Tony Hawk: Ride has been out for a few weeks now, and it seems that Activision’s $120 gamble has not exactly been a critical darling, with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version scoring a 48 on Metacritic while the Wii version does a little better at 61. And this displeases the skateboarding legend.
Speaking with The Sudbury Star, Mr. Hawk himself said “They were ready to discredit it before they even tried it, and if it didn’t play exactly how they imagined it… then they passed it off.”
“I don’t agree with people who say the board’s not responsive,” he continued. “I think that they’re just not giving it a fair shake. And I think a lot of them came into it with an attitude that it’s going to suck.”
“I know that (RIDE) is super fun, and I think there’s a misconception that I just stick my name on a game,” he said. “I brought this idea to Activision, and I saw it through, I’ve been playing it every step of the way and I am very proud of it.”
He echoed his sentiments on his Twitter, saying “Most snarky critics had their minds set before ever seeing/playing the game. I’m proud of what we created; it’s innovative, responsive & fun.”
He would admit that the game does have a learning curve, particularly when leaving the safety of the on-rails “Casual” mode to venture into the more daring “Con dent” setting, where players are responsible for guiding the board themselves.
But though frustrated by the response from critics, Hawk is not deterred by it, just so long as players will take the time to “get a handle on the game before passing judgment.”
While we don’t have a review of the game available yet, Tony DaSilva gave his impressions on it, and seemed to enjoy it, though he only got to play the guided portions.
Personally, I wonder if this might simply be an instance of a video game being a little too realistic; perhaps it’s great if you’re a skateboard pro or legend, but for an amateur or someone who’s never taken their own ride on a skateboard, it might be as tricky as learning the real thing (though hopefully less likely to cause injury).
