Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure

"Great for kids who don't know any better"

Alright lets get one thing out of the way. Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure doesn't have much going for it. The graphics are adequate, yet nothing extraordinary, gameplay is a stripped down Tony Hawks, and the music is so absolutely terrible it hurts.

Graphics: 7/10

Graphically its a mixed bag. Whilst the various Disney characters look pretty much like they do in thier respective cartoons, the various humans all bear a horrible and disturbing resemblance to Jimmy Neutron right down to always wearing a typical happy-go-lucky grin that always goes with anything from Disney.

The framerate however is uniformly excellent. It runs constantly at around 60 FPS, with no lag or slowdown whatsoever. But this isn't really much of a feat seeing as how the Tony Hawks series has been doing this since pretty much since its PS2 debut, and they render entire city districts. By comparision, very little happens in DESA, there are no pedestrians to harrass or cars to ollie. But i guess thats a good thing, seeing as how this is a kids game and all.

Gameplay: 5/10

The first thing that hits you about the gameplay is that its THPS4...except dumbed down and slower. In fact, when you first play, its impossible not to be swept away in a tidal wave of deja vu. So why does it score so low? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that the average sized levels take an infinite length of time to skate from end to end? I think so. You see, in Tony Hawks your 'boarders moved like a greased bullet. You were always skating at a decent speed, could always get massive air, land a string of tricks, then land. Whilst this is still true of DESA, it feels all wrong because you boarder has a very low top speed. Thus, you'll be travelling like a little whacked out hippie, then magically get a huge jump off of a tiny kicker! It just feels all out of whack.

Also worthy of mention is the fact that unless ''Pro Controls'' are turned on, one single button takes care of flips and grinds, which is absolutely infuriating, as you'll go to kickflip over a gap, then end up grinding over the ledge, and you'll have to waste a fair wad of time just to get back up there!

It is also ridiculously easy to get a 100,000+ combo on your 3rd run through, as most of the really good lines/grind combos are on ground zero and thus very easy to find.

Sound: 3/10

Absolutely horrible. Only 14 songs, and each one of them sucks...hard. Unless you like bubblegum rap, synth pop or Basement Jaxx, then you will most likely mute the T.V and just pop on your favourite C.D....personal choice of The Cat Empire or The Living End :-)

Overall: 6

Better than:

Having to get your kid stitches after they bail for real.

Worse than:

The Tony Hawks series, real Disney Movies

Conclusion:

Assuming your kids enjoy skating and Disney themselves, DESA is either the perfect pacifier, or a huge waste of $100.00

For anyone else, your better off with Tony Hawks Underground.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 01/07/04