The sharp controls allow for the players to weave around obstructions in the course as well as other opponents controlled by artificial intelligence. 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 rider push 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. The player's speed, bike angle, and rider posture all affect how the bike responds to the ground it is driving over. In the career mode, the player must place in the top three to unlock another race, with unlimited tries allowed to make the podium finish. 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 the player's bike must land on after every jump, a timed freestyle measured by the number of points scored 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. Successfully completing a challenge will unlock a more difficult version of it, as well as more challenges.