Because nothing says EXTREME like hitting someone wrapped in barbed wire with a flaming chair. Except this is a Disney game, so that’s totally not going to happen, is it?
My November run through 30 different original Xbox games continues, this time veering into the oft-strange world of corporate tie-ins to existing game franchises.
To understand Disney Extreme Skate Adventure, you really only have to understand two distinct facts of history:
1) Anything in the late ’90s that you wanted to label as being with the spirit of the times had to be EXTREME
2)Nobody really saw Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater being the massive hit that it was.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. Disney Extreme Skate Adventure came out in 2003. Let’s just say that Disney, at the time, was more into following trends and milking them for cash, as distinct from Disney of today, which is all about Marvel and Star Wars, or in other words, recycling trends and milking them for cash. Hey, at least one thing has remained constant.
Ahem. Anyway, Disney Extreme Skate Adventure takes the core game mechanics of the Tony Hawk game and takes them to the EXTREME… which is to say, somebody at Disney probably figured that little kids might have cottoned onto this whole EXTREME thing by 2003, so best to call the game aimed at the younger crowd something edgy, while using Disney characters in a non-edgy way.
Mostly.
I mean, there is one mission where you have to rescue Hamm The Pig by flushing a toilet, which is practically X-rated by Disney standards.
Still, it’s very much classic Tony Hawk Pro Skater fare, just a tad easier (for the most part, with signposting of goals and the like) and a cast of Disney characters to play as, alongside some kids that the game wastes no time in telling you are modelled on actual real kids.
I wonder what happened to Ryan or Mallie Ann? They’d be adults by now, I guess. Yes, this is your daily reminder that time marches onwards. We can’t stop it, even if we wanted to.
Look, this is mostly inoffensive stuff (I mean, come on, it’s a Disney game), with the notable exception of some pretty brutal product placement on the kid levels. Because clearly Simba or Tarzan could never sell out to McDonald’s or Nokia, but small innocent children? They could be sold out en masse, to, for example collect ringtones for a Nokia 5100.
Wait, WHAT?
Sigh. Yeah, this really is an in-game challenge. I’m not proud to say that I did finish it, too. But I did.
How long did I play it for: About an hour, all up. I mean, it’s a Tony Hawk game in a cute skin. There’s not much reason not to play it.
Fat Duck Tech Retro Xbox Game Rankings
Again a rough choice, between NFL Street and Disney Extreme Skate Adventure, but the reality is I’m more likely to head to a console where I have a proper Tony Hawk game than play the light version. I suspect you’re the same, no?
Next time: Time to engage in an Urban adventure… of a kind.