Tony Hawk Ride - Video Game Review

Since both of my sons enjoy skateboarding, and love playing video games, the new video game, "Tony Hawk Ride", seemed like a logical Christmas gift for them to share. The Tony Hawk Ride video game comes with a controller that looks like a skateboard. You stand on it and use your body to balance and move around. Sounds great, right? Well, according to my two sons, the Tony Hawk Ride video game is anything but great. Here is a review of Tony Hawk Ride. (Party in my words, and partly in theirs)

The kids, who are 13 and 8, were thrilled to receive Tony Hawk Ride for Christmas. Their eyes lit up with excitement when they opened their shared present, and life was good. Until they played it.

Dillon (8) - "This game is boring!"

Me (38) - "What do you mean it's boring?"

Kyle (13) - "You can't do any tricks. The board keeps slipping, and none of the tricks I'm doing show up on the video game."

Certain that they MUST be doing something wrong, I went into the room to make sure the Tony Hawk Ride video game controller was working properly. (Since the game - with controller - cost me over $ 100.00, I assumed that the game should be easy to use and fun to play)

Me - "Okay, how do you set this thing up?"

Kyle - "It is set up."

I look at the board on the floor. It doesn't look very stable. There's no grip tape, or anything underneath to keep you from slipping.

Me - "That's it?"

Kyle - "Yeah."

Me - "Well that's stupid."

Dillon - "Exactly! The board keeps moving around!"

I convince the kids that they just need a little practice. I remind both of them that the Tony Hawk Ride video game was NOT cheap, and surely it will be fun to play once they get used to it. They humor me, and with me watching on, they take turns playing. They're exactly right. The game does not reflect the tricks that they are actually doing on the board. To prove his point, my eight year old, Dillon, picks the board up with his hands and proceeds to 'play' the game. With each movement of his arms, the skateboarder on the screen moves, but does no actual skateboard tricks. The skateboarder just repeatedly hops.

Dillon - "See what I mean?"

Me - (feeling stupid, and a little ripped off) - "Yeah, you're right."

Kyle - "Can we see the game on Ebay and keep the money?"

Me - "No! I paid a lot of money for this game!"

And with that, both boys left the room and went outside to skateboard for real.

Bottom Line - The Tony Hawk Ride video game was a big fat waste of money. I've never seen my boys give up on a video game so quickly. Of all the Christmas gifts I purchased in 2009, Tony Hawk Ride was the only one that we were not satisfied with.

　

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SOURCE:

Personal knowledge and experience

Kyle & Dillon Wagner