The sharp controls allow for the players to weave around obstructions in the course as well as the other computer controlled riders. The turns are very tight and the responsiveness of the controls allow the player to do as many tricks as possible before landing after a jump. To gain more height on the jumps to do more tricks, the player can make the bike riderpush back on the shocks at the bottom of a hill and release them at the top to create a springboard like effect, and go to heights unattainable without doing so. Your speed, bike angle, and the way your biker is positioned on the bike all contribute to the way your bike responds to the ground it is driving over. In the story mode the player must place in the top three to unlock another race. If you do not make the top three, there is no penalty and you may restart another game to move on to the next track. The freestyle mode is much different. There are a variety of challenges one has to complete in order to unlock more challenges, and move on to another freestyle map. The challenges include a series of targets that your bike has to land on after every jump, a timed freestyle measured by the number of points one scores in the time frame, a race against a vehicle that is not a dirt bike, and a contest in which the player must hit ten targets after jumps before the other seven racers. After you have beaten one of these challenges, then the player unlocks the harder version of the challenge. Finally, once one reaches the requirement for the challenges, then you unlock the next stage to do those challenges.
Graphics
This game has very similar graphics to games that have been previously made by Rainbow Studios such as ATV Offroad Fury and ATV Offroad Fury 2. As you drive across the terrain, the track in the distance fogs in and fogs in as you go away from it rather than it just appearing out of nowhere. For the age of the game, it has a far render distance that lets the player see the terrain that is very far away. Although the game is not stunningly beautiful, the landscapes are huge and the editors truly did not have enough time to make every aspect of the game perfect. The terrain is covered with many different types of objects like trees, buildings, vehicles, and many other items that need to be dodged to maneuver throughout the map. With all these items, there is not a whole lot of "dead" space throughout the game.
Reception
MX Unleashed received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregatorMetacritic. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of MX Unleashed had sold 740,000 copies and earned $22 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 88th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of the MX Unleashed series reached 1.5 million units in the United States by July 2006.
