The packaging for Tony Hawk: Ride on the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3.
Tony Hawk: Ride (also known as, Tony Hawk 10, and by its working title, Tony Hawk's Adrenaline) is the tenth installment to the main series of the Tony Hawk video game series. Systems that the game appear on are the Wii, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game was developed by Robomodo. The Wii version was handled by Buzz Monkey. The game was published by Activision and distributed by Activision Blizzard.
The game was rated "E10+" and was released on November 17, 2009.
Development and pre-release
The pre-order boxart for the game.
In February of 2008, publisher Activision said that the game was currently undergoing research and testing. The publisher also said at the time that the game will be a "re-engineering [for] the franchise" and said that there will be "a new direction for the brand."
In May of 2008, Activision spoke more about the new game. During a quarterly earnings conference, the company again confirmed that the new game would "deliver the kind of breakthrough this franchise needs." At the same time, Activision confirmed that the new game would not be released in 2008, but is scheduled to be out before their 2010 fiscal year ends. This would put the window of release between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2010.
On December 3, 2008, Activision announced a new motion sensing balance board peripheral that players will "put down the controller, step on the board, and feel the sensation of going big... Shift your weight to turn and balance grinds, kick back on the tail of the board to ollie, and lean into airs to pull off huge spins."
On GameTrailers TV on Friday 15 of May, 2009, it was announced that the game will not be called "Tony Hawk's Adrenaline" (the game's working title), but instead, "Tony Hawk: Ride", as it's official name.
On May 25th, 2009, GameStop listed the product at USD$119.99 with the unofficial release date of October 13th, 2009.
On June 2, 2009 through June 4, 2009, playable demo of Tony Hawk: Ride was open to the public at the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo.
A playable demo was available again on July 30, 2009 through August 2, 2009 at X Games XV.
The offcial release date for the game was let out to the public in August 2009, with it being November 17, 2009.
On October 8th, 2009, it was announced that players could visit their local GameStop retailer and see the skateboard controller, which was mounted on a rack with a Tony Hawk: Ride advertisement. The board was not removable, but was allowed to be touched.
Gameplay
A screenshot of Stevie Williams in the Loop Plaza level of Tony Hawk: Ride.
In Tony Hawk: Ride, players use the all new skateboard-based peripheral to simulate the riding of an actual skateboard in the gameplay. Players cannot play the game with a hand controller. This is considered the most dramatic change in the Tony Hawk video game series due to the fact that in the gameplay of past games, alot of "button mashing" was used. There are three levels of difficulty while using the skateboard controller, which are "Casual", "Confident", and "Hardcore".
Various of past installments of Tony Hawk games, from Tony Hawk's Underground to Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, made it available to payers to get of their skateboard during gameplay and start walking. Walking is no longer available in Tony Hawk: Ride.
The "Nail-the-Trick" feature that was in Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, is gone in Tony Hawk: Ride.
The story mode of the game is called "Road Trip", were the player's Custom Skater starts in Southern California and travels through the world eventually going pro. The story mode can be both short or long, depending on which difficulty it is played in.\
Online play is available in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. The Wii version doesn't have online play but instead substitutes that for the use of Miis, so players have the option to play the game with their Mii avatars, pre-determined Miis in the game based on the pro skater cast, or the regular pro skater cast. All three versions of the game match up the same, except for the lack of online play on the Wii version.
Four screenshots of the Wii version of Tony Hawk: Ride.
Game Levels
A screenshot of Christian Hosoi in the Quiksilver "All '80s All Day" level in Tony Hawk: Ride.
Before the release of Tony Hawk: Ride, the developers of Tony Hawk: Ride, as well as Tony Hawk himself, were asked by video game critics and video game journalists if the game would feature a open world without any loading times in between, they said the game would not be featuring an open world to skate in because if players were on the skateboard controller for hours, just looking for something to do, players would get bored and eventually stop playing the game entirely. Therefore, the game will feature more enclosed, but rather big, levels.
