Hot stuff, baby.

As a former skateboarder, I have to say, this game has been the best thing ever to happen for the sport. Anyone can feel like a skateboarding pro, even if they have no balance or coordination.

In this game, you are given the option of playing as Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Jamie Thomas, Bucky Lasek, Andrew Reynolds, Elissa Steamer, Chad Muska, Kareem Campbell, Rune Glifberg, or Geoff Rowley, some of today's hottest and most hardcore skateboarders. As each of these skaters, you are given the option to play to open up new decks and locations by collecting five "tapes" in an area. Some tapes are obtained by finding them in the level, but mostly, they are obtained by challenges for each level.

Each player has, in addition to the several tricks that all the players can do, three (or four, if you play as Hawk) special moves that only they can perform. Some of these tricks are pretty garden variety, as far as skate tricks go, but Steamer's Primo Grind, and Campbell's Casper Slide have yet to occur in real life, I think.

You also have the ability to play some neat 2-player games, like the rather traditional "Horse", to my favorite, "Graffiti". In Graffiti, you and the other player go head to head to see who can rip better tricks off of what. The person who "tags" more spots with their color wins. Pretty fun, because you can knock the other guy off his board.

The graphics are what you'd expect from the Playstation. Nothing mindblowing, but pretty good anyway. The skaters look an awful lot like they do in real life, and if you watch the videos after you beat the game, you'll see what I'm talking about. Props to whoever made Chad Muska, he's got the boombox and everything!

My personal favorite part of the game was the music. This game is directly responsible for getting me into my now-favorie band, the Dead Kennedys. They're featured, as well as Speedealer, Ernies, Goldfinger, Unsane, Primus, Suicide Machines, Suicidal Tendencies, and other punk stuff that anyone can enjoy...

This is really an awesome overall game. You don't have to be a skater to start loving it, but once you really get into it, you'll wish you were!

Playmore.
J -=J=-