Gone are the free-skating, open-ended worlds of previous titles. Downhill Jam is primarily a racing game with an extreme emphasis on downhill. Downhill skateboarding is an actual sport, but unlike some of the other Tony Hawk titles, Downhill Jam makes no attempt at a realistic re-creation. You’ll often find yourself freefalling down the side of a mountain or skyscraper, doing any manner of insane tricks, and landing flawlessly. The courses are all suitably extreme locations around the world, including Rome, Hong Kong, Chicago and a massive Incan ruin called Macchu Pichu. For the most part, they're all very well-designed courses, and are dynamic enough to keep the entire course exciting. In fact, they extend for quite long distances, and are broken into smaller segments for individual events – a concept pioneered in SSX 3.
The game progresses in a tiered fashion. You begin by selecting a skater - the only real person is Tony Hawk himself, the rest are suitably stereotyped “original” characters. It just so happens a rich white girl, goth chick and stoner dude are all part of the world’s skating elite. It’s meant to be cartoonish and the style suits the game well. From your skater selection, it’s off to compete in a variety of downhill events, the major three being races, trick mode and slalom. Several “special” events are unlocked, including destruction mode and challenge races – pitting your skater against a sole rival and having it out on the way down. Upon completing an event, you’ll receive Progress Points based on your place, and these go towards unlocking a new tier of events. They become harder very quickly, but never excessively so.
A nondescript Goth chick taking on Tony Hawk. Righto.
As mentioned, the courses are all extreme designs of familiar locales, and are quite fun to play. The problem is that there isn’t much control over what your character does. There’s so much happening, and so much speed, that you’ll only come across secret routes and shortcuts by chance; the rest of the time it’s simply a matter of holding on and trying to survive until the finish line. Every course is filled with crazy grinds, some of which extend for thousands of feet, and your best bet for winning many races is to find the longest, fastest line and stick to it. It’s pretty fun, but there isn’t much else to it. Often you’ll be left wondering why you aren’t steaming ahead in first place, as no errors were made and you’ve been blitzing the course thus far – but shortcuts and boosts are the key, which are easier said than done.
The Wii Remote is held sideways to turn, and shaken up and down to perform boosts and airborne flips – as well as to recover when your skater bails. The 1 and 2 buttons are used for grinding and jumping respectively. The problem with the courses is that they are too narrow and guided; you’ll find limited turning is required to complete the course successfully. This does disrespect to the Wii Remote itself, because the unique controls are actually very accurate and responsive. It’s still fun to shred the tracks at insane speeds, but you’ll always yearn for a bit more freedom and a few more chances to use the Wii controls intuitively.
There’s enough extra content and bonuses within each level to set some vague goals, but no definitive structure is present. For example, the classic S.K.A.T.E. letters can be collected, but it only goes to doubling point scores at the end of the run, rather than unlocking extra boards or characters. In Trick mode, various multipliers and bonuses can be collected, including a rather cool slow-mo icon that provides an opportunity to bust some extra flips or grabs during air time. You’ll also gain boost power by performing tricks, so in any event it’s always handy to add a bit of extra flair, shaving off the seconds on a speed run.
A long way down.
To accommodate the zany tracks, the usual Tony Hawk visual style has been given an overhaul, allowing for more cartoony characters. Some of the surroundings are a tad blurry, the animation isn’t much more than a few select movements, and the collision detection is all over the place. The technical quality is easily comparable to most of the SSX series – which has been around for a long time. It’s tough to complain, because as a general rule the game looks fine – but we know the Wii can do much better. For a new console, it isn’t up to scratch.
As common with most Tony Hawk titles, the soundtrack features a bunch of rock and punk tunes, to accommodate the super-hardcore target demographic. Nothing is memorable, and some technical issues plague the presentation. The music occasionally sounds much quieter in places, and while careering off a massive ramp in the hills of Rome you may notice not much is happening in the audio department. Subsequently, your current situation doesn’t seem that exciting after all. The sound effects are nice, but the voice-acting stands out, with the actors clearly having fun with their different roles. Before each event, one of the characters pops up in the corner to provide a joke or anecdote of some kind, and these are surprisingly funny. Downhill Jam’s overall style and presentation works quite well.
She doesn't know how to colour-coordinate.
The multiplayer section has a respectable selection of modes, including single events and a series option, allowing two players to compete in ongoing events in the same category – racing, trick mode, etc. This would work fine if the actual screen was playable. The courses are rather narrow and straight, so what happens when it’s squashed to half the original size in a vertical split? It seems uncalled for, mentioning the antiquity of split-screen multiplayer, but the fact is many people still like to get together and enjoy a game in the same room, rather than play online. Unfortunately some games just can’t cut it without online multiplayer these days, and Downhill Jam is one of them. Bring on Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
Downhill Jam plays well, looks OK, controls decently – so why aren’t we enjoying it more? The problem lies not with the concept, but rather the execution. It seems so formulaic, such a predictable spin-off game for the series, and never surprises with a previously unseen mode or gameplay mechanic. Even while knocking over pedestrians during a trick run down an insanely proportioned castle in Edinburgh, one can’t help but feel it’s been done a thousand times before. Regardless, it still delivers ample extreme skating action, so if you’re pressed for Wii-related options and need a fix of the Hawk, Downhill Jam should provide a few solid hours of fun.
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