Besides playing games, real Mountain Biking is an hobby of mine. The freedom and the sensation of almost being part of nature is something that inspires me and keeps me motivated.
NUMBER 6
MOUNTAINBIKE CHALLENGE 2010 (PC)
Developed
by GreenTube, Mountainbike Challenge 2010 is a freeware title financed by in-game
advertising.
Graphics are great, the controls are simple, but the music is a
bit repetitive.
It still has a huge online community and thousands of people
still play it online.
There’s only 5 tracks available, but, in a free game,
what else could you ask? It’s freaking fun!
Go play it!
NUMBER 5
No Fear
Downhill Mountain Bike Racing (1999 – PS ONE)
Developed by Unique Development Studios and released
by Codemasters in 1999 for the PS ONE, No Fear Downhill Mountain Bike Racing
features 8 international tracks and 8 riders to choose from.
The tracks are long and based on real locations and
you can customize your bike on almost every detail.
To win you need to conserve your energy, so try to
maintain your speed at all time.
Reviews were really bad but, who cares? It’s made for
people that love riding bicycles and not play freaking football!
Later, in 2001, was also available for the Game Boy
Color. A planed Dreamcast version was canceled.
NUMBER 4
Mountain Bike Adrenaline (PS2 - 2007)
Mountain Bike Adrenaline isn’t as bad as most people praise.
It tries to be a real mountain bike simulator and, when you get used to the
controls, its great fun.
Developed by Fresh 3D and released in 2008 by Nobilis,
it has a sense of freedom that no other mountain bike game has to offer. And I
love that feeling!
You control separately the front and the rear brakes
and use automatic or manual shifting.
Unfortunately, the physics engine is a
piece of crap. The budget that the developers had for this title was really low
compared to other games made for the PS2 at the time. So, they couldn’t use the
Havok physics engine in this game. It was too expensive.
Those who are actual mountain bikers are the only ones
that will probably enjoy this game’s open tracks.
It was ported, in 2008, for the PC.
NUMBER 3
Bike Mayhem Mountain Racing (Android - 2014)
Horizontal scroolers is what android and
iOS games are all about! Simple and fun! And the graphics in this game are simply beautiful!
You compete
in timed races or freestyle trick events on 19 different mountains and over 100
trails inspired by real world locations.
You unlock better bikes and gear and
try to be the King of the Mountain!
Physics are somewhat realistic and the ragdoll effect
of the rider is awesome.
When you crash, use your finger to pick up the rider and
throw him even further watching him tumbling down the trail! So freaking
hilarious!
Developed by BestFreeGames Inc. and
released in May 2014, Bike Mayhem Mountain Racing is a great piece of software
that should always be in your pocket.
NUMBER 2
Mountain
Bike Simulator or Mountain Bike 500 (ZX Spectrum – 1991)
Published by Codemasters in 1991, Mountain Bike Simulator
(aka Mountain Bike 500) was my first experience on a virtual mountain bike
scenario.
It’s an horizontal scroller, just like actual Android and iOs games,
that glued me to the ZX Spectrum for hours.
In a time that BMX bikes ruled, mountain bike started
to gain followers spite the prohibitive price tag of the machines.
Obviously that this game fails to replicate the actual
feel of riding a bike over rough terrain, but that would be a tad difficult to
do on a Spectrum anyway.
You have to navigate through small and large bumps,
jump over ditches and pools of water or oil. You only need to control the speed
of the bike and whether you want to jump or wheelie or both.
There’s six levels of increased difficulty and it’s
really hard to win in all of them, but the smoothness of the scrolling is what
makes this game a winner.
The game received shitty reviews mainly because the
sport was a novelty and, back then, either you buy a ZX Spectrum or a brand new
mountain bike. You just couldn’t have them both. You’ll be bankrupt, that’s for
sure!
NUMBER 1
Downhill
Domination (PS2 – 2004)
Donwhill Domination is simply my favorite mountain
bike game of all time.
The action, the soundtrack, the graphics, the speed!
Oh, man! Everything is amazing and super fun!
It’s totally an hidden gem and reviews were, as always
in this sport, total crap. Guys that sit all days on their asses playing games
and making reviews for websites and magazines should go out to the mountains
more often!
Exclusive to the PlayStation 2, Downhill Domination
was developed by Incognito Entertainment and released by Codemasters in 2004 in
Europe and a year earlier in the US by Sony Computer Entertainment of America.
It’s based on fictional locations and riders, but you
can unlock 5 professional racers, such as Brian Lopes and Eric Carter.
Due to the incline of the tracks, you’re always riding
downhill and there’s 27 of them to conquer. You travel around the world from
the Grand Canyon to Japan and there’s a bunch of different styles of riding
from which to choose, including Freeride, Mountain Cross and Technical
Downhill.
There’s some impressive and huge courses to play with
an amazing level of detail and the environment changes often. In a minute
you’re on the top of this mountain covered with snow and seconds later you’ll
find yourself on a stony section or blasting your way through a mine shaft that
leads to a completely different section again. There’s even polar bears, deers,
vehicles and hikers that you can hit or be hit by.
This game was designed to be played fast and do stuff
that you’ll normally won’t do in real life.
I simply enjoy exploring the wilderness and everything offroad related. Mountain biking is a thing that I really love to do ever since I learned to ride a bicycle.
Forever I’ve been on a lookout for mtb games that could keep me occupied in those cold winter Saturday mornings.
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