Gaming Target - PlayStation 2: AirBlade

Written by Daniel Ekman on January 30, 2002

Import Review: If kicking arse while hoverboarding is your kind of thing, Airblade might just be for you.

Airblade. The name is very much fitting UK-based developer Criterion's high-profile title published by Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe. This pseudo skater will take you high up in the air just to let you fall like a cutting blade towards the ground. If you are thrilled every time another trick-based title hits the market you will probably like this one as well, but if you are a fan of realism you might want to steer clear.

Airblade does not have much in common with the Criterion-developed title Trickstyle if the company is to be believed. Whereas Trickstyle is more of a racing game, Airblade focuses on performing tricks and accomplishing missions. Moreover, Airblade is set in a more contemporary world than its hoverboard relative. However, even if the games do not feature similar locations, the futuristic tendencies are still very much present in both of them. The feeling you get while riding through the streets of Airblade is one of unreality, and if that is a good thing or not is something that differs quite a lot depending on whom you ask.

The game has several different options and also features some extras like an interview with the people behind it, which is nice. For example, there is this party mode where up to eight players can compete to get the highest scores. The one with the lowest score is eliminated, and then the game moves on to another stage where the procedure is repeated. This mode could have been a real party booster, but sadly each session is a bit too long and there is also an unrewarding feeling to it all that I will get to later. There are several two-player modes, of which ribbon tag and trick list are but a few examples. Trick list sees two players trying to perform the tricks instructed within a certain time limit, and the one with the fastest reactions and most skilled fingers will emerge victorious. Ribbon tag, on the other hand, is a simple mode where the player who holds the ribbon the longest wins. The ribbon will be located somewhere in the chosen stage, and the first player to get there will grab it and try to hold on to it for as long as possible. However, the longer a player holds on to the ribbon the longer it gets, thus it becomes harder to prevent it from being stolen.

Plenty of extras and modes aside, it is the story mode that is the very heart and soul of Airblade. You are a skater named Ethan, who is dragged into a somewhat exciting adventure because he happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Being chased by an evil corporation called GPC you have to grab, grind, and flip your way through varying stages while taking out GPC people, search lights, and surveillance cars. It seems as if your hoverboard is pretty important to the people at GPC, and it might just have something to do with a new technology that the board utilizes. The hoverboard does not need fuel to function, you see, and the prospect of the technology behind it becoming mass market is simply appalling to GPC, a company that makes a lot of money on fossil fuels.

After having been treated to an average cut scene the first mission commences. In both this mission and every that follows you will have plenty of objectives to take care of. It can be everything from taking out snipers on the roofs to crashing cameras and ruining big posters. The first stage is pretty easy, as it should be, and continuing on your journey is not a difficult featЧat least if you manage to ignore the headache-inducing music. I swear that it gets very annoying indeed to hear the same crappy song throughout a whole stage that perhaps take 15 minutes to completeЕ If the game ever finds its way to the US, one can only hope that for your sake the soundtrack will be slightly altered. But enough of my jabbering. As you progress through the stages it will obviously get more and more difficult, but thankfully it never gets to the point where it is too tough. Opening up new stages has the advantage that you will be able to play in beautiful never-before-seen locations. The vistas range from huge city landscapes to indoor factories and dark, moody suburbs. Sadly, though, there are not as many stages as one would have hoped for. It is also in the story mode that you can unlock new characters and such. All in all, Airblade's story mode is a challenging and rewarding experience, albeit perhaps a bit too short for the experienced gamer. There are some extras to unlock that might bring you back, but apart from these there is not really much that excites once completed.

Where the game disappoints the most is in the trick department. A lack of tricks to perform is not the issue here: the dilemma lies in the fact that grabbing, flipping, and grinding feels very unrewarding. The problem seems to stem from the hoverboard itselfЕ being very detached from actual realism there is no sense of pulling off tricks possible in reality like in, for example, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Of course, a sense of science fiction was probably intended on the developer's part, but sadly it seems to take away something from the gaming experience in this case. Extreme sports games, for example, have in my opinion been so popular due to players being able to relate to the action on screen. Certainly characters perform unrealistic tricks at times, but they still seem to stem from reality. In Airblade the physics does not have that distinct feeling, and even if it is a very good-looking game with plenty of eye candy it does not truly satisfy in this department.

Talking about eye candy, the most notable thing about the graphics is the effect that takes place upon pressing the speedup button. As soon as you press that button, provided that you have some boost energy left, motion blur commences, and the effect is quite cool and also partly refreshing because of its originality. Apart from that everything looks good; the colour choices are fair and the drawing distance impressive. Sound effects compliment the graphical style well, but I will not even bother bringing up the musical aspect once again.