Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PS4, XB1, PC) Review

Let's turn from four-wheeling race cars to another type of four-wheeler, the skateboard. It's the long awaited, much anticipated return of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater with a full fledged remake of the first two games in one tantalizing package. It's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and here is SuperPhillip Central's review.

Trickin' out with Tony

Throughout the '00s, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series saw release after release, busting trick after trick and simultaneously busting up to the top of the sales charts year after year. The series popularized the extreme sports genre of video game, but eventually it faded in both glory and popularity. The death knell was a one-two combo of a poorly made THPS 1 remake and a quick-and-dirty, phoned-in--and quite terrible--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, meant to squeeze some extra last money out of the franchise before the publisher, Activision, lost the rights to it.

It seemed like the Birdman's games would go the way of another bird, the dodo, but now Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is back with a fantastically done remake of the first two games in one cleverly made package. With Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series doesn't just return to gaming relevance--it returns to form.

What worried me and pretty much every other fan of the old Tony Hawk games was that THPS 1 + 2 would end up like the promising but overall poor remake of the first game. The skateboarding feel wouldn't be right, the controls and handling would be off, and so forth. Fortunately, I am happy to say that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 feels just like the Tony Hawk games most of us grew up on. This is to say everything feels right, and this isn't a shoddy effort in the slightest.

Right away, the look and feel of the classics is strong in THPS 1 + 2.

Skateboarding is terrific, offering a solid degree of control, and ease of pulling off simple tricks with a combination of the D-Pad / analog stick and face buttons. There are flip tricks and grab tricks to pull off depending on the button pressed and the direction on the D-Pad/analog stick held. That's just the basics, of course. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 throws in some moves pulled from later games in the series for use in both games' levels, including Pro Skater 2's manual, 3's revert, and even 4's wallride and wallplant. This offers the ability to chain together tricks much more easily than before in both games.

Getting through the daily grind...

It's simple enough to pull these tricks off by themselves, but learning how to link tricks together into one combo and actually succeeding in landing is where the challenge truly lies. It's a juggling act between tying together combinations of flip tricks, grab tricks, flatland/manual tricks, vert tricks, and grinds while simultaneously trying to land a killer combo. The more tricks you successfully pull off in a combo, the more you combo multiplier goes up, and upon successfully landing, the more points you earn. So, there's definitely a risk versus reward mechanic that comes in. Do you risk bailing by continuing a manual into your next trick, or do you end the combo there and get guaranteed points? By doing the former, you can either lose your combo and all those precious points altogether, but at the same time landing the combo successfully will result in more points than you'd otherwise receive.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has always been a series about finding the best lines to earn the most points, and the career mode assists in doing this. What may seem like busywork in collecting S-K-A-T-E letters and bashing open boxes in the opening Warehouse level is actually supposed to teach you the levels better so you can learn and hopefully ultimately master insane skating lines in them. Career mode serves as not only a way to provide players with a series of objectives to clear in each level--such as earning set scores, performing certain tricks at specific gaps, collecting certain items, etc.--but also as a means to learn the levels themselves, so when you do hop online for some multiplayer, you aren't left totally in the dust.

Jump in and out of multiplayer as easily as you can pull off this gap.
(Which is to say, quite easily, as this gap isn't too terribly tough to nail.)

Before I do jump into multiplayer more, let's talk more about the career mode. It's taken directly from the classic-style THPS games of yore, giving you two minutes to complete different as many level goals as you can with each attempt. Thankfully, you need not to do all of the goals in one run, but I can attest THPS pros being able to do so for many of the early, and quite possibly, some of the later levels as well. As you complete various goals, you unlock new levels. THPS 1 and THPS 2's levels are split up between their own lists, and you can start with either game's first level and progress through them from there. Collectible stat points to beef up the stats of your currently controlled skater are sprinkled throughout levels, making for an easier time. These stat points work across both game's levels, so if you collect a stat point in a THPS 1 level, it works in THPS 2's levels as well. Really, there is no stringent separation of the two games in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 other than unlocking levels in order across each game.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 requires you to just clear level goals once as any skater instead of the headache that was playing through every level and completing every goal to fully complete the game like the classics had you do. This might turn off some players, as in the career mode, there's nothing else to regularly do in a level once you complete them other than scour them for each skater's stat points. This gets tedious quickly as entering and exiting levels takes a little while loading time-wise, and collecting stat points isn't exactly the most difficult thing to do in the game. You'll instead be switching between levels and suffering loading screen upon loading screen between your level selection.

