Motocross
- Motocross (1982 on 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System)
- Motocross (1983 on Atari 2600)
- Motocross (1983 on Intellivision, 2010 on Windows, Xbox 360)
Description official description
Compete in a 10-race motocross season with some of the world's best riders. Trick out your bike by adjusting the fork angle, tire pressure, engine dynamics, suspension, and gear ratio to get the best possible performace. (Different bike configurations are needed to be successful on different tracks.)
Racing dynamics are also valid: your bike can stall, get its wheel or fork bent out of shape, etc. You also have complete control over squaring off (negotiating a corner), the mastery of which is required to do well in the game.
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Screenshots
Credits (DOS version)
11 People (9 developers, 2 thanks)
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 57% (based on 1 ratings)
Players
Average score: 4.0 out of 5 (based on 4 ratings with 2 reviews)
The first motocross simulation to take the sport seriously.
The Good
Despite being flightly and humorous, Motocross is a very serious motocross simulation. You can totally trick out your bike! Modify the fork angle for handling; modify the shocks for handling and traction; adjust tire pressure for friction and to avoid blowouts; adjust engine characteristics from torque-y to pipe-y; you can even modify your gear ratio to match up with your engine for specific purposes (speed, quick acceleration, etc.).
I used to do poorly at the game until I started messing with the bike, and then the game got really fun. You race each track in a tourney twice, which is good because you can use the break before the second round to tweak your bike so that you can take the track better. (If you're patient, you can both preview and practice each track beforehand.)
Hardware support is extremely good; except for a minor speed issue, the game runs on modern PCs even with an analog joystick. It's a bit fast, but still very playable (and is probably the speed they intended the game to run at anyway if it were possible back then).
The best realism factor in the game is "squaring off" -- the technique of leaning hard, putting your foot out for balance, and "powersliding" to take a hard turn. Motocross remains the only motocross simulation I've played (and I've played about 5 or 6) that leaves this capability in the hands of the player; to square off, you quickly flick the joystick back, then forward again. All other sims do this for you automatically, whether or not you want to. You don't always want to, since squaring off is a speed penalty.
Heck, the bike will even stall on you if your revs get below a certain level when you're in a high gear. And you must switch gears manually; no "auto" in this game.
But the best part is, even with all of these sim options, the game is still fun to play.
The Bad
The sound support is a bit lacking; there's no music during gameplay (not that you need it, though), but more nagging is that the sound effects are always through the PC speaker even if you have a Tandy/PCjr sound chip (which is used for all in-game music.
The clipping of bike to track is inconsistent sometimes; you'll occaisionally find yourself totally clearing a mogil on landing, yet you crash the bike.
A track editor would have been nice, but is omitted. (I was about to write that "that's okay because no other racing games in that era had one", but then I caught myself and remembered that both Stunts and Stunt Driver had one, and they came out just a year later.)
The Bottom Line
Despite the number of true-to-life simuation options Motocross has, it is still very fun for even casual racing fans and arcade gamers. For an eleven-year-old game, it is still as enjoyable as the day I bought it.
DOS · by Trixter (8952) · 2000
I got the game for christmas with my first ever joystick... played it until the joystick broke
The Good
If I cast my mind back 10 odd years I think what first liked was the speed, even on the Amstrad 1640 it still rocked. But what makes this game so good is the reward it gives for changing the bike settings. Where before you were speeding down straights with a bit of tweeking you could suddenly clear whole sections off that first big jump.
The Bad
Well, the sound wasn't the best. And the jumps were just red blocks.. but i'm finding it hard to criticise coz i just loved it.
The Bottom Line
How about High Octane Thrills... the best bike game i ever played
DOS · by Mark Saunders (2) · 2001
Trivia
The developers of the game have sprinkled themselves liberally throughout the game -- half the riders you'll face off against are Dynamix employees, complete with pictures (see Screenshots for an example).
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Trixter.
Additional contributors: Roedie.
Game added July 12, 2000. Last modified January 22, 2024.