Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Wii) Preview
Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 08.30.2006
Tony Hawk goes SSX on you!
What do you get when you mix Tony Hawk, racing, snowboard like downhill competitions and the unorthodox Wii controller? Well, you get Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam, Activision's first Tony Hawk game for the Wii.
Like I mentioned above, Tony Hawk is changing drastically, turning itself into a racing game with tricks, much like the snowboarding games. Races are downhill in courses littered with ramps, poles and other skate-tastic objects for you to pull tricks off. Since the core of the game is speed, lip tricks have been eliminated, but your great variety of grinds, grab tricks, flip tricks and the like are still here. Tricks help you fill your boost meter, a la SSX, that allows you to get a speed boost once maxed out. You can also punch and kick your opponents to slow them down!
Looks a lot like EA's SSX to me
Downhill Jam takes place in 8 locations around the world. Each location in split up into several areas to accommodate all the different events. New areas are opened up by winning events and accomplishing goals. All events require racing and range from standard downhill races in which you need to come in first, to slalom races, which are basically checkpoint style races commonly seen in snowboard games, to other more specific event types that require you to accumulate a certain amount of points by pulling off tricks or knocking down certain environmental objects. Levels will also feature shortcuts and hidden areas as well.
This looks insane!
There is not much info on how the controls work, other than it uses every button of the Wii controller and requires you to hold it horizontally. The game will feature a detailed tutorial to get you used to the mechanics of the game.
Downhill Jam is a radical departure from the rest of the Tony Hawk series. It is scheduled to ship for the Wii this fall.
