DIG writes: "Now Tony Hawk: Ride comes along with a completely new gameplay mechanic – a skateboard controller. In many ways, the game is nearly superfluous to the controller, as that seems to be where much of the development focus was, and understandably so. It is a great solution, but far from perfect in its execution. The setup took far longer than it should have, and even then I had to recalibrate a couple of times."
Looking back at gaming history often throws up some questionable things - including awful games, bad consoles, and terrible peripherals.
That intel wireless gamepad was the inspiration for the 360 wireless racing wheel (and that works really well). I'd say one the author forgot would be the activator from sega.
We know there’s a new Tony Hawk’s in the works, but it should feel like the oldest of entries to the series.
There's a new Tony Hawk game coming?
Cautiously optimistic. I want the series to end on a positive note but the last what like 6 entries have been severely disappointing. Hope this one ends the curse.
I hope they don't blow it. I really liked the earlier games in the series. Then Skate came out and the difference night and day.
Ha, I was thinking the same thing when I read this. I had no idea there was one in the works...you usually here about these things.
Any ways, I haven't truly enjoyed a THPS title since the underground games back during the ps2/xbox/GC era. I hope if they make one, they try to use that same formula that made the first 6 games so fun.
I think the series went downhill when they had all the jackass characters in the game..
I support this article. THPS2 - best Tony Hawk EVAH. The franchise needs to drop the gimmicks and get back to what matters - addictive, thrilling skateboarding.
Ars writes: "Tony Hawk: Ride had major challenges at retail; the high price, the large box, and the drastic change from past games in the series meant the game had an uphill fight to win the affections of skating game fans. Josh Tsui, the president of Robomodo, talked about some of these issues with GameSmith and brought up yet another challenge: the game reviews. Were they rushed? It's very possible, but sadly, that's a situation that Activision itself went out of its way to create."
Seems a charitable review (and score). I am interested to know if they really think the peripheral is a good "solution" to whatever problem they think Tony Hawk has. The series has clearly always been arcadey, and most gamers have no clue how to monkey skating moves (nor any desire to). Honestly, it has always seemed to me like the pad was never an issue - it was always stagnating gameplay and bad new ideas.