What is rather difficult, however, in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a brand new addition to the series with this remake: challenges. There are over 700 total, ranging from easy and "not so tough" to "you'll want to break your controller over your knees as if it were your skateboard" hard. These come in various categories across skaters, levels, tricks, combos, modes, and more. Such examples include earning a medal in all skate competitions, performing 20,000 point combos with various trick specifications, and beating high scores in one combo. Each challenge completed earns you money and experience points. The former allows you to purchase in-game goods like apparel, boards, logos, etc. in the shop. The latter is more for achievement/trophy hunters, but your player level also gives you more items to buy in the shop as well.

This school may be out at the moment, but it's a perfect time for some skating to be in session.

Outside of the career mode, there's plenty more to shred through in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2. For instance, a free skate mode offers plenty of opportunities to practice or partake in gap-hunting. There is also a speed run mode where you do your best to complete all of a level's goals as fast as you possibly can. Finally, there's of course multiplayer, which comes in both local, comfy couch split-screen play and online multiplayer forms.

Online works rather well, offering lobbies that don't take much time at all to fill with players, and games start quite quickly and seamlessly. Modes alternate in and out between rounds, levels can also occasionally get switched between rounds as well. Rounds don't take too long to complete, so even if you're doing horribly, you won't have to suffer for long. Perhaps my only gripe with online multiplayer is that HORSE is one of the only modes unavailable. That's local split-screen only. Other modes, such as attempting to get the highest combo score in a set amount of time, or the ultra-fun Graffiti, where you try to "paint" as much of a level's geometry to control the most by the end of the time limit, are present and as fun as ever.

Whoever said "look before you leap" sure said a mouthful.

Aside from competing against yourself for best scores and competing against others in multiplayer, Create-A-Park is back in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, and mechanically it's better than ever before. While the tutorial is rather poor, practically pushing players into the deep end of the pool with no life preserver or water wings, there's a lot that you can do when creating a park. It becomes second nature and easy as the game snaps pieces together in a way that makes building the skate park of your dreams almost effortless. Furthermore, smart pieces--where you can tinker, pull, and stretch objects like vert ramps, rails, walls, and more--add even more creative possibilities to created parks. I just wish there was a way to implement your own gaps and goals like in past Tony Hawk games, but what's here is pleasant. Searching and finding created parks isn't, however, with level pictures that seldom load, making it a crap shoot on if the park you're about to enter is worth the hassle of the load times or not.

It wouldn't be worth talking about a remake without talking about how improved Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is compared to its originals. The game is on another level graphically, offering unprecedented detail in both characters and levels. The latter delivers astonishing new takes on classic parks, such as THPS 2's Hangar, which is essentially now a shrine for Neversoft, the developers of the classic Pro Skater games, and the THPS 1's Mall, which now heavy vegetation growing through its abandoned, dilapidated halls and passages. Not all of the levels, however, are great glam-ups, as THPS 2's Venice Beach with its especially bright and almost garish sunset makes it particularly difficult to see certain collectibles.

Venice Beach is one of my lesser loved levels in THPS 1 + 2 due to the lighting
(though this screenshot is on the shady side), but it's still an overall winner.

It especially wouldn't be worth talking about a Tony Hawk game without mentioning its soundtrack, and here, too, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 brings it with nearly all of the music from both THPS 1 and 2. This soundtrack will definitely trigger nostalgia for most players who have fond memories of skating and thrashing it up in 1999 and the early 2000s. There are also some new songs thrown into the mix, and they fit the style and tone of THPS wonderfully. Plus, if you dislike a particular song, you can skip it with a click of the right stick, or better yet, just remove it from track rotation entirely in the options.

Like Activision's past reworks like the Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a marvelous remake that, like Tony Hawk with his infamous 900, nails the landing. Unlike the Birdman himself, however, it's not a perfect landing, as lengthy load times between levels and some odd physics in relation to some level geometry can and do occasionally annoy. Nevertheless, if you want a game that retains the feel of the classic THPS games that you know and love, or you want to experience what the hubbub regarding the Pro Skater series is all about and don't know where to start, then Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 is an outstanding remake and the game for you.

