Freestyle Scooter

by Bryony Harrison (follow)

2 players (71)      1 player (236)      Playstation (40)      PS1 (37)      Sports (8)      Playstation 1 (6)      Nintendo (6)      Ubisoft (2)      Gameboy (1)      Dreamcast (1)     

Summary
A badly programmed robot has kidnapped your friends. Rescue them by performing amazing tricks on your scooter.

Description
Type: Sports
Platform: Playstation 1, Game Boy Colour, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast
Players: 1 - 2 players
Age: 3 plus
Game Time: 24 hrs
Developer or Designer: Shaba Games
Publisher: Crave Entertainment

Pros

Cons

Review



Skateboards were all the rage in the nineties, but come the Millennium a new fad came in. Scooters. Suddenly everyone wanted a scooter (myself included), and were taking them to skate parks.



As with all new fads, money-makers squeezed it for all it was worth, and thus Freestyle Scooter was born. It tries to follow in the footsteps of games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater, only aiming at a younger and more casual players.



Best suited for pre-teens and early adolescents, it is unlikely to engage more seasoned players who are used to the more complex and graphically superior Tony Hawk series.

The ridiculous storyline doesn't really do Freestyle Scooter any favours, making the game lose credibility before even pressing start. A giant robot kidnaps your friends. There is no explanation of where this robot came from, other than the fact that it is badly programmed. There is no explanation of why he kidnaps your friends. And what's more, how is performing tricks on a scooter meant to save them?



If you can get passed the nonsensical plot, then the gameplay itself is actually quite good. There are various arenas to play in, such as the skate park and school playground, each of which has a set of challenges to complete.



The first challenge is to reach a certain score (increases each level), which is achieved by performing tricks and collecting scooter wheels. This basic score is necessary to clear the level.

After that, you can go back and try to complete the other goals, such as a high combo, grind score, collecting thirty wheels, and getting hundred second time bonuses. These can be tricky, especially since the tricks don't earn you a huge amount of points, and it is far too easy to crash.



There are lots of cool tricks to perform, but some of them like a 'nose manual' gets hampered by the fact that both 'accelerate' and 'jump' are performed with the X button. To move at a reasonable pace you have to keep your finger on the X, but as soon as you let go to press another button, the character jumps, messing up your trick.



Once you have achieved a certain number of goals, one of your friends will be rescued, and they become a playable character.

To complete 100% of the game will take a very long time indeed, but your interest will wane much before that. Freestyle Scooter is best played on an occasional basis, otherwise you will get fed up with it.

Categories
#Sports
#Playstation
#Playstation 1
#PS1
#Gameboy
#Nintendo
#Dreamcast
#1 player
#2 players
#Crave Entertainment
#Ubisoft

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