Jon takes a casual shred or two with his buddy Shaun. See what he thought of this upcoming GBA title!
The build I played allowed you to board in a third-person forward scrolling half-pipe. The idea was to go from side to side of the pipe and pull off tricks when you went up in the air. You only had a limited time to pull off tricks, as you eventually reached a finish line. This is the equivalent of the "Free Skate" option in Tony Hawk.
Tricks are performed by pressing the A button in the air. I didn't use the shoulder buttons, but I'll assume they are used for tricks as well (I played this before I played GBA Tony Hawk, so I didn't realize the shoulder buttons were so integral to gameplay). You can do stuff like manuals and grips, getting points off of each trick.
This level of the game is okay, but it lacks variety. A free skate in a half-pipe isn't as fun as a free skate in a large skate park. All you can do is go back and forth doing tricks.
Graphics are a mixed bag. The background was excellent, a beautiful bitmap of an alpine lake. Your snowboarder, however, isn't nearly as detailed as the skateboarder in Tony Hawk 2. The half-pipe itself is nice-looking but doesn't change much.
I would have like to have seen some of the side-scrolling levels that were shown in film clips playing above the Activision booth. Until I see the rest of this title, the jury is out as to whether it's a quality title or just a decent one.