Cheap TrickStyle (Software) (Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95) Price

If TrickStyle lived up to the promises in its manual and its read-me files, you wouldn't need to be reading this review to find out whether or not you wanted the game--everyone with an interest in skate-stunt games would have been hailing TrickStyle as an instant classic. Heck, many racing fans would also have been singing the game's praises, because the innovation the game was supposed to deliver was a system for racing rocket-powered hoverboards that rewarded racers for succeeding with wicked stunt combinations instead of just speeding across the finish line first.

Unfortunately, that's not how TrickStyle works. You do have to master the stunts to win the game, but that's only because the higher-powered hoverboards and the races themselves can't be unlocked until you complete training exercises that force you to perform all the stunts. When you get to the meat of the game--the blood-and-guts races--the stunts don't matter. You might as well not kick yourself into an "ollie," and you needn't bother with that 360-degree spin; they're just for show. The stunts won't necessarily slow you down, but the keystrokes required to execute them will distract you from the only thing that matters: winning the race the old-fashioned way.

So what have you got? A hoverboard racing game with a physics model that seems to capture the way a rocket-powered antigravity board would fly--but does not really give the player an impression of all-out speed; a racing game with tracks that fly through absolutely gorgeous urban settings in Britain, the USA, and Japan; and competent character animations for eight different racers who look different but perform their stunts and victory dances with the same motions.

There are three good markets for this game. Market #1: you're a skating/stunt-board fanatic and you can put a bit more spin into the game than the designers provided. Market #2: you love beautiful graphics and want to admire some of the best urban landscapes from any game of the just-past millennium. Market #3: you just like racing and you don't mind jumping through hoops to get to your races. --Rob Heinsoo

Pros:

• Cutting-edge graphics

Cons:

• Doesn't live up to its own design goals
• Doesn't allow you to flat-out race; the training sessions get in the way
• No multiplayer, although two players can compete head-to-head using two controllers and a split screen

PLATFORM:	Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
AGE GROUP:	5 years and up
CATEGORY:	Software
MANUFACTURER:	Acclaim
ESRB RATING:	Everyone
TYPE:	Trick Style, Computer Games
MEDIA:	CD-ROM
# OF MEDIA:	1
ACCESSORIES:
UPC:	021481941910