Written By Shaun McCracken
In the review I wrote for Evolution Skateboarding, I made a point that it was
a bold move for Konami to take on the massively popular Tony Hawk series, even though
that the end result is not nearly as strong as Neversoft's design. Atlus and Poponchi
try to make a mark in the skateboarding genre this time around with a few twists of
it's own in Go! Go! Hypergrind. While it's an admirable effort and looks very creative,
it's core design is a bit repetitive, gimmicky and just not nearly as deep as the
recent Tony Hawk's Underground. I hate having to compare this game with the Hawk games,
because the concept is pretty different between the two. Hawk is gearing towards realism
(although a lot of the tricks are physically impossible to pull in real life), while
GGH goes into the world of cartoons. But both are skateboarding games, and as such,
GGH does not have the legs to stand head to head with Hawk.
GGH's premise is kind of an interesting one. Here, there are two worlds: the
"real" world in which you and I reside in, and the toon world. Not very original,
seeing how this idea was created back in 1988 with "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?",
but we haven't really seen it put to work in a game. In the toon world, characters
are auditioning for an upcoming action show called "Hypergrind". Each audition takes
place across 8 different movie sets with a variety of objects, obstacles and
challenges. Choose from one of 11 characters designed by Spumco (which also had
a part in how this world looks), and try to be the best skater you can be to
get that contract!
In the Story Mode (which is kind of funny calling it that, since there's barely
a story to guide you the whole duration), you are faced with a different challenge for
each Rank Match. There are 5 or so Rank Matches for each stage. Here is what you
should expect to do in the game:
- Appeal Champ - The character with the highest score wins.
- Race - Collect 3 different colored coins (red, blue and yellow) and reach the goal
before the opponent does.
- Simon Says - Complete as many Negative Reactions (well get into that in a minute)
as possible in the order indicated before time runs out.
- 1 Link Appeal - Score as many points as possible for a single appeal link.
- Battle - Reduce your opponent's life bar to nothing to win.
- Mini Game - Goals will vary. For example, in Haunted Night, you are asked to
smash as many pumpkins as possible within the alloted time.
These modes are okay at first, but as you can see, since there's only six
different types of play, it can get repetitive quick. Also, some modes are not as
great as others. The Race mode is a bit unfair in how it's done. Here, you need
to collect coins by doing Negative Reactions, which are scattered throughout the
stage. When you get near a specific object, the X-button will appear by it, and
depending on what the object does, you will get a Negative Reaction, such as
a decapitiation, paint spilled on your body, impaled, flattened and a few other
things. Okay, so when you do one of those Negative Reactions, you supposedly get
a coin. But it sometimes launches an attack on the opponent. If you hit the same
object that causes a reaction again, something will happen to you, either losing
your coins or something that affects your movement. The Race mode is very frustrating
because you do as the game asks, and you still get screwed. Further more, the computer
opponent tends to know how to get these coins a little too easy.
The other aggrivating mode is the Battle mode, which is just too flawed to
be fun. Here, you need to do a Negative Reaction to attack your opponent. Once you've
done a reaction, by using the C-Stick in any direction, you can fling objects to hit your
opponent. Trouble is, it's hard to find the opponent half the time. Also, the opponent
seems to always know where you are, get behind you and attack. Plus, the CPU does not
give you time to recover after a hit, and will nail you again as soon as you're back
on the board. It's irritating. I've never won a single battle competition, and
I wonder why this mode is here.
Now let's talk about how you score points. I should have said something earlier,
but I kind of forgot getting around to it. You can get points one of two ways,
by an "appeal" or by a Negative Reaction. An appeal is simply a trick, a grind,
a lip-trick or a manual. You can connect (link) appeals to increase your multiplier
and thus increasing your score. Negative Reactions are worth 1000 points the first
time you hit them, and they can be linked with other Negative Reactions and appeals.
This is a great way to score big, because if you can do it right, you can go the
whole stage on just one link. However, as with the game modes, the tricks and
reactions only go so far.
The game design is decent for what it is. But, it's too simple compared to
other skateboarding games. In the Hawk games (especially Underground), you have
a variety of objectives to achieve. Here, you really only have six that repeat with
slight alterations. I don't mind much that the trick list isn't as robust as the
Hawk games since the reactions seemed to be the big draw of the game. But combining
everything together still makes this game a simple experience. The Story mode, essentially
only needs to be completed once with one character. After yo beat the game the first
time, ever item and board you've earned can be used by everyone, not just that
one person. The only incentive to go back into this game is for the single session and
VS. mode, and even that's very limited. There's no custom characters to speak of,
no park editor and no challenge/objective editiors. What we have here is a game
with a great artistic look, but not a lot of depth.
The graphics of GGH is probably the brightest area of the game. The cel-shading
is excellent, the character design is very creative, and each stage has a wacky
life of it's own. There's a lot of eye-candy in GGH. Best of all, the game runs
at a solid framerate. There's also quite a bit of visual humor as well, and we
should expect as such seeing how the character and set designs were done by Spumco,
who did the Ren and Stimpy Show. You'll see a billboard on the first set with
a woman with large flopping breasts with the words "got milk" on it. One of the
characters in the game is a pig in a bathing suit, and you have the luxury of seeing
her buttcrack as she skates in the game. That's just a couple of examples of how
weird and tastless the game is (I failed to mention that one of the negative reactions
involves being eaten by a hippo and shot out of it's ass covered in crap).
The sound also fits in with the oddness of the game. The music is orignal, to
say the least. Some strange, but some times catchy guitar-driven rock songs coupled
with some stranger electronic music. The sound effects are right on par of what
a cartoon would sound like. The voices are cartoonish, to say the least, but the
voice samples are recycled over and over.
Final Thought
Go! Go! Hypergrind does have some good ideas to inject into this kind of genre,
namely the Negative Reactions. But that only goes so far, and coupled with the
repetive goals of this game, it's not nearly as addictive or fun as Tony Hawk
Underground. I really wanted to avoid that comparision, but when you get down to
brass tacks, you have to. It's a shame that a game with such rich art direction
and graphics turns out to be a shallow experience. I would definitley recommend
renting this game just to see the visuals, but it's not a very solid purchase,
even at a lower price. Pro Skater 4 is at the same price point, and it still has
more going for it than this.
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Go! Go! Hypergrind
