The Babble Review: Tony Hawk: Ride

I suppose it’s ironic that my kids — 9 and 6, respectively — have kicked my butt multiple times at Tony Hawk: Ride since the game showed up on our doorstep last week. I’ve been skateboarding on and off for almost half my life; they’re just learning to stand on a real board — and yet they had Ride’s plastic skateboard controller mastered in a day while I just stood scratching my head at the level of difficulty required to nail some of the easier tricks. But let me back up…

Just as Guitar Hero, Rock Band and their ilk don’t really simulate the subtleties and feel of playing a real instrument, Tony Hawk: Ride — the first skateboarding game of its kind, with a realistic (if wheel-less) skate controller loaded with buttons and motion sensors — doesn’t really give you the experience of nailing tricks on a skateboard. That said, the game is a ton of fun if you’re approaching it less than critically — which, again, brings me back to the kids’ experience.

The game starts with Tony Hawk himself walking you through some basic board calibration — it’s actually pretty funny, and my kids had no trouble getting the board ready for play with the Bird Man’s help. From there, as we’ve seen in other Tony Hawk games, you customize your skater and start your career with a set of tutorials to get you familiar with the board. (I highly recommend these, although videos appear throughout the game to guide you.)

The Tony Hawk: Ride Board Controller

The board controller looks and feels like a legitimate skateboard, and it’s also designed to take a beating — which it will, especially as you’re getting used to it. The slick, hard-plastic bottom makes the board well-suited to carpeted surfaces, and to keep you from killing yourself on hardwood floors, the package also includes thick, fuzzy “grip tape” that you apply to the bottom surface. This stuff is crucial, even if you’re a seasoned real-world skater — because you’ll be moving around a lot.

As for movement, that’s where things get a little weird. The game lets you choose your difficulty level (my kids both stuck with the easiest, called “Casual”), and you progress through the single-player experience by completing races, winning challenges and nailing tricks to rack up points. Sounds basic enough, but if you’ve ever spent time on a real skateboard, you’ll quickly see the disconnect between Ride and the real world.

On the Casual level, the game virtually plays itself — you can rack up tons of points simply by twisting and moving at random, which makes it great for beginners (or, in my case, first-graders), if a little disappointing for those of us who know our way around a halfpipe. Move up the difficulty level and it gets trickier — no pun intended. Tricks like manuals (wheelies, for you non-skaters) and grabs make intuitive use of the board’s accelerometers and sensors, but flip tricks and ollies require levels of foot wizardry that don’t quite translate to a real-world experience. Which is probably just as good — ever seen a TV after it’s been hit by a seven-pound plastic board?

Overall, Tony Hawk: Ride will provide hours of fun for little kids and less-than-seasoned gamers. If, however, you’re looking for hardcore reality, quit your bellyaching and just spend the $120 on a real skateboard.

Wait — did I say $120? Yeah, that’s the list price, but if $89 sounds better, head to Toys”R”Us, where Tony Hawk: Ride is on sale now for Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.