Whirl Tour Preview

A game that lets you pull off tricks and stunts like Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, but uses scooters instead of skateboards, seems like a logical extension of the concept--after all, scooters have become extremely popular. Just as scooters have appeared on the scene to steal some of the attention from skateboards, Whirl Tour has been designed to steal some of the spotlight from the Tony Hawk games. Whirl Tour's scooter tricks and gameplay are very similar to those of its skateboarding cousin, but Whirl Tour has a few new tricks up its sleeve, and it makes some unique additions to the traditional Tony Hawk formula while remaining similar enough to be instantly familiar to Tony Hawk veterans.

In Whirl Tour, players traverse levels performing fancy tricks on the ground, on rails, and in the air to earn points. In all, Whirl Tour features 66 unique tricks that are all executed with button combos that can be tweaked to personal preference. Most of the gameplay mechanics will be familiar, like the equilibrium balancer on grinds--where you compensate left or right to keep an indicator as close to the center as possible--which has seemingly been imported straight from Tony Hawk. Additionally, upon successful completion of a trick or combination, a certain amount of energy will be added to a meter on the side of the screen. Once the energy bar is filled, you'll be able to perform one of 22 different "sick tricks," which add even more variety in the gameplay.

Performing various tricks is a fairly common gameplay mechanic, but Whirl Tour sets itself apart with the way its level design is worked into the gameplay. For example, bosses are one major addition. Bosses threaten you by breathing fire, creating shockwaves, and even hurling various items at you. Taking out a level's two bosses is a fairly common objective in Whirl Tour, and launching yourself at them and then performing a trick just before you make contact is the only way to harm the bosses. Most bosses take a few hits to kill.

Once you kill a boss, it'll drop a key, which is just one of the many unique collectables and power-ups found in Whirl Tour. Once keys are collected from both bosses, a new section of the map will be unlocked. Some power-ups are fairly mundane, like the self-explanatory health spheres. Other items are more unique and boost various attributes like jumping, speed, spinning, and balance. Furthermore, grabbing 20 scooter coins unlocks a new scooter, though the final scooter can only be unlocked once the entire game is beaten. There are 10 scooters total, and each has its own mix of strengths and weaknesses in attributes that mirror, with the addition of turning speed, the ones affected by the aforementioned power-ups. Since levels also include a time limit, the final power-up, "timer" coins, add to the amount of time remaining.

The time limit propels the action and creates a sense of urgency in the levels, much like in the previous Tony Hawk games. Each level has seven mission objectives. One type of objective is to reach a specific score by successfully performing tricks and trick combos. Another objective is to perform a trick into or on a specific object, thereby causing it to collapse, activate, fall over, or otherwise affect whatever locale the map is set in. Other objectives include completing specific tricks in specific places, finding the three music CDs distributed throughout the map, killing the aforementioned bosses to unlock a new section of the map, and destroying the transmitter found in the newly unlocked section.

But don't worry, because the transmitters aren't nearly as out of place as they may sound, and they actually tie into the story. In the game's opening cinematic, the members of the band Flipside are abducted in the middle of a successful concert by mad Dr. Skeezicks. Only Wasa B., the band's roadie and helper, is left behind, and he must travel the world over, destroying the transmitters that keep the band members imprisoned. Not coincidentally, Wasa B. (which, if you don't get the joke, is pronounced "wasabi," like the Japanese condiment) is the first playable character available in the story mode, in which you complete objectives to unlock further levels. To rescue the band members, you also need to beat the special race levels unlocked after each transmitter is destroyed. The race levels play much like you might expect--you must race a computer-controlled enemy through the level. If you win, you'll rescue a band member, who will then be available as a playable character.

Get On Your Bad Motor Scooter

There are other gameplay modes in addition to the standard single-player story mode. In the arcade mode, you worry only about points and beating the high score before time runs out. This mode allows you to play in any level and with any characters and scooters you've unlocked in the story mode. There's also a practice mode, where anything goes. There's no timer and no health to worry about, but it also doesn't track your score. Finally, multiplayer is available in three different modes as well. You can choose between cooperative story mode, where you can brave the normal objectives with a partner; versus mode, where you compete to score the most points; and "monster trick" mode. The most unique of the bunch, monster trick mode is much like the schoolyard game HORSE. In game terms, you get 10 seconds to score as many points as possible. Your opponent then must beat your score in 10 seconds. If your opponent succeeds, then you must beat your opponent's new high score. When one player fails to beat the other's high score, he or she receives a letter from the word "horse." The first to receive all five letters loses.

Whirl Tour's unusual plot allows for plenty of liberty with regard to setting, and the game's developer has taken advantage of that liberty in creating some inventive and unique levels. The game features a total of eight regular levels, including a medieval castle, a theme park that the developers bill as "a mix between Edward Scissorhands and a Japanese comic book," a suburban area, a city in the sky, subway tunnels, a huge underwater vessel, a movie set, and Tibet. There are also eight bonus levels that are unlocked once all seven objectives in each level are completed. These bonus levels take you to truly bizarre locations, like the "nine-ball" level, which places you in the middle of a gigantic, Alice in Wonderland-like pool table, where you try to sink the giant balls as quickly as possible. The bonus levels are open to multiplayer as well, and though we were unable to play multiplayer for ourselves, we imagine playing the nine-ball level must be a rather unique multiplayer experience.

If Whirl Tour's scooter-based gameplay can be considered progressive, then so can its music. The full game will include 32 professional music tracks, ranging in genre from rock and punk to hip-hop and electronica. Though it's likely none of the names of the bands or songs will be very recognizable, what we've heard so far is very good. The main title track, "Peanut Butter Wolf" by Hippyest, is a very cool trip-hop track that fits the game's overall style well. The rest of the music also seems solid at this point, lending a lot of style to the scooter tricks it's complementing onscreen.

The game's visual variety is also maintained by its graphics. The levels not only have unique settings, but their architecture and design also reflect the fantastical locations and allow for different opportunities for tricks. For example, the medieval map has aqueducts that serve as nice basins for tricks, and the suburban level has power lines for long grinds over neighborhoods. There are also five unlockable outfits for each character just to allow further visual diversity. The characters are very well modeled and seem slightly anime-inspired--Wasa B. in particular. The animations for your character and the many tricks are very good, and transitions and combinations are handled well. Whirl Tour also sports good textures and nice effects, especially with explosions and collapses.

Unfortunately, there are a few issues that the designers are still working on. Occasionally, the camera that usually automatically adjusts height and distance will stick on a higher object or wall if you pass underneath or into a building. Furthermore, the game's frame rate tends to drop sharply when things explode and major tricks are attempted. Lastly, though the physics model is mostly fine, we occasionally ran across oddities like our ability to right ourselves from nearly horizontal positions. As another example, when pedestrians walk up an inclined surface, like a ramp, they will not lean to remain perpendicular to the ground, but will instead jut out at 90 degrees from the incline like moon walkers with gravity boots. But Whirl Tour isn't set to ship until late November, and if the developers use the time to address the remaining issues, they will have a solid scooter game using a tried-and-true gameplay system on their hands.