The summer is almost upon us and usually with this comes a dearth of video games, however before they dry up completely there are a few games of interest on the horizon, one of them being Dave Mirra BMX Challenge for the PSP.

It is fair to say that there hasn’t been a Dave Mirra game in quite a while and with no BMX game ever being released on the PSP previously you would think that this would make an interesting and exciting combination, so does it?

Well in the preview copy that we have tested I’m pleased to say that it does, the game is very easy to pick up and play, (perhaps too easy even), tricks are simple to pull off and it is nice touch that the characters are customizable, in fact you can even create your own character, which gives it that more personal feel.

There are a few single player modes to be found in the game although you will spend most of your time in career mode, where you build your bikers reputation up as you go, the other modes are nice for a quick race although the only thing you really accomplish in these is improving your skills.

Once you get into the action there are a number tricks that you can pull off in the game such as no-hander’s and 180’s as well as being able to flip and jump to your hearts content, the tracks are quite varied too, with a science museum, a pier and a school yard amongst others and during the event there are all sorts of obstacles in your path, although for some reason you seem to pass through  some of the environments. 

There are plenty of unlockables too with hidden items scattered over the tracks, meaning you can customise your character even further with shoes, T-shirts and whatever else you find. 

With all the tricks available and tracks available this seems like it could match the PSP well, after all the whole point of a handheld console is to be able to pick up and play it without having to go into it’s life story, that’s what consoles like PS3 and Xbox 360 are for.

In the time playing Dave Mirra, we have really enjoyed it and our only complaints are that it seems a bit too easy and you can pass through trees, which is a bit odd when the table you run into knocks you off your bike, perhaps these bugs will be fixed in the retail copy though and if so then this has the making of a nice little PSP game.

Words by Wotta