Would you play a game that feels like a mashup of Pro Skater 3, 4, and Skate? What if I told you it was aggressive inline?
There’s a chill in the air and a cast on my wrist, which can only mean one thing: it’s time to dust off some old games and pray I don’t sprain anything else from my couch! Rolling hit the PS2 in 2003, right after it put Rage Software out of business. Released exclusively in Europe, it got reviews that were about as exciting as a bowl of plain oatmeal—mostly “dated” and “retro,” which is just code for “not as good as Tony Hawk’s Underground.”
But you know what? Those games are all over 20 years old now, so they’re all retro. I just want to know—is it good?
The game feels like a blend of Pro Skater 3 and 4, but with a twist: you’re on a THREE-minute timer! You can chat up photographers for challenge info—like what tricks to pull off—or, you know, take a moment to appreciate the very triangularly buxom NPCs. Seriously, this is Lara Croft level. I’m impressed.
And it’s got the scope of Skate! Yeah, the high score challenges will have you acting up with some crazy combos, but most challenges? They’re down to earth, like knocking down hornet’s nests. Nothing says “aggressive” inline like casual pest control.
So let’s call the realism of the challenges the first positive trait of the game. But here’s the kicker: this is aggressive inline, and as a skateboarder, I’m genetically obligated to loathe it. So every time something good happens in this game, we’ve got to watch an inline slam as a palate-cleanser. Ooo, like that one.
One thing I genuinely enjoy is the variety of challenges. There are only two high-score challenges per level and a total of twelve, so there’s plenty of room for all kinds of stuff. Like a challenge where you meet a pro who shows you a trick or combo to mimic. I enjoy these, but man, they’re picky! For example, this backflip to fakie into a cess slide into a… wait for it… miszou grind [mi-ZOO], which sounds more like a sneeze than a trick!
The marker for the backflip is nowhere near the quarter pipe. I did the same thing 30 times before it finally recognized my steeze.
And those photographers? There are a few. One wants a video of your high combo score, another wants a specific gap, and yet another wants a trick at a spot for a magazine cover. Your replays get saved like in Skate. So at least you can relive your most embarrassing ankle tweak grind moments over and over—what a treat!
Aside from that, there are two collectibles: logo pieces, which are like the SKATE letters but way less cool, and the Videogroove logo, which is basically a secret tape—but you don’t get scarred trying to watch it like that secret tape you found in your weird uncle’s dresser.
Then there are environmental collectibles. For example, one challenge involves delivering records to a DJ. My favorite? The vampire one! Instead of collecting something, you’re adjusting mirrors to zap a vampire with sunlight. Finally a little character!
Now let’s get to the trick mastering system, which I also like. You master a trick by doing it 50 times, which makes the trick name pop up in color—kinda like a kindergarten art project but with way more broken bones. It forces you to mix it up, so you’re not just doing the same trick over and over, like me at the skatepark trying to put together a line of the 3 tricks I’m consistent at. But it also bumps up the point value. In theory, you’re making that L. Kang so buttery that it’s more impressive to watch. And it’s not just the base tricks, like the grabs and flips and grinds. It counts for spins in and out of stuff, like a 270 in and a 810 out. And yes, it uses the half spin numbers, which I like.
Another thing I like is that there are a lot of videos to unlock. Every level, when you match the pro’s trick, you get his pro video. And you get bails videos from time to time too. That might be because I’m playing a hideous custom character. We’ll get to that in the negatives, but first let’s look at the control system.
The controls are what you’d expect from a Tony Hawk clone, except here square is grab and circle is for flips. Who thought it was a good idea to assign flips and spins to a button? You might go for a 360 but accidentally double tap, like when your mom and aunt come over, and next thing you know, you’re committed to a 900.
Oh, and there are cess slides. They’re just powerslides you can do anywhere, and there are different types with your ankles bent in various ways.
Because this game is more realistic than Tony Hawk, getting around is a bit more annoying. You can’t just wallride up the side of a building and ollie into a grind. But hey, you can walk up stairs in your skates—who knew that was a feature?
Special tricks? Not really. You can do multi-button tricks, like left-right grind, but you don’t need a special meter. Occasionally, it’ll say “X2 – Go 4It Dude!” which sounds like the headline on the skateboard page of a Toys-R-Us catalog.
Another thing missing is being able to level out after transferring too far and missing the vert. Maybe this was intentional to keep things realistic, but it sucks.
A quirk in the game is that sometimes, a photographer will ask you to do a trick you don’t have. It took me a long time to figure out that I needed to go in the menu and change my trick loadout. I was expecting to have to unlock these tricks later, but it actually just makes sure you use all the tricks available to you. I’m kind of torn about that, because I didn’t know what to do, but it’s not a bad idea.
With that out of the way, let’s look at the bad. And let’s start with my monstrous created character. I usually try to make myself in a video game, and if you’ve ever seen me before, you know this ain’t it. The system is crazy. You pick 3 body types and put them in a triangle, and then you can move around in it to morph your body into a mixture of them. I’m 6’2”/6’3”ish, and this Frankenstein-monster homunculus I made is only 6’1”. And yet, he doesn’t fit through a doorway. You unlock body part shapes as you play the career, which is… incredibly macabre.
Then there’s the voiceover during contests. This guy has three lines, and two of them are just him yelling about how “next” I am. I was impressed by how good it sounded… for one run. Please just stop, bro.
After that, I mean ‘next’, are the stupid trick names. Look, I get it. Skateboard trick names are stupid too, but I’m used to them. A salad grind? Come on man, that’s weak. I did a “free fishbrain” into a “sweatstance.” I mean, really? And then there’s the grind called a “mistrial.” Seriously, there are trick tips online about it and everything. I tried to figure out where that name came from, but I came up with nothing.
And the trick variety? The grabs are just… which foot do you grab and with which hand? It’s not exactly earth shattering stuff here. That’s just how inline is, but they could have gone crazy like the Tony Hawk games and had a special trick where you deliver a pizza or something.
Speaking of which, the biggest problem? The game lacks personality. Other than the vampire challenge, everything feels so generic. Graphics quality aside, the style is just boring. They could’ve gone for a punk vibe—imagine people in leather jackets and pink mohawks shredding! Or, there could have been graffiti everywhere to give you something to look at. But nope, it’s just your average neighborhood t-shirt and jeans crowd. Yawn.
All in all, I probably made it two-thirds of the way through the game. It’s… okay. I wish there was a sequel or two to tighten this up and make it something really great. But even as it is, it doesn’t touch Aggressive Inline, from 2002, which I really liked. I’ve got a review of that one here. Are there any other games I should dive into? Maybe Razor Scooter? Let me know in the comments!