The Tony Hawk series of have dominated the skateboarding game scene for most of this decade, however, more competition lately from the likes of EA’s Skate, and less innovation from Tony Hawk, has meant that the once powerful franchise has taken a few steps back. Activision has tried something new with Tony Hawk Ride, this time including a skateboard peripheral with the game, bringing the total price of the package to $120 — quite a lot to ask for a game. Is it worth it? Read on to find out.

The main attraction of Tony Hawk Ride is the (almost) full sized skateboard, built with durable plastic and featuring motion sensing, which means that what you do on the skateboard (you play the game standing on the board, just in case you weren’t sure), is translated on the screen. Which it does, to a point. You see, the biggest risk by having something like a motion sensing skateboard, is that the slightest lag can mean ruined gameplay. And that’s exactly what happens with Tony Hawk Ride. The motion sensing inputs are not only lagging, but they’re also imprecise most of the time, rendering gameplay an almost complete disappointment. It feels very gimmicky, and coupled with unbalanced difficulty levels, neither fits — nor will satisfy — the hardcore nor the casual gamers. Read the rest of the review