TrickStyle

"Fun. For the first 10 minutes..."

Well I got this game when I first got Dreamcast. I skate so I thought, as many would, this looks pretty good. It's futuristic and innovative. It features hip 'racers' and many different nationalities. When you start it, you feel like your having fun..but you soon realize your not.

-=Graphics=-
Rating-9/10
Being an earlier Dreamcast game the graphics aren't top notch, but they are pretty damn close. The boards run smooth and the little flame behind the board is nicely done. Characters are fitted to their boards with good measure. They bend and flex to where they need to bend or turn. Tricks are also good on the graphical side. As expected the graphics hold up to the Dreamcast hype.

-=Sound=-
Rating-1/10
Sound is usually always what helps games, but not here. The crap pop and mindless tunes will make you crazy and want to just mute the TV. ALL skate/racing games should have rock/punk rock music. It just goes good. Also the sound effects...which there aren't many because the board hovers, are what got it the one point. The occasional ''fwoosh'' will make you think you are really there...even if you dont wanna be.

-=Gameplay=-
Rating-3/10
Well reading the little booklet in the CD case and looking over the story/character bios I was like wow this looks like its pretty good. Nope. Starting off in some weird arena you find the world of the future quite disapointing seeing as all major cities are now race tracks..(where do people live?) It's a supposed racing game bu, well, it just doesnt deliver. Hard controls and an unrelenting and oddly 'fast' AI makes for an annoying time. The name of the game should just be Style (and even that's giving it some) because the trick, or what the call tricks, are not only lame but super hard to pull off in races. Sure in the arena's halfpipe, quarter pipe and bowl you can pull off tricks such as barrel rolls and whatnot...they get boring and tedious after a while. You will see that the races have many 'extras' and 'boosts' all of which are IMPOSSIBLE to get to and you find yourself ignoring them. Gameplay in this game is horrible and really doesnt even deserve to be mentioned ever again.
-=Control=-
Rating-1/10
So say you overlook the bad gameplay and horrid sound. Control is a big factor isnt it? So wouldnt you think they would make it easy to use. Nope once again. Pulling off tricks is not only impossible but so pointless that you wont eeven do them. Racing is bad as well, turns are weird because your on a little hovering board, and boosts are impossible to get on. They might as well as left powerups or whatever they are out of the game because even when you get them (which is a task in itself) you really never have a chance to use them. If you easily get annoyed by bad control avoid this game.

-=Replayibility=-
Rating-6/10
Yes, oddly I used to find myself every once in a while going back to the game and playing the stunt course or racing with a friend. Well atleast until I got Tony Hawk 2.

-=Rent or Buy=-
Buy....Tony Hawk 2...trust me...its much..much..better.

-=Overall=-
Hmm not much to say here except if you think you want this game, or even consider renting it, just play Tony Hawk 2, its not a racing game, but frankly neither is Trck Style.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/01, Updated 06/27/01