Reviewed: September 28, 2003
Reviewed by: Loki

Publisher
Activision

Developer
Vicarious Visions

Released: September 2, 2003
Genre: Sports
Players: 2
ESRB: Everyone

8
8
7
6
7.7

Supported Features:

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    • For all of you younger gamers out there who have been watching your older siblings playing Tony Hawk all these years but could never quite master the controls, your day has come. Activision and Vicarious Visions have unleashed the wonderful world of Disney into your GBA and given you all the Hawk goodness with a kid-friendly control scheme.

    Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure might not be as complex or challenging as the more sophisticated Hawk, but it offers plenty of charm and style that is unmistakably Disney through and through. Taking many of your favorite characters from many of your favorite Disney and Pixar licenses, you have a game guaranteed to delight young and old alike.

    Extreme Skate Adventure was released simultaneously on all the major consoles earlier this month and just like it console cousins, the GBA version is built using the very same Tony Hawk engine that made that game famous. The challenges and the exploration are all here along with plenty of stunts all themed to the Disney inspired level designs.

    You’ll play as Woody, Jessie and Buzz in Andy’s room that appears to be a total mess but is actually quite cleverly designed into some creative trick lines and stunt opportunities. Pizza Planet is also on the level menu as well as Pride Rock and the Elephant Graveyard from Lion King, and Tarzan and Terk get to explore the jungle in their own custom levels.

    Gameplay follows the same tried and true formula of all these extreme sports games. You have a laundry list of target objectives that must be completed to move on. Some of these missions are assigned to you by NPC’s within the game like the Army Men in Andy’s room or the Martians at Pizza Planet. While the levels aren’t timed some of the missions are and you may have to repeat them if you aren’t fast enough. To its credit, no matter how many times you are forced to repeat a mission the game just never seems to get repetitive – it’s just that much fun to play.

    Obviously the gameplay has been simplified to suit the two-button controller as well as the younger intended audience. Hawk fans will scoff at the simplistic controls but their younger siblings will find a great deal of satisfaction pulling off some impressive moves with only minor input. The B button handles all of your jumping while the A button does just about everything from grinds to manuals. Transfers are done via the shoulder button, so there is a slight learning curve but nothing too terrible.

    The game does offer some multiplayer modes like HORSE but they play out on a single system. Unfortunately there is no link support – truly a sad loss for all.

    Visually, Extreme Skate is every bit as good as Hawk, perhaps a bit better since it has the vast library of Disney characters and level designs to draw from. The Hawk engine does a fantastic job of pushing 3D characters around some impressive level designs. Each of the starring characters is expertly modeled and lovingly detailed with textures and subtle touches that you will still be admiring a month into the game. Just check out the detail on Buzz or the fluid animation of Tarzan or Simba.

    The isometric level design can often lead to some visual problems when trying to figure out what level an object is on or where that ramp actually leads, but in Extreme Skate the levels are kept simple enough so you don’t get lost or confused while remaining large enough that it will take you hours to learn all the locations and master their complex trick lines.

    I had the chance to play Extreme Skate on the GameCube and was amazed at the licensed soundtrack on that system. The music on the GBA is quite good but quite generic when compared to its console counterpart, and while some of it matches the level designs other tunes are completely out of place.

    The sound effects are adequate and convey the typical sounds of skateboarding, but there are no Disney-specific sounds or character dialog to give this game the same flair that the console gamers are enjoying.

    Younger kids will get at least a month’s worth of enjoyment with Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure while older kids and adults will blast through it in a weekend or a typical rental period. This is definitely a game intended for pre-teens or anyone looking for a stepping-stone up to the Tony Hawk level of gaming.

    The multiplayer options offer a mild diversion but the lack of link cable support means you have to take turns and it just doesn’t work out as nice as other multiplayer games. I was also hoping for some unlockable bonuses for connecting the GBA to the Cube version – perhaps a secret character or level, but no such luck.

    Any recommendation I make at this point is contingent on who will be playing the game and what your gaming options are. Disney’s Extreme Skate Adventure is a wonderful game on the GameCube and will delight anyone who plays it regardless of his or her age or skill level. The GBA version is a slightly different story.

    There’s a lot of fun to be had here for the right type of gamer. The gameplay has been distilled down to the most basic commands, which is great for the younger kids but will likely alienate or simply bore anyone over twelve. Just keep this in mind when making your decision.