The main chunk of the game is spent in the Series mode. You pick between 150cc and 250cc, which changes the difficulty of the courses and artificial intelligence (neither of which are very difficult to begin with). You then start off in outside tracks for 10 or so races, move onto ones that take place in crowded inside arenas for another 10 and then move into the integrated series that introduces both inside and outside back and forth. Thirty races might seem like a lot on the outside, but because of the artificial intelligence being no challenge most of the time (only once or twice was my 1st place position actually challenged, and during those times I never fell behind 2nd), you should be able to blaze through all three sections in a few brief hours.

Quite the oddity, the PlayStation version of Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 actually has a better frame rate than version running on the Dreamcast. Of course, on the PlayStation it is lacking the extra visual features that eliminate nuisances like pixelation and the like, but the slowdown that is so rampant on the Dreamcast happens much less on the PlayStation, and it’s also a whole lot less noticeable. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have any spectacular visuals to begin with, so the extra frame rate boost adds very little. The animation for the models is also a bit strange; when the racers are revving their engines prior to the start, they seem to be performing rather “odd” movements to the bike. I suggest you find a movie and check it out for yourself. As a whole, there is a distinct lack of attention paid to the detail throughout the game.

I’m not sure how this wasn’t noticed earlier on into development, but if the control had been worked on a little more Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000 could have been a lot better. I understand the use of the Rear Brake so that you can make sharper turns, but the bikes have been designed so that you have to use the brake on every single turn in the game. Only on straight-aways will you not be using the Rear Brake, but even then you might be tempted to do so! And things aren’t helped by the fact that the Rear Brake does not seem to slow you down enough to pull off a decent powerslide, and you can’t use the Front Brake as an alternative since some oddball programmer made it so that within a half second of you touching the Front Brake, you immediately come to an absolute halt.

Acclaim has kept a tradition in most of their titles to include some type of “create-a” mode; they have become well known for their in-depth customization in the wrestling titles. For Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000, the players are given the chance to create their own arena dirt track. One of my only problems with the mode is that you cannot create any type of outside environment. I understand that you couldn’t customize what was actually in the backgrounds, but it would have been nice to at least have an already created choice. But anyway, there are over twenty different pieces of rotate-able track that can be laid down anywhere and everywhere on a relatively large piece of land, as long as the pieces match up so that the person racing is unable to go “outside” the track. The feature is a little limiting, sure, but something that could end up being extremely cool in next year’s inevitable rendition.

Examining all that there is to Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000, the stupidest and most useless feature ever is the stunt/trick mode. There are a couple tracks to pick from that you can do stunts at, but there seem to be less than ten stunts that you can do, and none of them are easy enough to pull off that you could do them without looking directly at the manual itself. It doesn’t seem to be competing with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, but with games like that already out and the upcoming Dave Mirra FreeStyle BMX, why was this even included? Was it to ridicule and provide cruel and unusual punishment those who purchased the game even more? The world may never know!

Acclaim is improving as they go along, but the improvement process is taking far too long and it hasn't been worth the wait so far. There are some cool ideas that have the potential to break out and turn the game’s quality right around, but considering Acclaim's track record, who knows when this will happne. Go pick up Excitebike 64 for the Nintendo 64 instead.