''3Xtreme'' is a

racing game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

released for the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

in 1999. As with '' 2Xtreme'', ''3Xtreme'' contains

skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport originating in the United States that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a ...

skating Skating involves any sports or recreational activity which consists of traveling on surfaces or on ice using skates, and may refer to: Ice Skating *Ice skating, moving on ice by using ice skates **Figure skating, a sport in which individuals, ...

, and

cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

options to reach the goal before opponent players.

Gameplay

In ''3Xtreme'', the players take part in specific events using

skateboards A skateboard is a type of sports equipment used for skateboarding. They are usually made of a specially designed 7-8 ply maple plywood deck and polyurethane wheels attached to the underside by a pair of skateboarding trucks. The skateboarder ...

, BMX or

inline skates Inline skates are a type of roller skate used for inline skating. Unlike quad skates, which have two front and two rear wheels, inline skates typically have two to five wheels arranged in a single line. Some, especially those for recreation, ha ...

. With the simplistic nature of each stage, the focus is on doing tricks instead of pure driving. There are more than 22 courses, mostly taken from ''2Xtreme''. They include parks, subways, mountains and islands. Each trick, for which

Dave Mirra David Michael Mirra (April 4, 1974 – February 4, 2016) was an American BMX rider who also competed in rallycross racing. He set the record for most medals in BMX Freestyle at the X Games (later tied by Scotty Cranmer) and earned at least one ...

and Andy MacDonald did

motion-capture Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

, can be linked into combos. Some of them are rail slides, board grabs and 360 degree turns. ''3Xtreme'' rewards doing trick moves as good as possible by giving points, judging by how well they were performed. They can be used afterwards to upgrade the vehicles. The game contains several modes: exhibition (is used to prepare for the race against the opponents), freestyle (competition in who gets the most trick points), and season (playing through three circuits which unlocks some equipment and extra tracks).

Development

''3Xtreme'' was developed by

989 Sports 989 Studios was a division of Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) that developed games for PlayStation consoles and Windows personal computers. Their games include ''EverQuest'', '' Twisted Metal III'', ''Twisted Metal 4'', ''Syphon Filte ...

, with Ed Loonam as the

product manager A product manager (PM) is a professional role that is responsible for the development of products for an organization, known as the practice of product management. Product managers own the product strategy behind a product (physical or digital), ...

. The idea was to incorporate the speed pace from 1Xtreme, while keeping some fighting elements from 2Xtreme. Unlike the previous games in the series which used sprites, every in-game object was fully polygonal and all tracks were designed to be longer. The vehicles were based on real-life models from several manufacturers, such as

Trek Bicycle Corporation Trek Bicycle Corporation is a bicycle and cycling product manufacturer and distributor under brand names Trek, Electra Bicycle Company, Bontrager, and Diamant Bikes. The company has previously manufactured bikes under the Gary Fisher, LeMond Rac ...

K2 Sports K2 Sports, LLC (K2 Sports) is an American winter sports company headquartered in Seattle, Washington. K2 Sports operates the K2 Skis, K2 Snowboarding, K2 Skates, Backcountry Access, Ride Snowboards, Tubbs Snowshoes, Atlas Snow-Shoe Company, LIN ...

GT Bicycles GT Bicycles is an American company that designs and manufactures BMX, mountain, and road bicycles. GT is a division of the Dutch conglomerate Pon Holdings, which also markets Cannondale, Schwinn, Mongoose, IronHorse, DYNO, and RoadMaster bicyc ...

and

Tum Yeto Tum Yeto is a skateboard distribution company that operates out of San Diego, California, United States (U.S.). History Founded in 1989 by former professional skateboarder, Tod Swank, Tum Yeto manufactures, distributes, exports and wholesales th ...

. Sony spent millions of dollars marketing the game.

Reception

The game received unfavorable reviews according to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

. '' Next Generation'' said that the game was "yet another formula 'don't do much for the sequel, because they're gonna buy it anyway' production."

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:3xtreme 1999 video games BMX video games Cycling video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiple-sport video games North America-exclusive video games PlayStation (console) games PlayStation (console)-only games Racing video games Roller skating video games Skateboarding video games Snowboarding video games Sony Interactive Entertainment games Video games developed in the United States Xtreme (video game series)