Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam Box Art Click for larger view

  • ESRB Rating: Everyone
  • Mild Lyrics
    Mild Suggestive Themes
  • www.esrb.org

Summary

Game Description

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam by Activision for DS is designed and built exclusively for the Nintendo handheld platform, and it allows players to feel the breakneck speed of downhill competition as they tear up the world's steepest terrains while performing tricks and outmaneuvering opponents in such locations as San Francisco, Machu Picchu and Hong Kong. Taking on the role of Tony Hawk or one of nine characters, players compete in time-based challenges in one of three gameplay modes including race, trick, and slalom.

News

Previews

Reviews

Cheats

Features

Screens

Videos

User Reviews

Average User Score

5 stars
(1)
4 stars
(2)
3 stars
(1)
2 stars
(0)
1 stars
(0)

Most Popular User Reviews

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - DS

Shoulda been called Tony Hawk: Please don't sue us, EA

So, hot off of the wildly successful American Sk8land tour, you and Tony are headed back to good old San Francisco to relax. But when you arrive, you are challenged by and old rival of Tony's, the awesomely 80's Antonio. Seems he wants to test your downhill boarding skills. And so, while Tony sits in the background, you head off all over the globe to defeat Antonio and his crew. That's the setup for this new Hawk game, but can it live up to its legacy? The controls are pretty simple: the d-pad controls steering (left/right) and braking (down), flips (press any direction twice while in the air), and manuals (press any direction twice on the ground); the shoulder buttons control Bert Slides to left (L) and right (R); the four face buttons control tricks (A/B/Y) and boosting (X). That's right, boosting. You see, Downhill Jam sports a new boost system that fills up as you pull off tricks. The more you string together tricks, the higher the boost meter goes. You have four sections of the meter, and when you fill up three of the four, you can do the aptly named "touch specials", uber-cool stunts that you activate by pressing special buttons on the touch screen. The production values are very good, considering the hardware. The graphics keep up the same cel-shaded style that American Sk8land introduced, and the game looks good. The character models are slightly chunky, and courses are kinda blocky, but there is almost no pop-in to speak of and the chunky blockiness is to be expected from a 3D game on an N64-level portable system. The sound is equally impressive, clear and well defined. However, the soundtrack and the voice samples are bad. The soundtrack is a lot of the worst goth-punk ever, and the voice samples are utterly cliched. If you don't like the voice acting of your character, you can record your own voice sample; however, this plays at the exact same time as the default acting. Also, you can't re-act every character. The cutscenes between locations in the story mode, however, are actually funny and serve the mood of the game well, with bright, stylized illustrations. Now, I'm sure you're asking, "This is all well and good, but how does the game play?" Well, it controls decently, although you don't always pull off a trick when you want to. You also have stats that you build up through beating parts of the story mode. This is cleverly laid out so the the only way to max out your stats is to beat every challenge in the story mode. Actually, the game seriously rips off EA's SSX snowboarding series. EA should seriously consider legal action against Activision, Downhill Jam is that close. In all seriousness, it is nice to have a portable version of SSX, even if it is just a good clone. The biggest problem, however, isn't the similarity to SSX; it's the total lack of replay value. Beating the story mode leaves you with no reason to come back for more. Sure, you can max out your stats, but there's no point. Not even the ability to design your character's outfit, create your own graffiti tag, and decorate your board can keep you coming back. Yeah, there is Wi-Fi, and human competition (with voice chat) is nice, but having more everything would have made the game longer and upped the replay value. The SSX copying, with the bad soundtrack, and the utter lack of replay value earn this jam a decent 3.25 out of 5. Now, where can EA find a good lawyer?

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - DS

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

A good game might not have the best graphics but a must get favorite. But it shows what happens after American Sk8land. 5X larger levels, new people, new change.

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - DS

This game is going up-hill!

This game is really fun and has some cool stuff you can do! This is better than it's GBA or Wii counter parts. The levels have some pretty good detail and are a good length for a DS game. The cutimization is much biger than skate land plus you can unlock new outfits and download special ones too! The story and jam sesions are short but fun. Butt the real fun comes from all the multi player fun with up to 4 people! But after beating the game and playing through some multi player there isnt much more to do after that. The grafics are nice and there are nice little animations! Over all this is a good game with some good stuff, but runs a littlke short, but it's still a great game.

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam - DS

Forget Gamespot's review

The fps, the size of the levels, the gameplay, all things you want in a racing game. And wi-fi!!! I am not sure what Gamespot is smoking. If you don't believe me listen to the reviewer's blog. It's obvious that he hates dealing with anything but Xbox360 titles. If this isnt your genre or platform, then why are you reviewing it. This game is great look at the Game Rankings to see all the reviews!!!

GamePro Content

Screens [9]

Videos [2]