I am trying not to say these dreaded words, but I have to. Tony Hawk has totally obliterated the market for any kind of skateboarding game put out. So, Badseed's Videogame Bottomline is creating a new category. Until a game can beat Tony Hawk licensed games; the famed skater gets his own category, while all other skateboarding games get their own category.
With that being said, THQ's MTV Sports: Skateboarding Featuring Andy MacDonald is the best skateboarding game in the "other" category. I have played the game for Playstation, PC, and Game Boy and I had fun with each. Despite that, there are many flaws with each, once corrected, the sequels may give Tony Hawk a skate for his money.
I couldn't stand Street Sk8ter 2 and I was thoroughly disgusted by Thrasher: Skate or Destroy. So, I wasn't expecting much at all in this game. What I got was a promising franchise that does need some help, but definitely beats out many of the other titles.
There are ten modes of play, from free skating to competitions, and from stunt modes to survival mode. Each mode offers something new and gives you plenty chances to attempt some crazy stunts. You can just skate around and experiment with handstands, push offs and more in free skate, and once you are skilled enough, you can compete for skating immortality.
The competition mode is challenging, but one problem occurs with the scoring. I mean, you rack up mad points and feel confident of the fact that you will move on to the next round, when all of a sudden, the judges give you a score that totally blows. The score you earn in the game should reflect the scores the judges are going to give you. That makes sense, right?
As far as the other modes, I really have to say that stunt mode has to be my favorite. Despite the fact that I keep killing my skateboarder. Poor guy. Still, attempting to jump cars and do whacked out stunts in the process was fun. I couldn't wait to actually see my skater live and advance to the next stunt.
All of this is done to the accompaniment of some kick ass tunes from such notable stars as the Deftones, Pennywise, System of a Down, Goldfinger, and Cypress Hill. The soundtrack on this game makes MTV Sports: Skateboarding really takes flight. No generic digital stuff, after all this is MTV. I guess since they don't play music on the station anymore they sought to at least put some on a video game licensed under their name (See BANDWIDTH's opinion piece Does MTV Suck? in this month's issue).
Now for the complaints. I totally love the park graphics. They are wonderfully rendered. Cool slopes, hill, rails and even a video screen for music videos, but all that is for naught with a sloppy, uncool looking skateboarder. I mean, you can't see his face, he looks real awkward when he takes a fall, and there isn't much detail at all with him or the clothes that he wears. I mean, even Street Sk8ter 2 had some really cool clothing to choose from and some really nice skateboards as well. In this game, you don't get anything cool at the beginning of the game. You may get them after beating certain levels, but I wouldn't know, since the controls are so unresponsive, making for some really difficult game play. I mean, I never fell this much in Tony Hawk. I attempt a move and I have a 50/50 chance of seeing my character even attempt the move, let alone land it successfully. That really hurts a game, especially since it is all about cool moves and wacky stunts. What kind of cool moves can you perform when you try to attempt them and the computer player doesn't even attempt it?
Badseed's Bottomline: 3 out of 5. While this game beats the other Tony Hawk wannabes, it doesn't beat many of the other Playstation games I would rather play. I mean, I have wrestling games, fighting games, shoot 'em up games and gasp Tony Hawk to play. This game is about average compared to them. Now, there are lots of exciting modes to play, but with unresponsive controls, and hard to perform tricks, it becomes hard to move on to other levels and further enjoy the game. Buy it for the soundtrack; rent it for the game play.
Basically, this is the same thing as the Playstation with slightly better graphics. If anything, I felt the controls were harder. I was let down by this title since it is the first skateboarding game I think I've ever seen for the PC. If you have played games for the PC the graphics are often phenomenal! How about the graphics for games like Quake III, and Half-Life? Those are awe inspiring, right? Well, why can't this game be? Why does this game look only slightly better than the Playstation version? To me, that is a problem.
Badseed's Bottomline: 3 out of 5. Why would I play this game on my PC when I can play it on my Playstation and keep my precious computer space for other important things? Now, it does have several factors going for it. All the reasons why I thought this game was good for the Playstation apply for the PC. Also, besides the soundtrack and addictive play, this is the only skateboarding game I have seen for the PC and if you don't have a Playstation, maybe you should pick this up. As far as I know, you can't rent PC games.
I have never played any other game of skateboarding on my Game Boy, but I have heard that all attempts sort of bombed, even Tony Hawk's. So, keeping that in mind, I gave this MTV brand a try and totally enjoyed it. At first, I was frustrated by the tricky controls, but once I played for a while, I got the hang of it and learned to enjoy the game immensely. It is a lot of fun to play and challenging in a good way. The graphics are fantastic for the Game Boy. I found it amazing that you can perform 360's, kick flips, nollies, and more on this little hand held system.
Now the object of this game is a little different. I noticed I got a lot more points for finding these little medallions and not for the stunts I performed. That's all good, because most of the time you have to perform some stunts to reach the darned things. Score enough points and you are on your way to the next round in another city. You compete in several leagues like the US and Europe.
Of course there is no Cypress Hill and so on, but this is Game Boy and the sounds are cool enough for me in this type of game. Hey, just a thought. Maybe Game Boy and Song-Pro (Find out how to play MP3s on your Game Boy with Songpro in this month's issue) can develop something where you can incorporate MP3s into your games. That would kick ass. That would make this game even more enjoyable than it all ready is. Out of all the versions I tried, I am surprised that this was my favorite.
Badseed's Bottomline: 4 out of 5. Don't buy Tony Hawk's Game Boy version. Buy MTV and THQ's version. It's a whole lot of fun to play, and once you get by the difficulty in the controls, you're going to be very happy with the level of game play for the Game Boy.
Comments, questions, insults about this article can be sent to Badseed@ybfree.com.