Give this one a try

To set the record straight, I’m not an x-treme sports fan. I don’t watch the stuff on tv and I sure don’t attempt any of these sports for fear of causing hysterical fits in anyone who witnessed it.

This game could be classified as an impulse buy. I’d read somewhere that it wasn’t your typical x-treme game (whatever that meant) and when I saw the cute little cartoon people and read the back of the box, I thought, what the hey.

A quick run-down of events is as follows: Surfing, Skyboarding, Street Luge, In-Line Skating and Skateboarding. Now the number of events may seem tame to some people but I’m here to say these five events will keep you busy.

What I like about the game is it has different difficulty levels built in, an advancing difficulty you can somewhat control. You progress through the game by winning medals for your character (there are also hidden medals too). Your character walks around and meets new people. They challenge the character to a competition. If you choose your adversaries carefully, you can systematically whup them and pocket their medals. These accumulating medals are your ticket into new areas of the game.

While in the process of whupping your opponent, you should keep on the lookout for flags scattered throughout the field of play. Flag collecting in this game is important, at least after you are comfortable with character movement and button combos.

My problem was switching between events and the different button combos involved. I’d have one sport down to a tee and then have to switch over to another and have to re-learn that one. I believe the most difficult event is the Skyboarding. After you're shoved out of the plane, I mean jump from it, you come across button combinations such as “right, left, left, up, down, up, right” all shown as arrows. If you successfully punch these buttons in order before getting beaned on the noodle by a bird, you pull off a Superman-ish spinning, gut-wrenching combo that would make even Chuck Yeager hurl. It is fun to try though and I have, yes honest, I have pulled off a combo 13 steps long. No birds included.

Each area has it’s own “champs” you have to beat plus the wise-talkers that insist no one is better than they are. These are usually where you gain your medals. The champs do tend to be tough but with enough practice, anyone can do it, I think. The dazzling thing about every event is a thing called a Twitchy Shake. Don’t ask me, I’m just glad when I stumble into one. They’re supposed to be energy drinks that enhance your character’s performance. Mine need more than they get sometimes. But you can’t waste time searching them out, at least at first, because you’re just trying to defeat your opponent. After you do, you can always go back and replay that level and search out the shakes and flags. And some of those flags are not within immediate sight. You have to go through a few extra times, wasting ticks on the clock while searching for these things then you can restart that level and get down to business. As long as you’ve defeated that particular opponent, you’re not penalized by going back through and wasting 10 minutes just cruising.

To win, some opponents require you to beat their time on the clock. Others you defeat by the number of combos you do whilst others rely only on flag collecting. Here’s the kicker. Some (usually the champs) rely on all those things. But there are so many competitors in this game, you’ll have a ball advancing even if you don’t ultimately win. Surf’s up!