Before beginning the game you'll need to select a character and an area to skate down. The only licensed character in the game is Tony Hawk, there are eight other original characters that have been created just for this game. If you're not happy with the original skaters then you'll also be able to create-a-skater, which should result in some crazy characters. We only got a quick glance but it seems like there will be a wide variety of tracks ranging from the rocky terrain of Machu Picchu through to San Francisco. If you enjoy your skateboards you'll be pleased to know that there will be a wide range of skateboards such as current, old school “fishtails,” longboards and 70’s skateboards. The skateboards all have different attributes as well, so you'll need to work your way up to get the ultimate skateboards so you can obtain the fastest times.
Oh my God, it's Pink......hair.
Once you get into the game you'll realise that it isn't like the other Tony Hawk titles. The big change in the game is not the shift in gameplay style but the way you control your skater. By holding the Wii-mote horizontally and gripping it on both ends with your hands, you control the direction of your skaters movement by 'see-sawing' the Wii-mote from side to side. The control feels intuitive and should be pretty easy to pick up. If you do go off track then you can use the d-pad buttons to realign yourself with the track, but after half an hour you probably won't need to do this anymore.
The various buttons on controller handle the tricks. There is no need to accelerate because you're skating downhill. Holding down the jump button lets you gain momentum however it was at the loss of manuverability. If you pull off tricks you will increase a boost meter that shows up at the side of the screen. If you shunt the controller forward then you can execute a boost which gives you a small increase in speed. The game's putting a large emphasis on interactivity. You'll need to dodge vehicles and pedestrians, as with any Tony Hawk game their will be destructible areas and objects to crash through and shortcuts to save precious time. You can actually also knock down your opponents to get ahead, which should be rather humourous.
The game will also support head-to-head gameplay. It seems that online play with the Wii isn't going to be possible this year, so you'll be able to challenge friends in split screen competitions. As with any Tony Hawk game there should plenty of different ways to take your friends on. Some of the confirmed multiplayer modes include race, slalom, trick attack and event, although we wouldn't be surprised to see some more multiplayer modes added before the game is released.
The caption pretty much says it all...
Visually Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam looks and feels fast, there are plenty of objects in the environment flying past you and you'll need to make some quick moves quite frequently. The game looks pretty impessive in motion, all of the skaters have a decent amount of detail attributed to them and the environments look pretty detailed. Even though we only saw an early build of the game the frame-rate stayed very consistant.
Overall Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam looks to be shaping up rather impressively. This could be the change that the series so desperately needs, the game is completely different from Tony Hawk's Project 8 so if you're feeling that the series is getting a little stale then Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam could be a game to keep an eye on.
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