Multiplayer fun!
The likes of Greenday, Bloc Party and The Bravery are just some of the fantastic bands that lend their unique musical style to the game. Of course, the option is there to listen to your own tracks, but this is one of the only games on Xbox 360 where I haven’t reached the music editor, the music fits in with the pace of the game and even enhances your playing experience.
Character voices tend to grate at times; apparently the voices are provided by real-life skaters and not voice actors, this is apparent from the outset. Some characters even sound uncannily familiar, almost as if they have been re-used to save a bit a dosh.
Although I’ve never ridden a skateboard in my life, the sound of grinding, wall rides and other tricking techniques adequately convey the feeling of involvement and realism, and it’s hard to see where these sounds could be improved.
Click for larger imageDespite the audio experience and the apparent abundance of objectives and a sense of freedom throughout AW, it’s an average thrill and a repetitive slog through story-mode. In multiplayer mode the game steps up a gear.
An excellent lobby system and a nice variety of game modes make the online experience worthwhile. Get together a group of friends in a private lobby and the game can be immense fun, meet up in a familiar section of town, chat away, learn tricks from each other and then decide which game type you wish to play. The beauty of the online options in AW is that you can free-skate until you decide to start the game, giving you the opportunity to practice and meet up with competitors before the competitive side kicks in. At the end of each game, you can amend the game modes with little fuss, this means that you will often enter a server and stick with it for the evening – you’ll not often enter a server that plays the same game-mode over and over again. It’s a refreshing change to the server re-setting that appears in some games, just so that you can change the game mode.
Click for larger imageAW has some great game modes, a version of Halo 2’s oddball sees up to 7 other players racing around the environments in a bid to catch the pot of gold, it’s exciting fast paced and ultimately great fun. Other solo games include Slap, a skating version of ‘tag’, the person who ‘tags’ the most player wins, and Scavenger Hunt where you’ll be hunting for coins. Team modes allow you to join up with friends and take on another four skaters on game modes such as Capture the Flag and Firefight, where you’ll actually be able to shoot fireballs from the underneath of your skateboard. In total there are 13 different game modes, meaning that if you get together a friendly bunch of people, of the same skill level, online can be immense fun.