Locations
Southern California
- L.A. River
- Venice Beach
- Venice Beach Halfpipe
- Vans "Downtown Showdown"
Chicago, Illinois
- Loop Plaza
- Lower Wacker Drive
- Boom Boom Huck Jam
- "Manual Challenge"
New York City
- Central Park
- Central Park Halfpipe
- Brooklyn Banks
- "Back to the Banks"
Spain
- Barcelona Plaza
- Toledo Streets
- Barcelona Halfpipe
- éS "Game of Skate"
Frankfurt, Germany
- Frankfurt Terminal
- Quiksilver "'80s Vert Challenge"
Tokyo, Japan
- BOOMX2 TH Vertical U-Ramp!
- BOOMX2 TH Go Show!
Confirmed characters
Pro Skaters
A screenshot of Alex Olson in the L.A. River level of Tony Hawk: Ride.
- Tony Hawk
- Dustin Dollin
- Rodney Mullen
- Paul Rodriguez
- Ryan Sheckler
- Daewon Song
- Mike Vallely
- Stevie Williams
- Christian Hosoi
- Steve Nesser
- Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins
- Cara Beth Burnside
- Nyjah Huston
- Mike Mo Capaldi
- Alex Olson
Soundtrack
- Adam Tensta - "My Cool"
- Band of Skulls - "Patterns"
- Beatsteaks - "Run Run"
- Beck - "Gamma Ray"
- Bill Withers - "Lovely Day"
- The Black Keys - "I Got Mine"
- The Bronx - "Minutes in Night"
- Chevelle - "Jars"
- Children Collide - "Social Currency"
- Coconut Records - "West Coast"
- The Commodores - "Machine Gun"
- Darker My Love - "Two Ways Out"
- Dead End Road - "Sin City"
- Disbelievers - "Bad Storm"
- The Duke Spirit - "Into the Fold"
- The Faint - "The Geeks Were Right"
- The Fold - "Neverender"
- Gray Matter - "Fill a Void"
- Green Day - "Murder City"
- Half Astro - "Cellular"
- Helen Earth Band - "Shake N Cut"
- Kenny Rogers & First Edition - "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)"
- Kram - "Blitzkreig Pop" (originally by the Ramones)
- KRS-One w/ Buckshot - "Robot"
- Living with Lions - "She's A Hack"
- The Meters - "Cissy Strut"
- MGMT - "Electric Feel"
- Modey Lemon - "Become A Monk"
- Modest Mouse - "Satellite Skin"
- Morning After Girls - "Death Processions"
- Murs feat. will.i.am - "Lookin' Fly"
- Nico Vega - "Burn Burn"
- Nitzer Ebb - "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang"
- NOFX - "Just the Flu"
- Norma Jean - "Robots 3 Humans 0"
- Patchwork - "Ping Pong"
- The Pinkertones - "Electrobumbao"
- Queens of the Stone Age - "The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret"
- The Raconteurs - "Consoler of the Lonely"
- The Replacements -"Takin' a Ride"
- Revolution Mother - "Night Ride" Rose Hill Drive - "Showdown"
- Russian Circles - "Death Rides a Horse"
- Santigold - "L.E.S. Artistes"
- Shiny Toy Guns - "Ricochet"
- Spinnerette - "All Babes Are Wolves"
- The Stooges - "I Got a Right"
- Superchunk - "Punch Me Harder"
- The Temper Trap - "Hearts"
- This Drama - "She Had a Knife"
- TSOL - "Dance with Me"
- Turbotito - "Losing Their Head"
- TV on the Radio - "Dancing Choose"
- We Are Scientists - "After Hours"
- Willowz - "Ulcer Soul"
- Wolfmother - "Joker and the Thief"
- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - "Zero"
External Links
- Tony Hawk: Ride official website
- Tony Hawk: Ride gamepage at Activision.com
- Tony Hawk: Ride on GameTrailers TV, before the game's release
- Tony Hawk: Ride on USA Today, before the game's release