TrickStyle

"Basically the bum leg of First Gen Dreamcast titles."

Trickstyle may be visually-appealing (as all DC games), but once you get past the attractive cover and graphics, you are stuck with a boring game. Basically, Trickstyle is a racing game, in which your character rides on a hoverboard. You can choose from about 10 characters, as well as their corresponding boards. Here's a breakdown by category:

Graphics: 7

Come on guys, this is Dreamcast we're talking here. This game could've easily been on Playstation, despite a few pixels. Some of the visual effects are nice, but if you've ever played a Psygnosis game on Playstation, you'll know what I mean when I say this would've been better suited on Playstation.

Gameplay: 5

Gameplay in this game is simply garbage. Doing "tricks", or the lack thereof, is hasslesome. Besides from being a pain, there is also no creativity in the tricks. You have your kickflips, horizontal spins, and that's literally about it. Another cheesy attempt at gameplay is the "boost" feature (or whatever it may be called-I didn't play this game long enough to care). You push a button, and regardless of where you are, your character lays down on his/her back, on top of your hoverboard. This function is made for handrails, which give you a speed boost. Pulling off this "speed boost" is utterly impossible. You'll have to go back multiple times to get this to work. By the time you are on the handrail, the rest of the racers will be drinking soft drinks at the finish line.

Sound: 7

Oh yeah, there's music in this game. Typical racing music that ranges from darkstep to breakbeats. Maybe if they had hired an all-star music team like Psygnosis did for games like Rollcage, the music would've been more enjoyable. The sound effects in this game are as bland as you can find them, as well.

Control: 4

Control deserves a double whammy, as if the Gameplay wasn't bad enough. Considering you'll be missing PLENTY of tricks and shortcuts, you'll have to turn around, which is a trouble in it's own. When you experience the controls in this game, you won't want to call it a racing game.

Presentation: 7

It's Coolboarders... Cartoon-character faces, etc. Nothing special here.

Overall: 4

Bottom line, this game lacks the fun that it's creativity deserves. You'll never know when the "wrong time" to do a trick is, since you'll never know what trick you're doing in the first place. If there was a such thing as a button-mashing racing game, this would be it. With all the great games that came out, try to avoid this one; it's basically the bum leg of First Generation Dreamcast titles.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/01/99, Updated 11/01/99