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Shaun White Skateboarding review: Life as a grind
There's a popular story that goes something like this: A boy asks a punk singer, "How can I be punk?" The singer looks at the boy, bites on his cigarette and kicks over a trashcan, grumbling, "That's punk." "So if I kick over a trashcan, then I'll be a punk?" asks the boy. "No," says the singer. "You'll be a follower." Despite its best efforts to capture punk skateboard culture, Shaun White Skateboarding gets hung up on kicking over familiar trash cans and somehow feels more derivative than its straightforward snowboarding predecessor. %Gallery-93671%
Shaun White Skateboarding teaches you how to ollie once more
Unlike the Skate and Tony Hawk series, Shaun White Skateboarding's gameplay mixes striking visuals with a half-arcade/half-simulation skateboarding style. The latest trailer emphasizes the latter half of that style, gearing up players for the game's release on October 24 and teaching us once more how to pull off the notorious ollie.
Shaun White Skateboarding trailer teaches us how to pop ollies on the Wii
Christian Slater made it look easy, but it actually takes a lot of practice to become an awesome skateboarder. And that's what this new Shaun White Skateboarding trailer is all about: introducing you to the Wii controls so you can eventually gleam cubes like a pro.
New Shaun White Skateboarding trailer 'challenges' the status quo
The challenges on display in this aptly titled "Challenges" trailer for Ubisoft's soon-to-be-released Shaun White Skateboarding start off pretty, well ... ordinary. Stringing tricks together for high scores isn't exactly new to the genre, but -- what's this? A long-grind balancing challenge where you control the direction of the ever-expanding rail? That's pretty different. And so are the corporate goons chasing you in that helicopter!
Shaun White Skateboarding showcases smelly boots
Alright, alright -- that's not the only thing that we gleaned from this latest Shaun White Skateboarding trailer. Unfortunately, the clip front-loads the smelly snow boot situation on us. There's some Wii gameplay too, we promise!
Preview: Shaun White Skateboarding
What's happening in the screenshot above is one of the elements that makes Shaun White Skateboarding stand apart from the likes of Tony Hawk and EA's Skate 3. By doing tricks and generally skateboarding really well, you're transforming the game world from one that's monochromatic and lifeless into an eye-popping technicolor wonderland. Yes, it's pretty much like when Dorothy opens her front door after landing in Oz. This part of the game came into play the moment I picked up the controller for my recent (and our first) hands-on with SWS on HD consoles. Something as simple as performing an ollie sends out a shockwave that brings color back to the surrounding world. It's not just about changing the look of the world, though, but its design as well.%Gallery-99161%
Preview: Shaun White Skateboarding (Wii)
I totally dominated Shaun White Skateboarding's downhill slalom multiplayer mode. It's true! And you'd see it too if it weren't for the fact that the person I was dominating was our intrepid video man Chad, shirking his videographer duties to battle me. That's right, folks -- more downhill slalom on skateboards for the Wii. While I stood on a Wii Balance Board with a Wiimote in hand, Chad used a Wiimote/Nunchuk combo; while I jumped and flailed, he flicked and flailed. And though this wasn't exactly the deepest gameplay on offer from Shaun White's forthcoming game (read on for my impressions of the single-player campaign), the battle was, more or less, rather enjoyable. Sure, the precision control of a skateboarding sim like Skate is nowhere to be found, but the arcadey enjoyment found in early Tony Hawk titles seems to be littered throughout Shaun White Skateboarding. An extended single-player campaign demo, played just before the aforementioned multiplayer battle, showed off the game's Tony Hawk-meets-Flower gameplay, first introduced at Ubisoft's E3 presser (seen here). It was just as refreshing as it looked -- though, in fairness, the less than stellar graphics of the Wii version only served to detract from an otherwise interesting visual presentation.
Impressions: Shaun White Skateboarding
With Tony Hawk Ride getting the cold shoulder from critics and Skate 3 carving out its own rut, is there really room in the market for another skating game? Ubisoft believes there is and plans to turn snowboarder Shaun White's burgeoning skateboarding career into a new franchise -- and hopefully add a little innovation to the genre. In a quick developer-led demo at a pre-E3 event, we got to see how Ubisoft aims to accomplish its goal. As Shaun skateboarded around the grayed-out city of New Harmony, he (or the player's custom skater) can spread "influence" around, and turn a place oppressed by the evil skateboard-hating Ministry into a world full of colorful half-pipes and rails, custom-designed by the player in real time. The premise is interesting, but will it work? %Gallery-93671%
Ubisoft getting greener by ditching paper manuals
Ubisoft will cease including paper instruction manuals inside its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 boxed games, starting with this holiday's Shaun White Skateboarding (as revealed in an announcement that quietly confirms the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Shaun White Skateboarding). In place of a paper manual, a digital manual will be provided and accessible in-game. Digital manuals are often more convenient than paper ones (except if you're trying to read one on your way back from the store) and are already becoming commonplace with the proliferation of downloadable games. Plus, we're not exactly going to lament the loss of the no-frills, black-and-white manuals most games include nowadays. But how does Shaun White feel about it? "It's pretty cool that Ubisoft is making a conscious effort to go green with its new video game packaging," White said in a canned statement. "I'm excited for my new skateboarding game to come out and stoked that it will be the very first Ubisoft game to be part of their green packaging initiatives." In addition to saving money for Ubisoft, scaling back on paper manuals -- no plans to extend the initiative to Wii, DS or PSP games were announced -- is part of an environmentally-conscious program from the publisher that also introduces a new recycled "ecoTech" case for PC games packaging. Splinter Cell: Conviction will be the publisher's first PC game to sport the new box when it arrives at retailers next week.
Ubisoft wheeling out Shaun White Skateboarding
Like this, but on wheels New board, new surfaces to fall down, same unkempt Olympian. Ubisoft has just announced a new Shaun White game that's all about ... skateboarding? Shaun White Skateboarding is being released on unspecified platforms this holiday season. The Wii seems likely, since the first Shaun White Snowboarding game was such a hit on that platform and the follow-up was a Wii exclusive. Because we're absolutely tuned in to popular culture, especially extreme sports, we were totally familiar with Shaun White's dual careers in both snowboarding and skateboarding. In case you aren't as well-versed in Mr. White's achievements as we definitely were, Ubisoft notes in the press release that he is "the first athlete to win both gold medals in skateboarding and snowboarding at the Summer and Winter X Games." That's right. They give out medals in the X Games.
