There are few features in Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 that are actually somewhere near interesting, but the create-a-track feature is definitely one of them. Acclaim started their “create-a-whatever” idea with their wrestling titles, and now it has made the transition to the world of racing. The included editor is not quite as versatile or powerful in Supercross 2000 when compared to the customizability available in ECW Hardcore Revolution, but it is entertaining to spend an hour taking the time to place down pieces to create that ultimate supercross track that you had sulking in the back of your mind. You can place down over twenty pieces of dirt track that vary from mere turns to different styles of bumps and jumps. It would have been nice to see the development team go the extra mile and let created tracks be uploaded for other players to download, but hey, there’s always next year.

When I first had a chance to check out how this racing excursion was coming along on the Dreamcast at E3, the visuals were, at the least, disappointing. Not long ago, however, Acclaim released a batch of screen shots the improvements that had been made, and we were looking forward to getting our hands on the final revision. Now that we have it, though, it seems those images were a bit "touched up" and when it all starts to move consecutively it begins to completely fall apart. During the single player modes the frame rate is almost never impressive. From time to time (mostly during rare turns where no other racers are on-screen and a limited amount of the track and environment can be seen) it will smooth out, but it’s obvious the programmers for Supercross 2000 were either lazy or woefully incompetent. And as expected, switching over to any of the available multiplayer modes will result in a frame rate that stutters and slows from beginning to end. Speaking besides the frame rate, though, all in all Supercross 2000 fails to make an impression in every other possible area.

The Championship mode is the spot where you will end up spending most of your time with Supercross 2000, and it features two types: 125cc and 250cc. Whichever one becomes the final decision, at first all that is available are the outside tracks. Once those are completed, then the arena tracks will open themselves up. And finally, after both the outside and arena tracks are completed, the two are then jumbled together for the last stretch. The track designs for the two segments are neither spectacular nor terrible, but are more than full of boring repetition that has a habit of continuing over and over again. Oddly enough, Acclaim even attempted to implement stunts into the game, even going as far as throwing together a stunt mode. Don’t get any ideas, though; this is no Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. In fact, not only does there seem to be less than ten possible tricks in the game, but they require to position your hand in odd arrangements simply to pull them off, and even then they aren’t worth the effort. In other words, the tricks and stunt mode are an absolute waste.

You’ll have no problem taking on the artificial intelligence in this game; there’s very little. Without exerting much effort, I was able to tackle nigh all of Supercross 2000’s races and achieve the first place spot. From time to time I might fall behind into second, but that usually was due in part to me being unable to keep track of the direction I was supposed to head in. Even then, I was hard pressed to be more than a couple feet behind the first place racer the entire time. Bumping up the difficulty helped slightly, but nothing that couldn’t be solved through a little practice.

Sure, I could ramble on for another paragraph or two talking about such great topics like how Supercross 2000 has a create-a-bike mode (that has so little possibilities that there are less than ten possibilities), but how much do I need to say? Supercross 2000 could have been much more had Acclaim put a little more effort into their development; many of the ideas implemented could have been fantastic if they were expanded upon. There’s always next year – but isn’t that what we were saying last year?