Tuesday 31 October 2006
This Wii-specific Tony Hawk's arcade racer is less Pro Skater, more punk squabbler - a Wii-mote-steered party crasher targeted at instant appeal instead of its big brother's skate satisfaction. We had the chance to pick it up and play to see how pick-up-and-play it was, and found out that it's still not quite as easy as rolling off a hill.
Even with the controls sensibly bunched around the Wii-mote's D-pad and 1 and 2 buttons, you'll need to put in some tutorial time to
Playing Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for Wii, it's hard to fight the feeling that it's the total opposite of the Tony Hawk you know and love. It's a race game at heart; using the Wii remote couldn't be more different than the typical Tony control we're used to; and it only has one real skater. Maybe that's why it came off as so refreshing at Activision's next-gen hands-on event in Santa Monica, CA.
This is one of those games that you'll be playing with a bunch of buddies (provided someone foots
Our first exposure to Downhill Jam's hilly raceways left us confused and concerned. The open environments were gone, replaced by all-downhill tracks that focused more on speed than busting out tricks. Upgradeable skaters had also disappeared, removing the satisfaction of slowly customizing your own character throughout the game. But perhaps worst of all, simply pulling off the signature Tony flips, grabs and grinds was a pain, thanks to only three buttons on the Wii controller - one of which
Wednesday 24 May 2006
The basic premise of most Wii games is 'simplicity'. Therefore the trick-heavy, fully customizable Tony Hawk series may not be the best way to introduce people to the motion-sensing Wii wand. That's where Downhill Jam comes into play - it's a dead simple, all-downhill racer that's easy enough to pick up, but may still be hanging on to too many elements of the regular series.
So you're a punky skater kid rolling down the absurdly hilly streets of San Francisco. The wand is
