Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt

Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt, stylised as Gravity Games Bike: Street• Vert• Dirt, is a sports video game developed and published by Midway for the PlayStation 2 and the Xbox. It was released in North America on June 27, 2002 for the PlayStation 2, and on September 4, 2002 for the Xbox. It was the first, last, and only game released under the Gravity Games license by Midway.

Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt
Developer(s)Midway Studios San Diego
Publisher(s)Midway Home Entertainment
Programmer(s)Detmar Petereke
Daniel Chambers
Rachid El Guerrab
Randy Johns
Gary Kroll
Jeff MacArthur
Composer(s)Aubrey Hodges
Platform(s)PlayStation 2, Xbox
ReleasePlayStation 2
  • NA: June 27, 2002
  • EU: September 27, 2002
Xbox
  • NA: September 4, 2002
  • EU: September 27, 2002
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

The game garnered mostly negative reception from critics. Reviewers criticized the game's broken gameplay, graphical glitches, and collision detection problems. Some critics, however, praised the game's large level designs. It is considered to be one of the worst video games of all time.

Gameplay
The player grinds on a rail.

Gravity Games Bike is a BMX video game, and features gameplay similar to that of the Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX games. It features 21 characters and 10 levels.[1] The player controls a BMX biker, and is required to complete various goals within levels to unlock later courses.[2] As the player performs tricks, they gain more points and fulfill requirements in the game. The control scheme is similar to that of the Dave Mirra games in that one button on the controller is used to perform tricks, and another is used to modify the trick once it is performed.[2] Unlike other similar games, Gravity Games Bike rewards the same number of points for performing the same trick repeatedly.[2] The game has several different multiplayer modes.[3]

Development

Midway announced a partnership with EMAP USA on January 18, 2000, giving them the rights to the Gravity Games license.[4] It began development under the title Gravity Games: Bike and was the first game developed under the license.[5] The name of the game changed to Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt by August 2001, and IGN noted the game's fluid trick system in one of its initial builds.[6] IGN's Douglass Perry noted Midway's attention to detailed level design in a preview for the game.[7] IGN's Chris Carle previewed the game at E3 2002 and praised the game's level design but criticized the graphics and the slow-moving pace of the game.[1]

Reception

Both versions of the game were panned by critics, and are notable for their negative reception. The GameCube version of the game was canceled due to lower than expected sales for all Midway games, though GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann attributed the cancellation to its negative reception.[11][15] The game received the "Worst Game of the Year" award from GameSpot for both its Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions.[16]

The PlayStation 2 version of the received a 24% and a 37% from Metacritic and GameRankings respectively.[8][10] GameSpy's Miguel Lopez criticized the unresponsive controls, collision detection, and sound design, stating "... Dirt has ...a propensity to live up to its name."[12] IGN's Chris Roper compared it unfavorably to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial for the Atari 2600,[13] which is often considered one of the worst games of all time.[17] Roper noted that the game was full of glitches and had an unresponsive control scheme.[13] GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann called the gameplay "broken" and the game itself "unfinished".[2] GameZone's Natalie Romano praised the game's sound selection, level size, and character variety, while calling the control scheme "one of the game's major weaknesses."[3]

The Xbox version of the game received a 22.5% from GameRankings, and the criticisms were mostly the same as those seen for the PlayStation 2 version.[9] Jeff Gerstmann criticized the game for its glitches and control issues, and wrote, "Wasn't it canceled?".[11]

References
  1. Carle, Chris (May 24, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. Preview". IGN. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  2. Gerstmann, Jeff (July 10, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt Review for PS2". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 3, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  3. Romano, Natalie (July 11, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on August 22, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  4. Perry, Douglass C. (January 18, 2000). "Midway and Emap Join Up for Extreme Games". IGN. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  5. Perry, Douglass C. (January 24, 2000). "Midway Confirms First Gravity Game". IGN. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  6. Zdyrko, Dave (August 17, 2000). "Midway Gamers' Day: First Shots of Defender, Gravity Games and Mortal Kombat". IGN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2007. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  7. Perry, Douglass C. (February 26, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. Preview". IGN. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  8. "Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt for PS2". GameRankings. Archived from the original on July 21, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  9. "Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt for Xbox". GameRankings. Archived from the original on July 3, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  10. "Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt (ps2: 2002): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on August 13, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
  11. Gerstmann, Jeff (October 11, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street Vert Dirt Review for Xbox". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  12. Lopez, Miguel (August 17, 2002). "GameSpy.com – Review". GameSpy. Archived from the original on August 19, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  13. Roper, Chris (October 15, 2002). "Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. Review". IGN. Archived from the original on February 1, 2009. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  14. Roper, Chris (February 9, 2004). "Gravity Games Bike: Street. Vert. Dirt. Review". IGN. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  15. Varanini, Glancario (July 2, 2002). "MK delayed, Gravity Games for the GC canceled". GameSpot. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
  16. GameSpot Staff (December 30, 2002). "GameSpot's Best and Worst of 2002". GameSpot. Archived from the original on February 7, 2003.
  17. Parish, Jeremy. "The Most Important Games Ever Made: #13: E.T." 1UP.com. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved July 9, 2009.
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