After the last game it looked like the Hawkman’s wings were clipped for good, as Tony Hawk Ride wasn’t so much a thrill ride as outright spill. But you can’t keep a good skater down, and the champ of the board is rising from the ashes, proving he’s a video game phoenix. All indications say it looks like he’ll back in full video game form with the upcoming Tony Hawk: SHRED, in part because this arcade style game isn’t just about the usual sidewalk surfing either. This time the game includes both skateboarding and snowboarding action, and more importantly puts players on a truly revolutionized controller to get the wannabes off the couch and on a virtual deck.
Shred features a newly designed board controller that lets players make over-the-top moves just as they would on both the real pavement and snow. Console games also need not worry that they’ll be playing a port of another system’s game either. This time around, the game is actually the result of parallel development from two different studios; with Robomodo working on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, while Buzz Monkey developed the Nintendo Wii version. All the versions of the game will be rated “E” by the ESRB when the game is released this upcoming holiday season.
“Tony Hawk: SHRED is all about experiencing over-the-top, almost unbelievable GO BIG moments throughout the game the kind of tricks and stunts that we can only hope to achieve as our sports continue to evolve,” said Tony Hawk. “I’m also excited about including snowboarding in SHRED, because when we originally came up with the board motion-controller, we didn’t just have skateboarding in mind, and it’s nice to finally see that idea coming to fruition.”
The game is built around the motion-controller board peripheral, which allows players to pull off long grinds, grabs and other moves on both snow and cement. Tony Hawk: SHRED features a full list of skaters including Tony Hawk, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins, Corey Duffel, Sean Malto, David Gonzalez, Geoff Rowley, Stevie Williams and Chaz Ortiz; and snowboarders Travis Rice, Louie Vito and Olympic Gold Medalist Torah Bright.
We’ll be sure to post a full review when the game arrives this holiday season from Activision.