[SPC Says: A-]

Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy (PS4) Review

For the final review of July on this final day of July, we have a SuperPhillip Central review from Bean, who we haven't seen for a while. This is his review from his full play-through of all of the games featured in the Crash Bandicoot: N. Sane Trilogy for the PlayStation 4.

A Proper Crash Bash

Crash Bandicoot originally raced on to the scene twenty years ago on the original PlayStation console. It was the story about an Aussie animal that was given sentience thanks to a pair of sinister scientists, Dr. Neo Cortex and Dr. Nitrus Brio, in their plot to take over the world using an armada of mutated minions. Crash escaped, but his girlfriend didn't, so he wound up going on an adventure to get back to the lab and save the day. He did and wound up starring in two critically and financially successful sequels before licensing issues would take him from top tier mascot to looking like he was a John Cena cosplayer. Activision, who had gained the Crash license through their merger with Vivendi, saw the fan interest in bringing the Bandicoot back to his prime old self and put Vicarious Visions on the job to remaster the popular PlayStation trilogy with the N. Sane Trilogy for the PS4. I'll say right now that the company did a very faithful, even if not totally accurate job at remaking these classics... for better or worse as you'll find out.

Crash Bandicoot shows us his fantastic Indiana Jones impression.

The goal in all three Crash Bandicoot games is to run and jump your way through stages while breaking every box along the way both in the main levels and usually a bonus path to find inside said levels these to earn yourself a gem at the end. In the original Crash Bandicoot, these were the only collectibles to worry about. However, what made them so hard to get in the original and not the sequels was that when you lost a life even after breaking open a checkpoint box, every crate would be back and unbroken. This meant you had to do a no-death run of every stage just to earn a gem, and that wasn't the easiest task in the world back in the day. In this remaster, the game has mercifully been toned down as you can now go through and die at checkpoints as much as you want... unless you're going for one of the game's rare colored gems. Those levels still require you to do a no-death run of the whole stage in one try lest you be rewarded with a screen that tells you that you were almost perfect except that you died. Ouch.

Some hazards in levels can drive the player a little batty. (Sorry, not sorry for the pun.)

One of the most frustrating things with the remaster is that the original source code was apparently lost. This means that physics were changed up in spots. In Crash 1's case, this is definitely to the disadvantage of the player as Crash does not get as much air on his jumps, and therefore, does not get the same distance on them either. Couple that with shadows that aren't as pronounced, and you have one-third of a remake where it's both tougher to gauge and land your jumps correctly. Even worse, physics issues will also pop up if you land on the edges of platforms. Things that could be easily done in the original, like running on ropes in the infamous bridge levels, now are nail-biting exercises in frustration. Yes, I was able to get through these stages fine without resorting to this tactic, but it never feels right to be safely on a platform only to find yourself running forward and be pushed off into the abyss. On the positive side of things, this is the only part of the trilogy where I felt things were off, but you still take a game I thought was mediocre for one reason and keep it that way for another.

No matter the dangers, Crash always rushes onto the scene!

But that all changes the moment Crash 2 begins. The point-to-point world map system is dropped in favor of small hubs that have five portals for quick access. Crash himself gets a few new moves like the ability to do both long and high jumps with a combination of pressing circle (or R1) and X. Even better, if the player presses Square to spin immediately after doing one of these two types of jumps, Crash will either get more distance or height on his leaps. Knowledge of all of these moves are required to get both gems and the newly-added crystals. The crystals themselves are the main collectable to make progress in this game and will usually be right out in the open in the second half of levels. Other additions in this one include alternate paths, secret exits, and a couple of non-platforming vehicle stages.

Levels where you're rushing towards the camera can take a little getting used to and require some memorization.

I'm a fan of the Death Routes which are alternate levels that the player must once again reach by not dying in the level up until that point. These areas usually offer a higher degree of skill to complete, and in one specific case, Crash will be forced to slip and slide through an icy chamber to hit a switch only to be forced to go all the way back to the start to be able to break every box in the stage. Oh, and did I mention this area is filled to the brim with Nitro Boxes, green crates that explode the moment you come into contact with them? Yes, this game expects a lot from the player and the backtracking in some levels can go overboard at times, but it's pure platforming fun and my favorite entry of the trilogy.

