Watch that .gif a few times. Take it in. Got it? Good.
Now, let me make a few notes about it.
1. This is not a hacked version, nor are there any cheat codes being applied. This is the retail, otherwise untouched, finished product.
2. As far as I know, TH:TR does not feature a level design like Strider's, where gravity switches on you throughout a level.
3. This ill-programmed shovelware bomb sets you back a cool $120, though it does provide you with a board that also wasn't programmed well.
It's been a hard time for the THPS series, which happens when you take a game about skateboarding and indie bands and exchange it for Top 40 radio and riding in grocery carts. Oh, and you fail to innovate throughout 4 or 5 sequels. This being the age of the gimmick, be it plastic instruments, motion controls or ridiculous pack-ins, they decided to technically add all three and do none of them well. Which would be fine if that was step 2- then I could merely write it off as "meh, shovelware". And it would be harmless, as it would be just another Tony Hawk game.
Unfortunately, everything about this game points to the heads at Activision getting the market concept down - Here's a game with a REAL(tm) Skateboard Controller! - and then slacking on the game side of things. There's not an ether on this planet strong enough to get me to believe they ran QA on this atrocity. This has been a really unfortunate side effect of the motion control/instrument side of the gaming industry, and indeed the mainstream popularity of it: mediocrity is acceptable, since hey, we're getting new customers who have no problem with the controller not working properly or the game being shit. I think the best review I've seen is a youtube video where a soccer mom says "for somebody who can barely walk a straight line, this is great!" Not high praise to be lumped in with an activity reserved for field sobriety tests.
And good news: there's already a plan for the sequel. That's okay, I'll be over here working on my Survival Arts skills. Let me know when you can get quality even similar to that of Top Skater, an arcade game that came out 12 years ago.
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