One word explains this game:Outstanding
Let?s start with the basics: controls. Controls are a little awkward compared to Tony Hawk, but once you get into it, it?s a very good set-up. In the default settings, A is jump, Y is grind, B is used for tricks, and X is the Action Button. I will go into more detail on the last two buttons. All tricks, grinds and manuals aside, are performed with the B button. A single movement of the control stick and the B button will get you a grab (for example, down and B will get you a Rocket Grab). With two directions (all up, down, left, and right, so no need to click diagonally twice like in Dave Mirra), you?ll perform a flip (for example, up, up, B will cause a Front Flip). Then there are combos. With three directions, you?ll do a combination of a grab and flip (so, down, up, up, B will result in a Rocket Front Flip). It?s a tad hard to get put three directions when you?re used to Tony Hawk, but it?s not that bad. The Action Button is an interesting concept. The X button serves 5 context sensitive functions. Firstly, when near a person, you can talk to them and receive new challenges (goals). Second, there?s skitching, where you?ll grab onto the back of a moving vehicles. Then there?s pole spinning. If you press X near a vertical pole, you?ll grab on and spin around, thus reversing direction. With a horizontal pole, you can spin around a maximum of three times, if you hold X. When let go, you?ll release at the apex of you spin. You can also affect direction. Another function of X is vaulting, basically an impressively big jump over rails or short walls. Lastly, if you?re on a half pipe and discover you no longer have pipe beneath you, press X to reorient your body so as to land safely. Also, handstands can be done with Y, Cess Slides (reverts) with Z, and manuals with up, down or down, up.
Next in our analysis of Aggressive Inline, let?s examine the skaters. Now, I watch the X-games, so I recognized about half the pros in the game, but the rest were new to me. The pro skaters are Jaren Grob, Taïg Khris, Eito Yasutoko, Franky Morales, Matt Lindenmuth, Shane Yost, Sven Boekhorst, Sam Fogarty, Matt Salerno and Chris Edwards. In addition to the pros, Z-Axis included two fictitious female skaters, Chrissy and Jordan. You?ve almost certainly seen Chrissy before; she?s the hot, blond schoolgirl who?s in practically ever screen shot I?ve seen of the game. Unfortunately, no Create-A-Skater is included.
One of the best parts of Aggressive Inline is the levels. There are only 7, which is less than most games, but they are so big, it doesn?t matter. And when I say big, I mean HUGE! If you?ve played Dave Mirra 2, you probably remembered the enormous levels found in it. Well, Aggressive Inline easily dwarfs those levels. Just to give you some perspective, I will compare the first level of Aggressive Inline with some of Tony Hawk. The first level is the Movie Lot, with a huge sound stage, probably larger than Philadelphia from Tony Hawk 2. But the level has more: outside the Movie Lot, there?s about three blocks of street to trick in, all in all, about the size of the Foundry. The best thing about the levels is that they also extend vertically; every level has several levels to skate in. To add to the already emasculating size of the levels, each has a hidden, locked-off area which requires a key found in a different level.
Now for perhaps the most important part of any review: game play. What?s to do in all these levels? Well, according to the manual, every level has between 20 to 35 goals, or challenges as they?re called here. When you start a level, you?re given about a half dozen challenges off the bat. You can get more by completing challenges, talking to people who will assign new ones, or opening new parts of the level. The goals include doing specific tricks for photographers, getting a certain overall score, and grinding a certain number of some item. Many of the goals are challenging, but not so much as to be impossible. Dave Mirra 2 suffered from sadistically hard goals, which were next to impossible when coupled with a time limit. The most important change in Aggressive Inline compared with other games is that there is no time limit. That?s right, skate for as long as you?d like. The only catch is that you need to keep you?re juice meter partially filled at all times. The juice meter is basically the special meter, only it fills VERY slowly and it doesn?t entirely drain when you fall. When the meter empties, it?s game over, and you?ll need 100,000 points to continue. Let me explain; with no time limit, you?ll be getting some really high scores. We?re talking in the millions. And when you leave a level and come back, you?re score will remain the same. So you?ve got 3 million on the Movie Lot. You leave and go to another level, where you?ve got 1.5 million. When you return to the Movie Lot, you?re score will be 3 million again. There are also several things to find in each level. There are three types of juice boxes that you?ll need to collect, which will fill your meter or make it longer. There are also keys to other levels? locked areas. Additionally, you can find a secret trick in each level. When you start the game, you?ve got no secret tricks, and have to earn them. Lastly, in every level is an item that will level-up a specific attribute. Allow me to explain. Aggressive Inline has one of the most innovative stat systems to date. It?s basically like an RPG. You earn experience points for pulling off specific tricks and can level-up seven attributes: Jump, Spin, Grind, Manual, Speed, Fakie (switch), and Wallrides. One thing I wish they?d include was a Handstand stat, but oh well.
Now to discuss the aesthetic value of this game. On to graphics and sound! The graphics aren?t going to knock you over, but they arent?t ugly either. The movements of skaters are realistic and fluid. Some things are rather unspectacular. When you fall in water, there is a rather unconvincing splash animation. In a few places, there are some low quality textures, but nothing to truly detract from the experience. The sound is pretty good. The speech of the people on the street is very good and often quite funny. The sounds of tricks are realistic. One kind of bothersome thing is a constant drum-roll when you?re doing tricks. The music is also good, not quite up to the high caliber of Tony Hawk soundtracks, but it is definitely a good soundtrack. The song list includes some varied genres, from punk rock, to somewhat mainstream metal, to rap. In my opinion, it?s a good soundtrack, with some standout songs. I won?t judge the rap songs, because I don?t like rap and turn them off when I play. But among what I play, I find ?Falling For You?, ?Sell Out?, ?Wrong Way?, and ?Idea for A Movie? to be exceptional songs. The one not quite bad but out of place song is ?Youth of the Nation? by POD. I like the song, it just doesn?t fit into the game. One thing to note is that you can turn off songs in the play list like in Tony Hawk 3, but what you turn off isn?t saved, so you?ll have to turn it off again and again.
Is this game going to make you want to play it over and over again? I would answer with a definite yes. There is so much depth, and with so much to take collect, it?ll take several take quite a few times through for the game to even begin to feel redundant. One thing to point out is this is a huge game. I?ve played for almost ten hours, and I haven?t 100% completed a single level. You?ll be enjoying this game for a long time. A long, long time.
Now for my closing comments. To sum up my review in a sentence, ?Buy this game.? If you enjoy Extreme Sports titles, you will be in Heaven. If you?ve never touched an Extreme Sports game, there?s no time like the present. This will be money well spent. This game has so much going for it. Unimaginable depth, mind alteringly large levels, and challenging, yet not sadistic, goals. With no time limit, you can skate for as long as you?d like, and I find that times truly slips away when there is no end in sight. I highly recommend this game to everyone. Want more proof that this game will change the face of Extreme Sports forever? Well, how about that Tony Hawk 4 is taking a page from Aggressive Inline and taking out the time limit and including dozens of goals per level. When the king of Extreme Sports is ripping off the competition, you just know the competition had a huge breakthrough. Aggressive Inline has heralded a new age of Extreme Sports. This epic game has heralded the Renaissance of a genre in danger of going stale. In a word, ?Sweet!?