Crash 3 or Warped, depending on which part of the world you're from, continued to add to the Bandicoot's arsenal when you beat bosses as you'll earn new special abilities like a double jump or glide spin to once again make it through levels easier. It also added Crash's sister, Coco, as a playable character originally although she is playable in all three titles in the N. Sane Trilogy thanks to Vicarious Visions. Unfortunately, while Warped has some of the best platforming stages in the entire trilogy, it also goes overboard in terms of its gimmick levels.

This time around, no matter the game, Crash's sister Coco is available to play as.

I mentioned Crash 2's vehicle stages, but they weren't as prominent as they are here. This game throws them in early and often. Jet ski tracks, motorcycle races where you have to get 1st, airplane dogfight stages where you have to shoot down blimps, a couple of swimming stages. You have all of these new moves at your disposal, yet it feels like more than a third of the game takes you out of platforming and throws you into these kind of levels. It's a bit frustrating, but it's not a total dealbreaker, although I will say the jet ski levels feel a little more loose or tight depending on what kind of turn you're trying to make. It's still a fun game overall, but the final part of the trilogy could've been the best instead of a step down from its more fun predecessor thanks to these abundant and unnecessary gimmick stages.

The majority of Warped's levels have various gimmicks to them, for better or worse.

The final new addition in Crash 3 were relic race time trials. In these, you would hit a stopwatch at the beginning of the stage and go through levels as fast as you can. Certain boxes would be converted into a yellow color with a number on them from 1-3. Break those boxes, and the clock would stop for that amount of time as you kept going along. Sapphire, Gold, or Platinum Relics would be handed out depending on how fast you were... pending you were fast enough to earn one in the first place, that is. Vicarious Visions knew players enjoyed this and decided to also add these time trials into the first two titles as extras for trophy goals. Once again, they really don't feel right in Crash 1, but once you beat the final boss in Crash 2 and earn a Speed Shoes upgrade for faster movement with the press of the R2 button, it feels great. Your jumps again go farther with this active, so you might as well get your inner-Sonic on and race to the finish! Another obvious but necessary inclusion is the ability to save anywhere on the map or in hubs in all three games. It's just a shame the load times when going into the game or stages last a bit longer than I'd like to see.

Crash gives this boss encounter a spin and seems to be succeeding. 

Still, the whole N.Sane Trilogy does a faithful job of recreating two very fun games and the original Crash as best they could be in terms of both upgraded visuals and sound. I had a fun time going through these titles again this month for the most part, and really, a compilation set like this for the Bandicoot's 20th Anniversary is a no-brainer for any and all Crash fans to pick up. With its successful debut worldwide, who knows if this will lead either to a new entry in the series or perhaps another compilation set with a certain purple dragon? It's absolutely N. Sane that it took this long for the series to go back to its roots, but I'm definitely glad it did.

[SPC Says: A-]

Skylanders SuperChargers (PS4, XB1, Wii U, PS3, 360) Review

SuperPhillip Central keeps on rolling review-wise this month, as does the Summer of 700. While we won't quite reach that milestone THIS month, NEXT month will be something even more special! For now, let's turn our attention to last year's Skylanders SuperChargers. With Imaginators coming out this year and all the hype around Crash Bandicoot being in it, it seemed like a smart time to try out the game's predecessor. Here's SuperPhillip Central's review of Skylanders SuperChargers.

Five years in and still all charged up

Update: @SP_Central Twitter follower @Trev_G1 (Trevor Gould) let me know that you don't need the air or sea figurines to beat the game. You can actually skip the segment I was talking about in the last level. I apologize for the error! The grade remains the same, however, as the figurine "problem" didn't heavily weight on the overall grade.

This year, the first competitor saw its exit from the toys-to-life arena with Disney Infinity calling it quits. This made gamers and fans wondering what the future was for other games that revolve around figurines for their gameplay and thus, their success. Well, if Activision's Skylanders series, now at its fifth game with Skylanders SuperChargers, can continue to be as well rounded and engaging as the latest game in the series, then fans have nothing to worry about.

