BMX XXX received "mixed or average" reviews on all platforms according to video game
review aggregator Metacritic, with some reviewers concluding that the game was lacking in innovation outside of its vulgarity and sexual content. Todd Zuniga of
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine further denounced the game as "the worst example of what PS2 games are capable of", and described it as milquetoast in all gameplay aspects. However, Steve Steinberg of
GameSpy and the reviewers of
Nintendo Power considered it to be a solid gaming experience despite its crude content, with Steinberg pointing out that the game's "twisted novelty" could not function in other genres, and worked because of the game's fundamental playability. Scott Steinberg of
Playboy also opined that the title was at its strongest outside of its comedic elements, attributing the gameplay's refinements over the course of a more mundane franchise. The control scheme was mostly found to be comfortable and intuitive, though Bryn Williams of
GameSpy and Justin Nation of
Planet GameCube considered the stunt system to be simplified compared to other extreme sports titles such as ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. Although Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot'' was impressed by the variety of tricks, he felt that none of them seemed special or important, and pointed out that the game engine's unrealistic quirks reduced the sense of challenge. Scott Alan Marriott of
AllGame, Dan Leahy of
Electronic Gaming Monthly, and AM Urbanek of
Extended Play observed a lack of
inertia in the player's bike, which contributed to a sense of inconsistency in the controls. Although Steve Steinberg commended the camera as solid and logically placed, others criticized it as jumpy and jerky, with Marriott and
IGNs
Matt Casamassina citing a tendency to bounce off walls and barriers, and Zuniga expressing frustration at having to stop the bike to look around. The levels were said to not be as large and creative as those in Z-Axis's previous efforts, and their design was faulted as barren, with an abundance of spaces bereft of features. Reviewers complained of the vague challenge objectives, which were exacerbated by the lack of any source of direction or orientation; Steve Steinberg and Gerstmann cited a specific instance of an early mission that tasked the player with running down a "fruitbooter" while giving no indication that the term is derogatory slang for an inline skater. The necessity of returning to a
non-player character's position to retry a failed challenge was an additional annoyance, with Matt Helgeson of
Game Informer noting that the characters do not always stay at their post. Helgeson, fellow
Game Informer reviewer Justin Leeper, and
Aaron Boulding of
IGN were unenthused by the high amount of scavenger hunt missions, though Leeper found some objectives humorous, and Casamassina complimented their presentation. Socrates of
TeamXbox enjoyed the multiplayer mode, but felt that the lack of the single-player campaign's lewdness made the mode feel indistinct from other extreme sports titles. Steve Steinberg was uneased by the Paintball mode, and wondered how it was left intact after several games were delayed or reworked after the
September 11 attacks. The stripper videos were noted to be insufficiently explicit for the "XXX" title, and reviewers felt that they were too difficult to unlock to be worth the effort, particularly for adults who have easier means to access explicit content. Assessments of the visuals were generally unfavorable, with some reviewers finding them comparable to a
PSone title. While the animation and
frame rate were commended for their smoothness, the characters were criticized for their blocky models, stiff body movements, and blurry textures. Some pointed out that the rough character models worked against the game's attempt at sex appeal, with Tom Bramwell of
Eurogamer remarking that "not since
Orchid in the original
Killer Instinct have I seen such angular assets". Nation further observed that a topless female biker in a third-person video game served little function beyond novelty due to the camera's position behind her back as well as her hunched position.
Dan Amrich of
GamePro and Casamassina cited occasional collision issues in which riders temporarily sink through the ground or a wall. While Gerstmann and Casamassina described the environments as large in scope, Nick Valentino of
GameZone felt that they were not as large or impressive as those in
Aggressive Inline, and he and Bramwell found some areas to be plain and uninteresting. Marriott noticed some distant
pop-up, and felt that the rider customization was insufficiently extensive. Socrates commented that the environments "look like they have been coated in a layer of Vaseline", and he considered the stripper videos to be the game's best-looking element. Boulding and Valentino also complimented the videos' professional quality, with Boulding stating that they "might convince you that you're watching an episode of
G String Divas but without all of that talking and emoting". Nation, however, determined the production to be low-budget, saying that it "looks like it was copied off of a copy of an older
Super 8 tape". The soundtrack was classified as a combination of
rock,
punk,
hip hop and
ska that was typical of the extreme sports genre, with Casamassina remarking that the selections, though well-executed, "seem to appear on every extreme sports soundtrack in the universe". While Marriott, Amrich, and fellow
GamePro reviewer Tokyo Drifter admired the soundtrack, Bramwell and Helgeson were not taken with it, with Bramwell being thankful for the Xbox version's option to insert a custom playlist. Valentino found the background music's downplayed prominence odd, and Gerstmann was perplexed by the soundtrack's editing of racial slurs and drug references considering the marketing campaign's emphasis on obscenity. Boulding was annoyed by an audio flaw that caused custom playlists to start again from the first track any time the music was paused for a gameplay reason, such as initiating a challenge. The sound effects were regarded as unremarkable and monotonous. Reactions to the voice acting were mostly positive, with Socrates elaborating that the humorous voices and accents successfully conveyed the game's light-hearted tone, though Boulding and Urbanek noted that the game's small pool of actors was evident, and the commentary from pedestrians was derided as repetitive. Marriott and Gerstmann were more negative, describing the voice-overs as grating and detrimental to the game's attempts at humor. The humor was generally dismissed as juvenile and off-putting, though Williams and Casamassina found some of the jokes effective. Helgeson remarked that the content was "nothing that would raise an eyebrow on
HBO", and concluded that those who were old enough to purchase the title would be too old to be shocked by it. Urbanek also saw irony in the demographic that he believed would find the game funny being too young to purchase it. Nation elaborated that the game's jokes, on top of being tired, were lacking in context and delivery, and he concurred that the game's lack of sophistication in its humor or sexual content, combined with the unremarkable gameplay, left its audience unclear. Marriott deemed the concept of a Mature-rated sports title nonsensical, and found the game's presentation of a seedy urban tone unpleasant, proclaiming that "being bombarded with obnoxious vendors and annoying pedestrians everywhere you turn should be considered a form of mental anguish". Nation, Zuniga and Urbanek accused the game's content of misogyny and racism, with Nation pondering "Why objectify women and stereotype several races and social classes so callously, taking a ton of criticism in the process, and then settle for such a poor excuse for a pay-off on all levels?". ==Legacy==