Pumped BMX+ Review

Pumped BMX+ is about riding your bike through a series of increasingly difficult stages and performing crazy tricks and combinations. You are able to choose your style from the start screen before taking on over 500 challenges.

I remember when I was younger playing games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Mat Hoffman’s Pro BMX and remember the fun I used to have. Many sports games these days are far too serious this can was a nice change with Pumped BMX+. This is great for having fun with and simple messing around to get the best score you can. At the start there’s a tutorial to help you become accustomed to the controls like how to gain speed, jump and perform tricks.

Pumped BMX+ is from the same team that produced OlliOlli, (which I loved) and is clear, as this game feels similar in terms of gameplay and theme. Tricks are performed using the right analog stick. Holding it in various directions performs different tricks. They can also be modified with the bumpers as well as performing back and front flips by adjusting the rider. It all sounds great, but there is rarely enough air to perform the more complex ones as well as getting the speed for the next jump.

You have five levels to choose from and you start with the basic set before unlocking others once you have hit enough target challenges. What I like about this game is how if you become stuck on a level you can move on to the next to try those challenges. It’s about hitting a certain number of targets to open the next stage. Each stage has nine levels and these have four challenges. That means that for any one level there are at least 10 unique challenges. If you consider yourself a completionist there’s certainly enough here for you to dive into.

Pumped BMX + uses the hit game ‘Pumped BMX 2’ as inspiration – taking everything which made the mobile version so successful and enhancing every aspect of it for console. Visually the game looks good, it certainly looks vibrant and colourful and there’s also a good choice of customisable items you can select from for your character and bike.

Gameplay is great fun if you enjoy trying to beat your previous score or completing many challenges. The game is great because you can either sit and play for long periods of time or just mess around with in short bursts. It’s also nice how you can skip levels and return later, this offers a degree of flexibility and freedom. As you get more accustomed to the control scheme you will soon be able to perform bigger tricks, which is satisfying.

Overall I enjoyed Pumped BMX+ because of it fun gameplay and pleasing aesthetics. It’s much like OlliOlli, which is a good thing. The gameplay mechanics are similar but feels different as this time you ride a bike rather than a skateboard. It boasts a fully licensed electronic soundtrack from some of the best upcoming artists and bands and I would recommend this game if you enjoy things like Trials Fusion or Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It’s an addictive, vibrant game that’s fairly enjoyable. It would have been nice if there could have been some additions to the console versions but overall a fun experience.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.