Wednesday 26 July 2006
As Vicarious Visions proved with last year's Tony Hawk's American Sk8land for DS, the developer has a particular gift when it comes to translating hardcore boarding action to the dual-screened handheld. That's why we're particularly excited by its DS version of Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam which will be out later this year.

Rather than being a standard Tony Hawk game of tricks and exploration, Downhill Jam is a downhill racing game much like EA's SSX. Players can choose to race as Tony Hawk or nine other competitors, then trick and race their way down tracks located in San Francisco, Rio de Janeiro and Hong Kong.

Just like SSX there're loads of short cuts to find, many of them requiring death-defying tricks and expert coordination to reach.

Above: There will be three gameplay modes: race, trick and slalom

Vicarious Visions has used the same game engine as it did for Sk8land, so Downhill Jam will have luscious cel-shaded graphics and well mapped out controls. The developer is also planning to make full use of DS's wireless capabilities to ensure Downhill Jam will be an essential multiplayer experience.