Out of all the Tony Hawk clones, Freestyle BMX 2 is probably the one I’ve seen talked about the most in a positive light. It takes the structure of Tony Hawk games and applies it to another trick-based sport. The biggest thing going for this one is that it has a good amount of levels and isn’t horrible to play, instead being good fun. The biggest difference is that you now have three minutes instead of two.
Freestyle’s biggest issue, though, is the size of the levels. They’re absolutely colossal, and the three minute sessions are not long enough to get to grips with them. They also don’t seem to flow very well, with pockets of trick segments and then spaces that don’t feel very useful. For some of the objectives, you have to speak to an NPC and they’ll give you a quest, which is really how they should have done the whole game, as ditching the timer is the conclusion that the Tony Hawk games came up with when it went the route of much larger levels.
It’s a shame as the core gameplay is good fun, it just needed better flowing levels or a different structure to take advantage of it. Another missing feature is the ability to create your own character, which means you just have a rather drab cast of professional riders to choose from.