Aggressive Inline

"A nice game....but not the GBA extreme sports king."

The Aggressive Inline games have been on the consoles for a while now and have enjoyed critical acclaim. And it has been well deserved: fast, smooth with intuitive controls, and proved to be a genuine contender with the Tony Hawk series.
Which brings us nicely to the GBA version of Aggressive Inline. Is it better than the GBA Tony Hawk games? Does it live up to it's console brothers? Well...almost.

GRAPHICS:
Not bad at all. Aggressive Inline's graphics are very similar to Tony Hawk's graphics. Your blader appears clean and crisp (not unlike your skater in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2) though, unlike THPS3 and 4, does not have textures on their clothing. However, let's face it, with a character that small textures on their clothing doesn't really matter. The scenery on the levels looks great. Unfortunately, the levels do not have any other people walking around (unlike THPS3 and 4) but cars can be seen driving on some levels, which is something.
Overall, the graphics deserve a 9.

SOUND:
Whoa, I definitely wasn't expecting this. Rather than just make up some corny game boy color-style music, the developers of Aggressive Inline decided to use some of the songs from the console versions of Aggressive Inline. Hearing punk music coming from your GBA is amazing, but there's a catch. Don't be deceived by what it says on the box - the songs are not ''Full songs''. They are in fact just a loop of about the first third - half of the actual song. Even so, it's very impressive, with every level having a different song. Let's be realistic: no matter what the music used, it was probably just going to be looped, and I would by far prefer to hear this than a soundtrack that just doesn't belong.
I award the sound a 9.

GAMEPLAY:
Unfortunately, this is where Aggressive Inline loses out to Tony Hawk's. The Career Mode (called Arcade Mode here) is simply not very enjoyable.On each level, you presented with a pathetically drawn picture of a skater who instructs you to complete certain objectives on the level and beat their top score. In the beginning, it is only necessary to complete one objective and beat their score to continue. However, the difficulty slowly increases by the player having to complete two objectives and the high score, then three, and so on. The problem? The objectives feel less like fun and more like a chore.
The controls are great. A is to jump and do grab tricks, B to grind and to grab onto poles, L is to flip and R is to spin. While there aren't as many tricks as Tony Hawk's, there is still enough to keep most people satisfied.
Possibly the most annoying aspect is that there is no skill left to grinding at all - you do not need to balance. I know what you're thinking - ''Yes! I'm going to grind all the time now, because I can't fall!'' Unfortunately (but also fortunately, otherwise the game would be far too easy) you can, but not because of balance. You see, the special meter has been replaced by a grind meter (this also means you can no longer do special tricks. ARGH!). The more tricks you do, the more the grind meter will fill. Bailing, grinding and spinning will make the meter deplete. To be completely and brutally honest, this system is absolute crap, and I have no idea whatsoever as to why Acclaim changed it.
There are 13 levels in the game, which sounds like a lot, but that number can be cut down a bit because some of them are pathetically constructed and very short, when compared to Tony Hawk's levels.

So there you have it. Aggressive Inline emerges as a pretty good game, but certainly not the best in its field. My advice? Get Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. You won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/27/02, Updated 12/27/02