I don’t think that I’ve ever intentionally left the ground while riding a bike in real life, and on the few times that I have left the ground, it’s often been swiftly followed by me leaving my bike, and then suffering a variety of cuts and bruises. Pumped BMX Pro, which comes from one-man developer Yeah Us! Games, relies on your leaving the ground, added to by all kinds of flips and tricks to complete challenges and gain high scores. It’s the kind of game where an approach of just one more go is paramount, and with 60 different levels and over 200 challenges to complete, there’s more than enough content to keep your fingers busy for many hours.
The 60 levels contained within Pumped BMX Pro are divided into six different areas, each of which (aside from the first, obviously) is unlocked by completing a set number of challenges. Each individual level has four challenges, as well as awards for gaining level scores and trick scores, and the fact that one of the challenges is completed purely by getting to the end of the level should go some way to conveying the challenge that exists within the game. This isn’t an easy game by any stretch of the imagination, but on the other hand, it never feels like its too difficult, or even unfair. There are definite moments of frustration, but these come from not quite being able to nail a trick, or by landing a jump incorrectly, all of which are errors on the players part, and never issues with the game itself.
One of the most enjoyable things that I found while playing Pumped BMX Pro was the fact that I could feel myself learning the game as I played it. Initially, this was learning when to let off the jump button to get the maximum amount of airtime, and then this grew into learning how to time my descent properly, and how to angle my bike to ensure that I landed in a way that would give me the most speed to attempt the next ramp. After this, I could start incorporating tricks into my runs, and once I’d got the layout of each level down, I could begin ticking off the different challenges of each level and unlock some new areas. Obviously, this process isn’t as streamlined as I’ve made it sound, and there were still plenty of times where I was hitting the reset button over and over, hoping the next run would be perfect, but I could feel myself getting better each time.
There’s a real sense of achievement in unlocking a new area, and the experience is balanced well enough that you’ll typically feel like you’ve reached the limits of the areas you currently have available when a new one opens up. You can then focus on the new area and learn new skills, before returning to the earlier levels you found difficult, and completing challenges that previously gave you trouble. It helps that each area is beautiful and unique, and that each new region brings new challenges and mechanics with it. Through forests, mountains, deserts and urban areas, you’ll uncover various different terrains, and challenges such as performing tricks in front of photographers and while ringing bells, which add extra intricacies and require further precision.
Pumped BMX Pro is the kind of game that is best played in small bursts, even if it is sometimes difficult to tear yourself away from the controller. This is because the one downside to the game is that it can start to feel a little repetitive during longer sessions. On the flipside of this, though, is the fact that it’s a perfect game to pick up and play on multiple occasions. If you’ve just got five minutes here and there, you can easily fit in a couple of runs, and if you’ve got a little longer, you can really try and nail a couple of challenges that you’re struggling with. A word of advice, though: don’t try and play this game if you’ve got somewhere to be, or a tight deadline, as you’ll likely miss it.
Though it is available on other platforms, Pumped BMX Pro feels like a perfect fit for the Nintendo Switch and it’s portable nature, and I would strongly recommend picking it up on Nintendo’s console ahead of the other platforms available. This is a highly polished and fine-tuned experience, and it rewards patience, practice and a decent amount of skill. It’s the kind of game that can be recommended to almost anyone, as it’s video gaming in its purest form. It’s not very often these days that you see a game that holds true to the old adage of being easy to learn but hard to master, but Pumped BMX Pro is as close as it comes to being the dictionary definition, and I would argue that you owe it to yourself to have this game in your collection.
