Reviews// Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam (Wii)

Tricking is possible, even necessary at times, but the tricking system is semi-automatic and, as a result, I never felt as though I had fine control over it. Essentially, to trigger a trick, you press the [1] button in mid-air, and wobble the Wiimote around at an angle. Allegedly, different movements trigger different tricks, but there doesn’t seem to be any obvious correlation between the Wiimote movement and the type of trick that the game selects for you.

Grinding is totally automatic – land in the vicinity of a rail, and the game grinds for you, although you do have to balance by moving either hand up or down. The game does not let you perform manuals – hardly surprising, given that you’re racing.

You can perform most of the other tricks in the Tony Hawk’s armoury however, including flips and grab tricks (although I wasn’t able to work out how to launch a flip as opposed to a grab). Wallrides also feature quite heavily, as you’re always on steeply sloping courses, more often than not lined with buildings. However, when you launch off a ramp, it’s nigh-on impossible to avoid steering towards a building.

You can, at least, string combos together – which usually take the form of flip/grab trick, followed by wallride, followed by grind – although never, at any point do you feel in full control of them. I actually started yearning for the regimented nature of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games of yore, in which you had to perform precise tricks over and over until they’re burned onto your brain.

Courses
The courses are plentiful and some are quite long, but despite the different settings – San Francisco, Edinburgh, Machu Picchu, Chicago, Hong Kong, Rome and Rio De Janeiro – there isn’t a vast amount of variety, since you’re always racing downhill.

Every so often, I got a flash of recognition, such as when I negotiated the famously windy road (Lombard Street) in San Francisco. There are plenty of objects to smash, such as wooden rails, which help to fill your Special meter more quickly, and ramps dotted around. You can also find alternative routes and shortcuts through the stages, particularly if you get good air and perform long wallrides.

In many of the stages, traffic appears, which at least keeps you on your toes and relieves the monotony. Fortunately, the traffic in Edinburgh drives on the left-hand side of the road. Another feature of many urban stages is that they end below ground in subterranean car parks, with the route marked out by traffic cones (which you earn points for hitting).

Graphics
Granted, when it comes to graphics-processing grunt, the Wii is the Citroen 2CV of the console world, but Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam’s graphics are still pretty lame. Textures are all but non-existent, blockiness abounds, and the little cut-scene style sequences before each course feature what appears to be a plasticine caricature of Tony Hawk’s head spouting annoyingly inane teen-banter with the other digitised skaters in the game.

Compared to the likes of Twilight Princess – or even GameCube games such as Resident Evil 4 – Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam looks downright shoddy.

SPOnG Score: D

[i]Conclusion
It’s difficult to see who, other than Wii game completists, would want to buy Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam. It’s clearly aimed at kids, which will alienate anybody who ever bought a proper Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game. It’s difficult to see why it should have been aimed at such a young audience, given that the THPS series was aimed at teenagers anyway.

It looks rubbish, it’s repetitive and it’s over-simplified. On the plus side, the control system proves to work better than you would imagine when you start the game for the first time. But that’s about it. Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam is ill-conceived and ill-executed. So don’t buy it.[/i]