Street Sk8er (PlayStation)

Skateboarding is one of the few sports that until now hadn't been reproduced in game form for the PlayStation. Unfortunately, Street Sk8er is not only the first true skateboarding game for the PlayStation, it's also the first mediocre skateboarding game for the PlayStation.

It's in the gameplay that Street Sk8er really falls flat. It's not because the game itself controls poorly, but rather there simply isn't a whole lot to do. You race along, and when you come across a ramp, you can press a direction along with the jump button to execute a trick. That's it. You go along, jump off jumps, and land rail slides, and so long as you make it to each checkpoint before the timer reaches zero, you're good to go. Well I shouldn't say good to go, because in order to progress to the next stage you must accumulate enough points, which you get for the rail slides, tricks, and such. The only real challenge to the whole game is in knowing how many tricks to pull off in the various half-pipe-like areas within the course before pushing on. It doesn't matter how fast you get through the course if you don't rack up enough points on the way to the goal line. You'll simply have to redo the course.

As you proceed through the game, you unlock levels that you can later go back to and play freely in what's called free skate mode. The game also has a vs. mode for two players, but sadly it's not the two-player simultaneous split-screen mode that we've seen in just about every other racing game. Instead, you and a second player alternate turns and compete for points.