Skylanders SuperChargers, of course, brings back the toys-to-life concept that Activision's series helped spearhead, thus bringing us competitors from LEGO to Nintendo. However, I still maintain that Skylanders has the best use of toys-to-life concept to date. For those unaware of what toys-to-life entails in regards to Skylanders SuperChargers, the game comes with a portal known as the Portal of Power. Here, you place figurines on them to bring the characters into the game. With SuperChargers, you need to place two figures on the Portal of Power at once: one Skylander and one vehicle. Depending on your vehicle, whether land, sea, or air, you can access different challenges within levels. While I had thought this was optional to play the game as sea and air missions aren't required throughout most of SuperChargers, I ended up being required to have a sea and an air vehicle for the last level. So, yeah, that's a bit of a bummer-- playing through the entirety of Skyalnders SuperChargers just to end up having to buy two extra vehicles to beat the game.

No mere minion is a match for Spitfire!

The Skylanders you place on the Portal of Power are what you control through the game's 13 levels. Through defeating enemies as a given Skylander, your character earns experience points. Earn enough points and your Skylander levels up, giving them more health and strength. If your controlled Skylander loses all of his or her health, you need to replace them with a different Skylander until you either finish the current level or start it from the beginning. You'll have to do the latter if you run out of Skylanders with health.

Some Skylanders have long range attacks, because why get all up close and personal?

Each Skylander can pick up coins, giving them their own separate total instead of every Skylander pooling their collecting coins into one pot, if you will. These coins at certain spots of the game allow you, the player, to purchase new moves for them, helping you contend with enemies more easily in battle. As the moves become more complicated and worthwhile, the prices go up. There's also branches that make you choose between moves of one style over another.

Skylanders SuperChargers is part action-adventure platformer and part vehicular combat and racing. The action-adventure parts sport a modest amount of platforming as well as a camera that follows your Skylander around without relinquishing control to the player. This mostly works well, as the camera is far enough away that you can go backwards in levels, towards the camera, without the fear of getting hit by an off-camera enemy or falling into a pit.

Meanwhile, the vehicle segments either put the camera behind your vehicle racing-style as you speed along a road, usually needing to avoid some kind of series of hazards in the process, or they put your vehicle in an arena-like setting. The arena segments are a little harder to control, as the camera is at an isometric view with the vehicle controls taking some getting used to. Meanwhile, the flight segments are brilliant, offering either normal or inverted controls depending on players' preference.

The 13 levels within Skylanders SuperChargers are well executed and constantly bring new variety into the fold. One level had my Skylander growing to the size of a titan to level buildings and tower around a tropical series of isles with ease, while another had segments where it turned this normally 3D game into a 2D side-scroller.

Dive-Clops only needs one eye to take out enemy minions.

In-game collectibles are an important part of Skylanders SuperChargers to add even more longevity to the game. There are things like hats that a Skylander can wear for increased stats, vehicle modifications that add both aesthetic and statistical changes to your rides, and legendary treasures that can be placed around the hub world of SuperChargers, Skylanders Academy.

Outside of the main campaign, there is plenty more to do in Skylanders SuperChargers. The main extra mode is a Mario Kart-style racing mode, complete with six initial, well-designed, tracks (six more needing to be unlocked by figures). Starting off, both race mode with up to seven other AI players or three other human players online or locally as well as a time trial mode are available. With different figures in the form of trophies, extra content like boss battles and grand prix events are unlocked. Regardless, the racing is absolutely aces, offering item-based combat where you try to whittle down the health of an opponent's vehicle to slow them down while trying to avoid enemy fire as you race through an elaborate set of courses.

The racing could be its own game-- that's how good it is. ...Wait a minute.

The other extra in Skylanders SuperChargers is the return of Skystones, a collectible card game that is a cross between Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone. This uses cards gathered throughout the game from treasure chests or through won games, and using them to attack your opponent's cards and overall health until it is emptied to nothingness.

Skylanders SuperChargers is a very pretty game with a tremendous art style and design to it. Characters exude personality and charm, environments are well detailed and original, and everything runs smoothly. The PS3, 360, and Wii U versions sport longer loading times when compared to the PS4 and Xbox One versions, but other than that, all versions of Skylanders SuperChargers play well. The voice acting is pure Saturday morning cartoon goodness, played off well and presenting lots of humor for both kids and adults like me. The music is joyous to listen to, relaxing to explore levels in at some times while dramatic when it needs to be at others.

