Championship Motocross
I’m not a biker, particularly not a dirt biker. The
 nearest I ever came was at the age of twelve when I used to
 career down the slopes of slagheaps at the local pit. Even then
 I almost always ended up with a puncture and faced a long and 
weary walk home. This total ineptitude is reflected in the
 totally crap performances I manage when attempting to play any 
game that involves 2 wheels instead of four (and I’m not 
brilliant at those either). Fortunately, there haven’t been many
 motorbike games with which to display my failings but when I 
popped in CHAMPIONSHIP MOTOCROSS FEATURING RICKY CARMICHAEL I 
thought, “Here’s one I could do well at”. 

I chose ‘Quick Race’ from the 5 gameplay options, just to get a
 feel for it, then let the other 7 riders scream off into the 
distance while I throttled carefully at first. With growing 
confidence I increased speed but soon made contact with a hay
 bale. Surprisingly, I didn’t fall off and this gave me even
 more confidence. I went faster – hit some more hay – stayed on –
 hit some more… I could apparently do no wrong. By this time, of
 course, the race was all but over and after watching a replay
 of my fumblings I decided to ‘go for it’. 

The next race started and I took the revs up full, showering mud
 on anyone foolish enough to be nearby. I took the bend – 5th
 place and the leaders still in sight. Then came a jump and I
 caught some air, landed well and hit hay… Fell off – last 
place…! The automatic remount takes a second or two while the
 engine is kick-started again but I ended up heading straight 
for another barrier and off I came again. By this time you may 
as well not bother as catching the leaders from here is an 
impossible task. Obviously the knack is to stay in the saddle,
 keep to the race line and negotiate jumps and bends like a pro –
 which I’m not…! 

Practice will obviously improve performance and your course 
records for longest jump, highest jump and fastest lap can be 
saved and beaten. Practice sessions may be the key but you could
 also select Championship, two player or time attack. There is a
 choice of 125, 250 and 500cc machines in a variety of styles 
and set ups and you’ve got 12 tracks to test them on. The in-
game visuals are pretty good, as are the sound effects, but the 
heavy rock background track became a little annoying after a 
while.  

If you love biking titles you should enjoy this one. It gives a
 real ‘feel-for-speed’ that some other games lack but, for the
 sake of the neighbours, play it with the volume turned down…!