Activision's Acclaim's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Agressive Inline looks like it could be a hit.The game is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 with an inline skater in the place of a skateboarder.
I could end my impressions right there, but that wouldn’t be fair to Acclaim. Seriously though, if you’ve played any THPS game, then you can pick up this game and start racking up massive combos. The control is identical to the Tony Hawk games, with L and R spinning, Y grinding, Z turning you around on the ground (a Cess Slide in this game), and B being your primary trick button. (Hell, even the scoring system is the same. At least Acclaim didn’t try to hide the fact that it’s a clone.) This could have been done by design however, because since everybody and their uncles that would be interested in this game has played Tony Hawk (and the fact that Activision doesn’t have an inline skating game), Acclaim has a potential hit on their hands.
It does have the capability, because the game looks good. The level available for the GameCube version was a long section of city street between a couple of buildings, with traffic going up and down. Of course, you can grind everything (including street curbs, which is nice), link tricks with heel and toe manuals, and spin to your heart’s content. Of course, walls just happen to look like quarter-pipes, and there’s always a nice, long snaky rail overhead to grind on, so there’s always someplace to do a trick out there.
However, the one thing that’s probably going to prevent Agressive Inline from becoming a true THPS wannabe is the experience system. Basically, all skaters have the same base stats, but instead of collecting stat points, you gain exp. points by doing tricks out on the street. The more you grind, the better grinder you become. The more you skate, the faster skater you become. This is a great idea for sure, and I’m looking forward to trying this out in the long-term.
So if you’re the extreme sports type, definitely look for this game.
Topic: IMPRESSIONS: Aggressive Inline (Read 1696 times)
