Reviews

Tony Hawk: Ride

Tony Hawk games were long considered a benchmark of excellence, or at least they were until EA released Skate. Rather than immediately respond, Hawk and his developers took a step back and reevaluated. The result is Ride, an all-new take on the Tony Hawk franchise, and the first game to introduce the new skateboard peripheral. Unfortunately, the results are highly disappointing.

First off, it's the peripheral or bust. The game doesn't support the use of a controller meaning you'll have to shell out the full price for the game and the accompanying board, which makes this an expensive proposition. This was always going to mean that the game was going to have to seriously deliver for both casual and hardcore fans, but sadly, this isn't the case.

The problem is all with the technology. In theory, a board loaded with sensors that pick up movements that mimic a variety of moves seems sound. The game has three difficulty settings - on the easiest setting you only have to jump and do tricks, all the steering is done for you, as if you were on rails. And there's the rub - the game is only really playable on this setting. Try the harder settings and be prepared for an exercise in true frustration. The sensors are way too sensitive, and pulling off reliable and repeatable moves is nearly impossible.

So what you're left with is an incredibly dumbed down experience on the easy setting - a button masher at best, had there been any buttons. There's very little sense that you're doing anything to contribute to what's happening on the screen, and that's evidenced by how easily you can pull off moves by not even properly using the board.

Other parts of the game don't hold up too well either. The campaign mode here takes you on a globe-spanning quest through six cities and a host of different challenges, but there's never really a feeling of progression or reward for making your way through it. Many of the cities look dull and bland and the presentation is uninspired and lazy as well.

It's quite astounding, really, how poorly the game holds up when compared to even much earlier Hawk games, to say nothing of Skate. It's a misfire in almost every way, and Hawk and his team better get back to the drawing board fast. This certainly isn't the challenge to EA's Skate that they were hoping for.

TITLE: Tony Hawk: Ride
PLATFORM: Xbox 360
GENRE: Sports
PRICE: £99.99
RATING: 5/10