog chains, donning hooded sweatshirts with the logos of bands such as Slipknot, Linkin Park and Limp Bizkit; a game like BMX XXX was probably considered pretty badass to own. Imagine if you were around 13 to 14 years of age, loved swearing and listening to rock bands for you was more of a rebellious fashion statement than an appreciation of the art and your dad actually went out and bought a game for you that was certified for 18 years and up that contained every type of profanity imaginable. You'd probably go brag to your friends. Of course you would.
BMX XXX was probably never appreciated as a good game, due to all the criticism it received on release because sexual humour and nudity weren't widely explored territories in mainstream video games. Europe was okay with the game, but the sales were terrible. Although the game was released to PS2, Xbox and GameCube, it only sold 100,000 copies. But despite all the negativity surrounding the game, it's really not that bad. Basically BMX XXX is a BMX game, but with added nudity (you can chose to make a female rider completely topless, tits n' all) and toilet humour, probably as a method of boosting sales (as mentioned above, a game containing such things would probably have been considered cool by rebellious teenagers).
I picked up this game about half a year ago pre-owned. I am a big fan of extreme sports games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater so this seemed like something I would enjoy. I did enjoy it, despite it being rather difficult, especially around the competitions (which are really really hard). If you have played any of the Tony Hawk games the controls are very easy to master. The levels look and play great for a game like this. A cool thing is that if you complete specific missions, new areas open up in the levels. The goals, although sometimes tedious, are fun to play and the toilet humour, despite being criticised, makes them that little bit more enjoyable. The graphics aren't terrible but aren't good either. But popular games like Minecraft and Super Mario have proved that good graphics doesn't always make a good game. The soundtrack is fantastic for a game that focuses around the BMX, Skateboarding and youth culture, featuring awesome songs such as Green Day's 'Basket Case', New Found Glory's 'My Friend's Over You', N*E*R*D's 'Lapdance', Taking Back Sunday's 'Cute Without The E' and Saliva's 'Click Click Boom'.
If you are looking for a BMX game for the PS2, out of the ones I have played, I believe BMX XXX is actually much better than Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX 2 (as good as that game is). It handles much better, you can create a rider, the levels and goals are much more fun to play, the soundtrack is better and the unlockables are way too good. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention you can actually unlock full nude stripper videos if you complete certain goals. Perhaps not worth completing so many missions for, but still a cheeky bonus.
