Grind Session

"A noble attempt to overthrow Tony Hawk"

Graphics - 9/10-

Detailed. That about sums up what you get with Grind Session. Giving you massive places to work and pull tricks in, Grind Session takes a leap over Tony Hawk Pro Skater with one thing; The details. Each stage has something to offer, from a street park, to the famous Burnside concrete park in Portland, everything has an edge, and an amount of visual eye candy to look at.

What pulls Grind Session's visual grade down a notch, is the fact that it doesn't have extreme, minute detailing in the stages. You can just barely make out the decaled boards that you use, and some of the images break up from time to time. Allowing you to use the Skater's Eye, you can actively explore your surroundings for the best places to grind a trick, or to see where you should go for some high scoring points.

-Sound - 8/10-

Not bad, gives you some hip-hop, and some heavy metal/skater music to listen to. It's kind of cool to hear the fresh sounds of Gza on the stages as you pass through, right into Sonic Youth for you extreme skateboarding fanatics. What comes up clear, are the actual effects while you play. From the metal grinding sound of the trucks scraping across the concrete lips of the pool and ledges, to the sound of ball barings as the wheels move over the ground, you'll be hard pressed to find a better reproduction of skateboarding sounds without actually being out in the half pipe yourself.

Control - 9/10-

Near perfect. Every move and trick is clearly stated in the manual and in the actual in-game menu. You can't miss a trick, unless you're not paying attention enough to know how much air you need to pull it off. The balance in the game, has also been improved over Tony Hawk Pro Skater, due to the fact that you can gauge it to make sure that you keep yourself upright without much difficulty.

The only true problem here with the control, is that you can't pull off many mid-air moves without bailing at the end. That's more ''gameplay mechanics'' than it is the control. It is easier to pull off multi part grind/jumping moves than it is with Tony Hawk, without the difficulties of trying to guess your balance.

-Gameplay 9/10-

Where to start? The selectable characters are actual, real time skater's who helped to create this game. Within Grind Session, you'll find alot of elements that will keep you playing for days, if not weeks, after you've already finished the game. As you finish the game, you'll find that there are points to gain, called Respect Points. The only way to earn these, is to practice, and master every Technical Line and side objective in the game. If you can to do this, and once you see it, you'll find that it has much more depth than Tony Hawk could have imagined.

Eight stages await you in-game, but once it's finished, you gain access to the Dream House, the skater's nirvana. In order to go through this house, you must earn Key's throughout the various stages through Respect Points. Again, this allows you more in-depth gameplay, and many other things to do instead of just beat a couple of high scores, and hit a few objects. You actually have to work for your secrets, and don't have them handed to you at the end of the game.

Once everything is all said and done, you'll be a master skater in this through the game's introduction of Technical Lines. These range from easy to difficult, and can include huge jumps, long ass grinds, and even 'leap-frogging' from platform to platform. This isn't put here to make you pull your hair out (which you will anyway), but to make you appreciate some challenge within the game.

-Overall 9/10-

Grind Session does an awesome job at recreating and improving on what Tony Hawk Pro Skater was lacking, which was challenge. It offers you some impressive, detailed graphics, some pretty awesome sound effects and music, and the control is first rate. But let's not forget the supreme gameplay. With many different multi-player options (you can play with up to 16 people), several secret characters, and a first rate point earning system, you'll be hard pressed to find another game that gets as good as this.

-Rent or Own-

You'll have to make the call. If you loved Pro Skater, then you'll want to look into this as a rental, and then, perhaps, as a buying option. That one is your choice. If you're happy with just Pro Skater, then give this one a weekend rental, however, if you are a Tony Hawk fanatic, then this game will either make you mad, or you'll just blow it off in any case. Either way, I give it a seal of approval, and it's got a welcomed spot on my shelf of well-played games.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/00, Updated 07/12/00