Smash Hit's next record is how many of these insects he can exterminate at once.

Overall, Skylanders SuperChargers makes the case for the series' longevity. After now five installments, the series successfully keeps adding to itself and changing things up just enough to stay both rewarding and satisfying. Being able to use all of the figures from past Skylanders games means you don't have to pick up new ones just for this game (apart from vehicles), unless you're like me and are just a collecting freak who can't help himself! You can even use a Portal of Power from past Skylanders games as well. While being locked out of air and sea content is annoying, and the occasional troublesome camera angle can mean some annoyances here and there, ultimately, Skylanders SuperChargers is a really fun game that both kids and adults can love and cherish.

[SPC Says: B+]

Crash Nitro Kart (PS2, GCN, XBX) Retro Review

Before this week is officially over, I want to sneak in a review. With about an hour left until it's Sunday and a new week has started, it's time for a retro review! Mascot kart racers bring me a lot of enjoyment when done right, and the original Crash Team Racing was one that did things right, for sure. Now, I turn my attention to the first non-Naughty Dog Crash Bandicoot kart racer, Crash Nitro Kart. Does it live up to the original Crash Team Racing? Yes... and no.

Imitation is the sincerest form of kart-tery

Back on the original PlayStation, Naughty Dog (Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, The Last of Us) developed a kart racer to battle against the Nintendo 64's arcade kart racing titans, Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. The game was known as Crash Team Racing, starring characters both old and new from the Crash Bandicoot franchise that Naughty Dog previously worked on. Crash Team Racing followed the foundations of both games it was inspired by, most notably Diddy Kong Racing's awesome Adventure Mode.

After Crash Team Racing and Crash Bash, a Mario Party-esque game, were released, Sony lost the rights to Crash Bandicoot to Universal Interactive. Several Crash Bandicoot games were launched the next console generation with Universal Interactive, then Activision, as the publisher, including a game very much resembling Crash Team Racing. Its name is Crash Nitro Kart, and it pretty much is Crash Team Racing formula without Naughty Dog as the publisher. Not just a carbon copy of its inspiration, Crash Nitro Kart happens to be a solid kart racing experience on sixth generation platforms.

The story of Crash Nitro Kart has Crash Bandicoot and his friends, as well as Dr. Cortex and his henchmen, taken from Earth and forced to race for Emperor Velo and his coliseum audience's amusement, or else Earth will be destroyed. However, if either team, Team Crash or Team Cortex, can earn their chance to race Velo and beat him, the Emperor will send them back home. The story is set up through a nice collection of full motion video cutscenes. The only issue with these is that there is no subtitle option to choose from, making for hard times for deaf players, as none of the spoken dialogue is given text whatsoever.

You're the star of this game, Crash! You can't be in last place by that much!

Crash Nitro Kart contains a host of modes for single player and multiplayer play. The main single player mode is the Adventure Mode, which if you're familiar with how it worked in Crash Team Racing, then you'll be right at home. If not, allow me to explain what Adventure Mode is all about. You start in one hub that houses three circuits. Upon getting first in each of the three circuits' races, you can challenge the champion, or boss, of that hub. Beating the boss unlocks two types of challenges in the previous three circuits: the CNK Challenge and the Relic Race.

The CNK Challenge is just like the CTR Challenge of Crash Team Racing. Not only must you collect three letters: C, N, and K, around a given track, but you have to come in first place as well. The Relic Race requires you to beat a target time akin to a time trial. Fortunately, in a Relic Race, there are different crates strewn all along the track, each with a number from 1-3 on them. Ramming into a crate stops the timer for that amount of seconds. Both the CNK Challenge and the Relic Race race types are joined by a lone arena type of event in each of the game's four hubs that gives you an arena to speed around in, collecting 20 crystals before time runs out. All of these types of events are enjoyable, varied, and add longevity to Crash Nitro Kart's Adventure Mode. Throw in the ability to run through Adventure Mode as both teams with different cutscenes shown, and you have a single player mode that you can keep coming back to.

At this rate you're going to be lapped!

