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> Results: Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam
Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Scroll down for our Kid Factor. 
The ESRB says:
Mild lyrics: GamerDad thinks the the soundtrack is politically charged and filled with youthful rebellion, but there is no explicit content. Mild suggestive themes: This presumably refers to the soundtrack again, as the only other thing GamerDad noticed is that a few of the female outfits available are on the short side The venerable Tony Hawk series takes a downhill turn with this game for the DS. Based loosely on the Wii game of the same name, the idea is to combine the time-tested skateboard trick gameplay of previous Tony Hawk games with downhill racing. It's a formula that should be successful (and indeed is the basis for the acclaimed SSX snowboard series), but the proportions in this mix are just off enough to keep it from greatness. This title uses the same impressive "cel shaded" engine as the excellent American Sk8land, so we're off to a good start. Indeed, the intro to Downhill Jam places you at the Sk8land skate park that you helped build in that game, setting up a very flimsy story involving Tony Hawk meeting some old rival skaters from the 80s and bringing you along as he travels the world setting up his own competing crew. You might successfully argue that plot is of little importance in a game like this, but it would have been nice to have something a little more substantial. After creating your custom skater (male or female, with a wide assortment of clothing options and more to unlock) and watching the first animated cut-scene, you'll pick from a selection of tasks to complete in San Francisco, the first of the game's six locations. Tasks are generally split up into races and trick competitions, and more tasks are unlocked as you go. Every three tasks completed earns you a chance to compete against the level's "boss" for a medal ﾖ win at least 2 medals and the boss will join your crew and you'll fly off to the next location. Six different locations doesn't seem like much, but they are large and broken up into different sections for particular events so there's a lot of variety, and even once you've finished playing the story mode you'll be coming back for more ﾖ the addictive "gotta beat my last score!" Tony Hawk gameplay is still there. An excellent multiplayer portion with a large amount of modes is available for both internet and local wi-fi play ﾖ there's even voice chat between you and your friends. But it is the game's variety that hurts it in the end. All the levels are downhill of course, which is great for the races but some of the trick events are made more difficult because of this, particularly when you're asked to string a long combo together ﾖ miss one part and you'll have to start all over again (you'll begin to hate the little introductions for each mission after a while), because you usually can't just skate back and try again like you could in a traditional Tony Hawk game. The "style" missions where you have to impress the judges with a variety of tricks are even more frustrating because you lose points whenever you bump into other racers or the track ﾖ something that's incredibly easy to do when you're hurtling down a hill. Downhill Jam is still a pretty good game, and the racing parts work well. I just hope the developers focus more on that side if they continue to go down this path for future Tony Hawk titles.  Other Platforms The Wii version is quite a different game which makes use of that system's motion-sensing controllers and heavily emphasizes the racing aspect, and as such receives a separate GamerDad review. There is also a Gameboy Advance, port which tries to do something different to previous Tony Hawk games on the GBA by using the same sort of 3D graphics as the DS version, but the old system is just not powerful enough to keep up and the result is best left on the store shelf. 
There is an altogether cartoonish vibe around Downhill Jam, even more so than in the previous DS game. The characters you meet are all quite tame, though they do follow a few tired stereotypes ﾖ the vain blond model girl, the cool dread locked DJ, the crazy Scotsman, etc. Despite this, the female characters are represented just as well as the males. Tony's rival is not painted in a particularly bad light (he just has a silly 80s haircut), and the rivalry is kept friendly.
The stunts are exaggerated enough so that emulation should not be a real worry, and the stylistic graphics help keeps things removed from realism. The soundtrack is the only area that might raise a few eyebrows, being filled with some politically-charged tracks, but the most explicit lyric I could find was "You've raped the charm from the lone star state". One song has had an explicit drug reference completely removed, although it's open for discussion whether the entire Motorhead song is a drug reference. "Like a tooth sharpening cannibal, I'd eat the heart that beats in fear" is kind of gross, though. The online options still do allow for getting into games with strangers, so the usual rules apply ﾖ be prepared for the possibility of crude usernames and custom artwork (though it'd be hard to show anything really offensive on the DS' small screens). It should be pointed out however that you can now choose to only play with people you have exchanged Friend Codes with, which allows more control over who your child is playing with. When playing only with friends, voice chat is also available ﾖ there is no opportunity to get into a voice chat with strangers. As far as difficulty level goes, apart from my own frustrations, it's fairly easy, and any child who can handle a Tony Hawk game can handle this one. Comments? Chat about it in our forums! Format For Printing | Tell A Friend | Digg | Slashdot | del.icio.us Browse Amazon.com's selection of "tony hawk skateboarding" themed games Home > Review Archive > Video Games > Results: Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam |
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