Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure – GC – Review

Tony Hawk, meet Pumbaa. Hakuna Matata, everyone!

Activision, Toys for Bob and Disney have all teamed up to produce a skateboarding game that is based on the Tony Hawk 4 engine, but features simplified gameplay and controls for the younger crowd/novice player. Adding the Disney characters to further entice the kids almost ensures success in this demographic, that is, if the changed design and focus actually work.

There are three worlds based on Toy Story, The Lion King and Tarzan. (Why other Disney movies weren’t included I don’t know, Lilo & Stitch should have been a shoe-in.) Each of these worlds feature several levels which have to be unlocked in order by completing a number of goals in each prior level. These goals include collecting items in each level that match the character’s personality, such as legs of meat for Simba, grub worms for Pumbaa, and sketchbooks for Jane, performing tricks to facilitate tasks and unlock items, and spelling words like S-K-A-T-E.

Only certain characters from each world are available at first; the others have to be unlocked. Each character possesses his or her own unique style of executing the basic tricks they can all do. Watching Pumbaa and Timon perform tricks is too funny, coupled with the humorous text boxes describing the particular tricks. Each character has special tricks that can be unlocked during gameplay. Players can also create their own characters with items unlocked during the course of the game.

Real kids are included in the game, which can be played in the realistic world of Olliewood. These are real children that auditioned to be included in this game, which is pretty cool. These characters can’t be altered. Gameplay begins in Olliewood, but once players find the magic portals, they can travel to the three movie worlds and play there as well.

As stated above, the Tony Hawk engine is the driving force behind the game, but one that has been modified to be simpler to implement. The default controls use the same button for all tricks, which sort themselves out according to what surface/type of area is being skated on. This definitely makes the game easier to play for children and extreme sports simulation novices like myself. In fact, it’s easy to wrack up points for tricks by simply hitting the trick button over and over again and not worrying about how pretty the stunt looks. However, this probably won’t satisfy more experienced players, but fortunately an added option of “pro” controls is present, which is much more similar to the Tony Hawk controls, although not exactly the same. Most of the same trick combos are available, but a few aren’t.

The movement in the game is smooth and flawless for the most part, although the characters will ride through an NPC now and then, or become stuck in a corner. The default movement is a forward motion, and the “down” directional control has to be hit to stop the character each time. There is no slowing down! There’s only fast, faster, and stop. This can be a tad annoying when a player may just want to scope out an area first before zooming ahead. However, the game doesn’t punish players for falls and wipeouts, and there’re only a few time constraints, mainly to do with specific goals.

The multiplayer mode offers three games: H-O-R-S-E, a trick contest where the low scorer gets a letter, King of the Hill (split screen), a grab and keep the crown from the other player game, and score challenge (split screen), a score challenge.

The animation is typical Disney-fare, which is to say, pretty good. The characters are all drawn exceedingly well, and the backgrounds are nice, although a little flat appearing at times. Each world remains true to its movie inspiration.

A mild variety of alternative rock seems to be the music style most represented in the playlist of songs, which is odd for this age group. Where are the Disney songs?!? I can’t believe that Hakuna Matata isn’t here, nor any of Phil Collins’ songs from Tarzan. At the least, a Radio Disney bubblegum pop mix would have been more appreciated by the targeted age group, I think. None of the people in our household aged 13, 17, 38 and 40, respectively, cared overly much for the song selections.

The songs themselves are pretty innocuous
and I found nothing offensive that parents would object to. One song I
originally reported to have a mild profanity, but the expression I was alluding
to was deleted from the original song and so is not present in the in-game
music.

The sound effects are fairly good and fit the tricks decently, but nothing really stands out. The voice acting is good, and sounds like the real actors.

The most recent sports games from Disney have been abysmal for the most part, but this team has done an outstanding job designing a fun, challenging game that actually lives up to its potential. Taking a demonstrably proven simulation game engine and modifying it for easier gameplay, populating it with the popular Disney characters, and providing open-ended gaming levels with collectibles and puzzle-oriented goals has proven entirely satisfactory. We haven’t had this much fun with a Disney action game since 101 Dalmatians: Puppies to the Rescue. The goals offer a good challenge, especially in the later levels.

However, while many adult gamers probably won’t agree, the gameplay should have been made a little easier for the kids, more in the speed of the movement, than in the goals and collectibles. It’s hard to control the characters because they move so fast. Other than this slight quibble, this is a neat game for the younger players, one which delivers all that it’s promised to do. Older players will probably be left wanting more challenge, even with the pro controls, unless they’re avid Disney fans.

Gameplay: 8.3
The gameplay is plain, unadulterated fun! The combination of accomplishing tricks with the cute Disney characters, along with the goal-oriented tasks and collectibles, makes for a very enjoyable game.

Graphics: 8
The graphics are very good, but the backgrounds could have used a littler more detail. Still, they compare well with similar games of this type.

Sound: 7
The music didn’t appeal to any of us particularly, but others may really like it, it’s all a matter of taste. There really should have been at least a couple of Disney tunes included, though. The sound effects are average.

Difficulty: Medium
The goals begin easily enough, but soon become harder to accomplish. The tricks are super easy to perform, but the movement of the characters, especially while trying to accomplish a task, is made somewhat difficult at times because of the speed of the forward motion.

Concept: 8
A great concept, using a tried and true engine that is hugely successful with adults, and modifying it for younger players, without taking any inherent quality away from it. Add Disney characters, and voila! The designers did a great job of keeping their target audience in mind, and worked hard to provide a game that was challenging, but not frustrating.

Multiplayer: 7.5
The multiplayer is pretty simple, but offers some fun for the kids.

Overall: 8.3
The care and attention to detail evident in this game is a testimony to the designers’ integrity, which is too often missing in children’s games. The target audience is appreciated and worked for, and not thought of as being a little too beneath true creativity. Kids ages 10 and up will really enjoy this game, although the younger ones may have a bit of a hard time with the character’s movement at times. Parents looking for a good GameCube game for the family can’t go wrong with this title, as there’s fun to be had for everyone, even the adults.