E3 Hands-on: Tony Hawk Ride
Posted by Mark Salmela on 06.03.2009
411's Mark Salmela goes hand's on with the latest installment of the Tony Hawl franchise.
Tony Hawk Ride is the latest game in the Tony Hawk franchise. For those unaware the Tony Hawk has undergone quite the big change. Tony Hawk Ride will make use of a brand new skateboard peripheral that senses all of the motions your body makes when it stands on it. It is surprisingly accurate and offers a variety of ways to interact with the board.
While the demo was incomplete and far from final, I did get to try out two different modes that were a work in progress. The first thing I had to do was stand on the board they had. It's completely wireless, has 6 sensors spread throughout the board, and has buttons on the sides for navigating the menus if need be. The board is a little smaller than normal skateboard but it isn't really noticeable. After about 30 seconds standing on the board was easy and second nature.
The first demo was the actual skating demo. The first thing you do in the demo is simulate pushing on the ground to simulate skating. Next it has you do it put your foot on the back of one of the edges of the board to simulate a manual. After holding an manual for a few seconds you finally get to go off a ramp to complete an Ollie. Unlike leaning back on the back of the board this time you just slam on the back of the board to simulate an Ollie. Leaning left or right will complete various skating moves such as a kickflip. The skating part of the demo ends with a grind. Once again you slam on the back of the board to start an Ollie and leaning towards a rail begins a grind. You can do all sorts of leaning and grabs to switch between grinds once you're on.
The second demo was the vertical demo. You drop in the ramp and have about a minute to gain as high of a score as possible. You don't have to worry about pushing on the board to gain speed, the game handled it by itself, although it was on the easy difficulty. Performing an Ollie will get you in the air where once again you make almost any motion to simulate performing a trick. If you perform enough tricks in a row you build your star power which can lead to your player starting on fire and performing some of his crazy special moves from little to no-input from the player.
The demo itself is very fun and easy to play after only a few minutes on the board. While the peripheral won't be cheap it is worth it for fans of motion controlled gameplay. It works very well and is enjoyable. It isn't the most complicated game ever but it is very fun.
