By Elias Dounis on October 17th, 2002

Genre: Extreme Sports
Developer: Z-Axis
Publisher: AKA Acclaim
# of Players: 1-2
Memory: 57 blocks
ERSB: Teen
Also On: Playstation, Xbox
Features: Progressive Scan

The Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise gave a rebirth to the extreme sports genre and it seems that today all developers seem to be jumping onto the extreme sports bandwagon. Ever since Activision’s Tony Hawk games became multimillion sellers, we’ve seen the genre deviate away from skateboards and branch out onto snowboards, surfboards, dirt bikes, and inline skates in attempt to differentiate themselves from Tony Hawk. However, not a single one of these titles could not help but be labeled as a “clone”. Aggressive Inline is Acclaim’s answer to the Tony Hawk franchise, but on inline skates, and this puppy gives Tony Hawk a run for its money.

Presentation:

Developer Z-Axis has managed to do an excellent job porting the title from the PS2 to the GameCube. The GameCube version of Aggressive Inline runs smoother, looks better, and is more defined than its PS2 counterpart. The game also runs at a constant rock solid 60fps but AI suffers from unnecessarily long load times. The long load times could be blamed on the massive size of the levels, but patience is a virtue…I lack it.

Gameplay:

You should know that if it wasn’t for Tony Hawk, Aggressive Inline would not be the game it is. Z-Axis takes what we all knew and loved from the Pro Skater games and improved on it considerably, adding RPG elements to an already odd genre, as well as the sense of exploration.

Aggressive Inline features a truckload of gameplay modes, but the one that will occupy your time the most is Career mode. Of course, other game modes such as Freestyle, Timed run, and split screen versus mode are available, but none of them are as rewarding as Career mode. Career mode allows you to choose from one of twelve selectable characters (initially), from there you explore 7 massive levels ready for you to get “aggressive” on. Unlike, the Tony Hawk franchise Aggressive Inline does not time your runs, instead the only way you can lose, is to have your energy gauge be depleted. If it goes empty then its game over for you, but this can be prevented very easily by just not crashing and performing and landing as many tricks or grinds as possible. When the gauge is at its maximum, you will then have the ability to perform some uber-cool special tricks which add a truckload of points to your score.

The game controls just like Tony Hawk, you have your grab tricks, lip tricks, manuals, fakies and all that nonsense. Of course a few new things are added and changed, such as the use of the L and R triggers. When pressing these triggers, they determine which way you want to rotate you skater in air while performing a trick. Doing this adds to your trick’s score. Performing manuals and cess slides add to it as well. At first, it will take some time to adjust to Aggressive Inline, even for Tony Hawk veterans, because it does provide something new to the extreme sports genre.

One of the RPG elements that I mentioned about before, that can be found in Aggressive Inline, is the ability to level up you skater. In other extreme sports titles such as THPS3 you’re awarded stat points every time you accomplish a goal or pick up an item, etc… Well in AI things work in a more interesting manner. You see, your skaters skills improve with the more practice they get and improve during actual gameplay. For example; the more you wallride the better your skater becomes at it, hence their wallride level goes up.

The levels are huge in this game, so huge that they’re separated into different sections. When you first start playing the game, the first level you explore has only one area unlocked. As you progress through the title, you unlock newer areas to these monstrous levels by accomplishing certain goals, or finding keys to secret areas in later levels of the game. The goals you are given range in difficulty from easy to controller tossing hard. Your goals are not always evident from the beginning though. In order to find out what your task is you might have to speak to a certain pedestrian in the street, and from there they will tell you what annoying trick they want you to execute. A cool little addition to the game is when completing some of these tasks, the area around you may transform. For example, let’s say you’re grinding a cable that is attached to a monstrous rock. You grind the cable, and it then tears off the wall, causing the bolder to roll off and put a hole in a wall 100 ft in front of you, opening up a new area. These kinds of little surprises are a great treat and really add to the game’s enjoyment.

Aggressive Inline is one hell of a package in the gameplay department and shows Neversoft that Z-Axis is the new king of extreme sports.

Visuals:

Aggressive Inline improves upon its PS2 predecessor in the visual department offering a crisper, cleaner and better visual package. Almost everything about this game’s visuals is top notch, great textures, amazing draw distance and huge levels filled with tons of geometry. That’s not all; particle effects and shadowing effects are used nicely as well and when you take a dive you’ll notice some blood splattering on the floor. Character models are impressive, especially the ones that have that added bounce to them (example: Chrissy) but by today’s standards we should expect a bit more. Animations are fluid and very lifelike but you do come across a few funky looking crash animations every once and while.

Audio:

Extreme sports games such as Aggressive Inline are known to feature tracks from today’s most popular rap, punk, and rock artists and AI stays with tradition. Featuring songs from artists like POD, Sublime, and Black Fish, Aggressive Inline’s soundtrack heightens the intensity and thrill of the game. Just like the Tony Hawk franchise the voice acting in the AI is over the top and it that’s really the only way to present the comical attitude of the pedestrians you encounter throughout the game. Sound effects are top notch; you can really tell the difference when grinding different surfaces.

Lasting Appeal:

With all the goals to accomplish, the monstrous levels to explore, and leveling up of your skaters there seems like there’s enough to do in single player mode to keep you busy for weeks or even months. But, when you include an addicting two player mode the game keeps you busy for even longer. Aggressive Inline will keep you up to late hours of the night for many and I mean many nights to come.

Final Thoughts:

Aggressive Inline does what no one expected and that is dethroning Activision’s Pro Skater franchise as the best in the extreme sports genre. Of course if it weren’t for Tony this game would not even exist but sorry Tony “Trix are for kids!” err… wait, wrong cereal. If you love the Tony Hawk games then go buy Aggressive Inline this very moment, it’s worth every penny.

The Good: