Take a trip to the early 2000’s in this skateboarding game featuring Lil Romeo and Cartoon monkeys!
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Year: 2003
Played on: Xbox
Also on: Gamecube, PS2
Developer: Toys For Bob
Publisher: Activision
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REVENGE OF THE EARLY 2000’s!
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Date Posted: October 12, 2017
PREMISE
Let’s not beat around the bush- Disney’s EXTREEEEMEEE!!! Skate Adventure, or DESA (Not to be confused with a village in Indonesia) is so early 2000’s it hurts. Featuring a soundtrack starring Smash Mouth, Simple Plan, and Lil Romeo, DESA represents everything I loved- and hated- about the early millennium .Quite Honestly- I would not have it any other way!
Where the hell are all my “Pacific Coast Party” Memes? All Star isn’t their only song you know!
The game is, of course, a FPS. You play as Turok as you gun down your favorite Disney characters in arena style bouts. Wait. Okay, I have been just informed that this is not a gory first person shooter, but a kid friendly skateboard game using the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 engine. Sorry about that! Anyway the goal is simple- become the best kid skater in the land by dropping acid and go into various Disney movies while doing sick kickflips.
PROS
I then tried out the main game- Adventure mode. I made my kid skater look like La Forge from that one sci-fi show that no one has heard of. I went into the main hub, a level called Olliewood. (GET IT? GET IT? ITS LIKE HOLLYWOOD WITH SKATEBOARDS!) From the get go, I was pleasantly surprised- the game played really well! All thanks to the THPS4 engine no doubt- a series I love and will get to eventually (if Tony Hawk doesn’t sue, that is!) On top of this, the level is actually well designed- it feels like an actual TH level! In fact, all of level designs are pretty good. Each of the Disney levels look great and are actually pretty accurate to movies, and actually have a good variety among them- Someone’s room, an arcade, outer space, an American graveyard, a boat- some good levels here, lads!
Some of the unlockables are cool too. You can unlock Zerg, Girl Woody, A crazy monkey, ANOTHER crazy monkey voiced by Rosie o Donnell, and Lil Bow Wow. But seriously, lil Romeo is an unlockable character. Take that as you will.
You can play as Rafiki from Lion King. If this can’t convince you to play this, then I’m a monkey’s uncle.
After playing that terrible Simpsons Skateboarding game, I had low expectations, and was relived to find that the game plays like the Tony Hawk’s of old. But then I started to play and found out the game’s biggest problem…
CONS
It is way too easy! It likes taking candy from a baby who’s blind and has no arms. Each of the goals, laid out like THPS4’s, are incredibly simple. The score attack, a staple of the series, max out at 120,00 points- a pro player could do this in one combo! To compare, there were goals in the older Tony Hawk games that were in the millions. So this game is a cake walk, but no one else showed up so you get all the cake. ALL OF THE CAKE.
There are also no wallrides. I have no idea why this was omitted, but it must be because wallriding is just too EXTREME!!! You also have to activate THPS controls in the options, as Toys for Bob thought they were too EXTREME for young children. That right- I just played a game for young children. Put me on the “list”. See if I care!
Another point of contention- those damn collectibles! Scattered around every level, for every character, are various objects you would find in a landfill. The Kid skater has 25 for each of the nine levels, and each Disney characters has 25 in each of their 3 levels. I did the math, and that’s over 1100 collectibles- that’s more then my net worth! It is a boring task, and the fact that you have to do it over and over again to “100%” the game is awful. Your reward? Music Videos- 3 that are real music videos, and 3 that are just scenes from the three Disney movies featured. Yeah, I would just unlock all the levels and characters and call it a day.
Also, no Mickey Mouse. What the hell, Disney? You let Mickey in Kingdom Hearts, but won’t let him on a skateboard? Makes me want to find Walt’s frozen head, and use it as a bowling ball.
Oh wait. Hypocrites!
FINAL VERDICT
At the end of the day, DESA is solid skate-board’em up that screams early 2000’s. Fans of THPS will love this- until they find out how easy it is. The game is way too easy, and their are too many collectibles. You can find a descent THPS game if you look past these flaws however. I think the game is passable. I give it a 4- a Perfectly Okay game!
Agree? Disagree? Good! Leave a comment about how terrible my taste is in the comments below!
Gamer's Edge 