Tony
Hawk’s Downhill Jam is the latest entry in the long-running series to appear on
the Nintendo DS. However, while previous entries to the series have been focused
on tricks and missions, Downhill Jam takes an SSX-style racing approach,
throwing you into frantic slalom races against groups of other skaters. Downhill
Jam is an intense game with a great sense of speed, but the real strength here
is in the fantastic online features that Vicarious Visions have provided. Tony
Hawk’s Downhill Jam is a great racer, and there’s no better reason to get your
DS online than this game.
Tony
Hawk’s Downhill Jam pits you as your own created skater as you race your way
through six exotic locales to become the top-dog skater. The game’s courses,
ranging from San Francisco to Rio de Janeiro, are huge and filled with
opportunities for air, long grinds and shortcuts. In fact, the key to victory in
most races is trying to find an alternate path it give you the lead.
Given
the racing theme in Downhill Jam, the game offers up an integral new move, the
Burtslide. When you perform a burtslide, you plant a hand down on the ground as
you turn, which allows you to do a tighter turn without losing any speed. Given
the high-speed nature of the game’s racing, this is an essential way to keep the
lead in races.
Even
though the focus has shifted to downhill racing, tricks are still a very
important part of the game. Grinds are typically a good way to get through tight
turns while maintaining your speed and building up your special meter. As in
previous Tony Hawk games, the special meter allows you to perform special tricks
that give you more points, but now the game has a boost meter as well that feeds
off of it. Like in SSX, boosting allows you to go a lot faster while depleting
your special meter more.
Goals
still factor into the game, as well. The six courses each have quests that you
must perform to move on, like classic point challenges or finding a certain
secret route in order to unlock other features.
Perhaps
the best thing about Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam is the great multiplayer element.
Downhill Jam offers some of the most robust online features to date, with a bevy
of games to play, voice chat through the DS’s built-in microphone, and even a
website
where you can go to track your in-game achievements and see how you rack up to
other Downhill Jammers. The game performs very well via multiplayer matches,
with minimal lag, and is certainly a game that will entice you to bring your DS
online if you haven’t already.
Downhill Jam uses the same graphics engine as Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land,
meaning that the game features a stylized cel-shaded look with a lot of
personality. The game’s action unfolds at a silky-smooth 60 FPS framerate with
minimal slowdown.
Downhill Jam also features a great soundtrack packed with a variety of licensed
tunes from a mix of artists. The game also has a lot of voice work packed in.
Unfortunately, this comes with a downside, since in order to pack all of these
effects into the DS’s cart, they had to be compressed quite a bit, so the result
is a bit tinny sounding.
Tony
Hawk’s Downhill Jam is a great spin-off from the series’ formula, presenting
compelling downhill racing with a great sense of speed and some truly impressive
online elements. Downhill Jam is as good of a reason as any to get your DS
online, and should definitely be checked out by fans of the series.
|
Review Scoring Details for Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam |
Gameplay: 8.5
Solid
arcade-style racing with fun branching stages and a great sense of speed.
Graphics: 9.0
The game’s cel-shaded
aesthetic is carried over from Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land, and all the action
unfolds in a smooth 60 frames-per-second framerate with minimal slowdown.
Sound: 8.0
Even though the
quality is a little tinny and compressed, Downhill Jam still manages to pack an
impressive amount of voice effects and licensed songs.
Difficulty: Medium
Concept: 8.5
Downhill Jam
breathes new life into the series with competent high-speed racing coupled with
the series trademark trick system.
Multiplayer: 9.5
Downhill Jam
online options are extremely robust, with several different game modes, voice
chat, and smooth performance with minimal lag.
Overall: 8.5
Downhill Jam is a
refreshingly different take on the series, with high-speed action and excellent
online features.