Aside from Adventure Mode, there are traditional time trial modes to choose from. You can either select from a typical three-lap race or try for the best lap in a given track. There is also a Quick Race mode that allows you to choose from the selection of Crash Nitro Kart's tracks, select an AI difficulty, and how many laps the race will be. Confusingly, this mode is only for single players, making it so if you want to play multiplayer and race, you're stuck choosing from one of four cups of three races each. You don't get to choose which race you'd like to play together, something that most every kart racer has that Crash Nitro Kart doesn't.

Multiplayer is also offered in the Battle Mode, which brings five game types for players to let out their aggression on their friends or fellow family members. There is your typical point-based mode, a last kart standing mode, a crystal-collecting mode, a capture the flag mode, and a beacon-grabbing mode. Most modes can be played free-for-all style or team-based, save for the flag and beacon modes that are only available for teams. Battle Mode is an engaging experience, but if you're looking for something that gives you the same adrenaline highs of say, Mario Kart 64's Battle Mode, then you will be sorely disappointed.

Crash Nitro Kart feels a lot like Crash Team Racing in more than just with what it offers mode-wise. Developer Vicarious Visions certainly did its homework on how Crash Team Racing plays as well. Crash Nitro Kart features tight and responsive handling, and depending on which of the sixteen characters you choose from (some need to be unlocked), their speed, acceleration, and turning abilities will be different.

The same power-boosting mechanic of Crash Team Racing is present in Crash Nitro Kart. When you hop into the air and start drifting by pressing and holding onto one of the shoulder buttons, a gauge appears. The gauge will grow from green to red. When it's in the red portion, you press the opposite shoulder button to let loose a boost. You can do this up to three times on one drift, and you are also able to chain trios of boosts for some excellent power-boosting opportunities. At first, you might just successfully chain three boosts together, but as you play on, you might become skilled enough to do upwards of 20 or more consecutive boosts on a given race.

Wumpa Fruit are like Super Mario Kart's coins in Crash Nitro Kart. Collecting ten not only boosts your character's top speed, but it also allows items you collect to enter juiced mode. Ordinarily, items have a normal effect, whether it's a homing missile, a TNT crate that traps an opponent in it before it explodes (though by hopping like mad, that opponent can escape), or a bowling ball bomb. When an item is collected in juiced mode, that item becomes an upgraded version, so the TNT crate would become a NITRO crate that explodes immediately when an unassuming someone crashes into it.

This Aku Mask item serves as a powerful bout of invincibility.

So, the modes are fun, the racing is tight, and everything appears to be just like Crash Team Racing, except it's Crash Nitro Kart. Everything's great, right? Well, Crash Nitro Kart is inferior in one aspect, and that is in the track selection. Crash Team Racing had over sixteen different races to choose from. In comparison, Crash Nitro Kart only has 13 total. This is a relatively small amount compared to other kart racers on the market, and it's a shame. Why? Because the tracks are really well designed, offering a wealth of secret shortcuts and pieces of track that are only accessible with some great skill involved.

A good portion of the tracks are the precursor to 2014's Mario Kart 8. They feature anti-gravity sections that have you racing upside-down, at right angles to the ground, and much more crazy ways to laugh off gravity. Sure, they're clunkier in execution and nowhere near as polished, but it shows that Vicarious Visions weren't resting on its laurels when it came up with the tracks of Crash Nitro Kart.

Make sure not to have eaten too much before racing on some of these courses.

Imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, and no doubt Crash Nitro Kart owes a lot to Naughty Dog's original kart racer starring Crash Bandicoot and friends. While Crash Nitro Kart isn't truly as innovative, as polished, or as well executed as Crash Team Racing, Vicarious Visions's racer is certainly worth tracking a used copy down for. Compared to its contemporaries and even kart racers released around its own period of time, Crash Nitro Kart doesn't make those games eat its dust, but it does deliver tight racing action, clever track design, and plenty of charm.

[SPC Says: B]

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (DS) Retro Review

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 releases at the end of the month. However, the previews and screenshots aren't looking too hot. Instead, let's look back at when the Tony Hawk franchise saw better days with Tony Hawk's American Sk8land for the Nintendo DS. Here is my review.

I'm a little l8 to this sk8 party.

With Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 releasing at the end of the month, it seemed like a good time to think about the better days of the once mighty extreme sports franchise. I'm talking pre-Tony Hawk's Ride here. If Pro Skater 5 fails to light the charts on fire or do well critically, this will probably be the last we see of the franchise for a while. Still, we can do like I'm doing and look back on some of the more excellent titles within the series, such Tony Hawk's American Sk8land, a terrific transposition of the console gameplay to a much less powerful handheld device, the Nintendo DS. It's a game that ends up being a blast to play and more than worthy of the Tony Hawk name.

The story mode of American Sk8land follows you, a custom create-a-skater, across seven unique levels. The customization options for your create-a-skater aren't too large, definitely compared to the console Tony Hawk games, but what is there is serviceable enough. There are a handful of head, body, and leg parts to utilize, and these can have their colors altered as well. You can also custom create patterns like the ones on your skateboard as well as custom graffiti, too, performed by standing still and pressing the A button to spray paint.

Anyway, a famous Los Angeles skate park is doomed unless you and your friends, a comic book drawing girl and Tony Hawk, generate enough money to update and upgrade it. Throughout each free-roaming level are NPCs that ask of certain tasks of you, such as performing a long grind from one area of the level to another, collecting objects for them, and performing sets of tricks in one combo, for starters.

Each completed task from an NPC rewards you with cold, hard cash. Earn enough money in a level and one of many professional skaters arrive, such as Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and more. Complete their task, which is generally harder than anything previously seen by the other NPCs, and you earn even more money, as well as the ability to head to the next level. You can then use the money you earned to purchase one of three new pieces for your skate park.

In any good Tony Hawk game worth its weight in ollies, American Sk8land offers a classic mode, becoming of traditional, old-school games in the series. Each run you do lasts two minutes, and in those two minutes you try to complete as many of the goals in the level as possible. This includes things like beating a high score, performing a combo worth so many points, finding the usually trickily located secret tape, performing a trick on a specific object or gap, among many other types of goals. Complete enough goals and you earn the ability to head to the next level.

There is great longevity in the classic mode because each time you beat the game as a new skater (your create-a-skater included), you earn an unlockable cheat that can help you get even higher scores. These are things like perfect balance on manuals and grinds to goofier cheats like having each skater devised up of crude, polygonal crates.

The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is no more. Thus, online play is no longer available, but there's still enough for solo players to go through that American Sk8land is worth its low asking price. Sure, it was nice to skate in open world areas with friends and strangers around the world, but if you have buddies locally, you can still skate around expansive areas, participating in different games together.

American Sk8land surprising controls really well on the Nintendo DS, despite lacking a similar amount of buttons and triggers to what its big console brothers have. Touch screen use is minimal. It's mostly used for a new mechanic called "Freak Out", where if you bail a trick worth a sizable amount of points, you can tap three rising and falling bars. The fuller the bars are, the more your skater freaks out, earning you more points. You also use the touch screen to enter a temporary slow motion mode that enables you to pull off tricks and jumps with extra precision. Finally, some special moves are performed by touching their icons on the right side of the touch screen.

Something that I miss in American Sk8land that was present in past Tony Hawk games as of Tony Hawk's Underground is the ability to hop off your board and walk around. Now, this wasn't just to continue a combo, but it also allowed you to move with more precision around levels. In American Sk8land, I constantly struggled to do U-turns, usually smacking into a wall, thus making my skater look like he was the ball in a game of Pong. It was highly frustrating to want to go in one direction, yet bouncing off or smacking into walls made my skater go in the opposite desired direction.

American Sk8land runs rather well on the Nintendo DS hardware. The visual style shies away from the home console, realistic look for a more cel-shaded, cartoon appearance. This was a nice decision, as the game would have looked horrid if it went for a realistic style. The game features cutscenes throughout the story that are fully voiced and well done. They have a comic book-like appearance, quite similar to the stuff that your friend in the story draws. Finally, the music is a selection of great-sounding songs from the American Wasteland soundtrack, offering a different track each time you start a new run in classic mode, and offering a playlist in story mode.

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land was the first Nintendo DS entry of the series, and it was the first on a Nintendo handheld that didn't have an isometric view, although you can actually use that view in this game under the options menu! The game uses the Nintendo DS's features to great effect, and the transition from a console to the DS sees little in the way of compromises. This game could have bailed badly, but instead, American Sk8land shreds with the best of them.

[SPC Says: B]