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Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure

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Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure is a 2003 skateboarding game published by Activision and developed by Toys for Bob for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, and Xbox, and Vicarious Visions for the Game Boy Advance, and published by Activision. The game features characters and stages licensed from Disney's The Lion King and Tarzan, and Pixar's Toy Story.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Activision
Director(s)
Producer(s)
  • Alex Ness
  • Nicole Willick
Designer(s)Toby Schadt
Programmer(s)
  • Eric Hammond
  • Robert Leyland
  • Peter Lipson
Artist(s)Terry Falls
Platform(s)
Release
  • NA: September 2, 2003
  • EU: September 5, 2003
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Developed using the same engine and gameplay as the 2002 title Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure was created as a licensed title to appeal to a younger audience, with the game featuring a simplified control scheme. Upon release, the game received generally positive reviews, with praise directed to the presentation and level design, and mixed reception to the simplified mechanics in contrast to the Tony Hawk series. The Game Boy Advance version received mixed reviews.

Gameplay

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See also: Gameplay in the Tony Hawk series
 
A screenshot of gameplay in the console release of Extreme Skate Adventure.

Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure allows players to skate in stages inspired by Pixar's Toy Story and Disney's Tarzan and The Lion King, as well as two customizable featuring licensed characters and two child skaters, Ryan and Mallie Ann. The game features the same engine and gameplay mechanics as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4,[1] with minor changes to simplify the control scheme, in which tricks and manuals are performed with the press of a single button and the performance of different tricks is differentiated by the type of obstacle. Players are able to revert to a more complex, combination-based control scheme by enabling 'Pro Controls' featured in the game's settings.[2]

The game features several gameplay modes. In 'Adventure', players complete a series of levels by completing various challenges across levels, the completion of which unlocks new goals, levels, and clothing for customized skaters.[1] In 'Free Skate', players are able to play all unlocked with available characters, with challenges disabled. The game supports multiplayer play in 'Versus', allowing players to complete various challenges including a one-on-one best trick contest, a best score challenge, and a 'king of the hill' mode in local split screen play.[3]

The Game Boy Advance version of Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure features a reduced lineup of seven characters across six levels, with players similarly able to complete a 'Story Mode' to complete challenges across a series of levels, and three additional minigames, including a 'Time Challenge', 'Trick Challenge', and 'Turbo Challenge', where players must perform the specified tricks in the time allotted.[4]

Development and release

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Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure was developed by Toys for Bob, a California based development studio contracted by parent company Activision to create a Disney-licensed extreme sports game. Development of Extreme Skate Adventure was based upon the RenderWare engine used by Activision subsidiary Neversoft to create Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4,[1] with minor additions added to the game to include "multi-stage tasks and more conversational interactions".[5] CEO and Director Paul Reiche stated that production of Extreme Skate Adventure faced several challenges. Whilst described as a "perfect" relationship, development involved close input and approval from Disney and Pixar, with the developers cautious on where the studio could take "creative latitude" or "stick to the movies" in the game's visual design and animation. The developers also faced the challenge of making design decisions about where the studio should imitate its predecessors and "do what Tony did" or where it was appropriate to "step outside that framework", finding the simplification of the control scheme to a younger audience to be the "most difficult" part of the development process.[6]

To market Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure, Activision launched a casting call for an 'Extreme Skate Crew' to seek ten child skaters to appear as playable characters in the game,[7] with two of the winners, Ryan Fullerton Holleran and Mallie Ann Torres, voted by users to have their name featured in the game and appear in the opening cinematics.[8] The soundtrack features licensed songs from artists including Reel Big Fish, Simple Plan, Smash Mouth, and Lil' Romeo,[1][2] and the Xbox version allows players to load custom soundtracks.[1] The game was released in North America on September 2, 2003, and in Europe on September 5.[9][10]

Reception

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The console release for Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[12][13][14] Reviewers were mixed on the merits of the game's simplified mechanics for a younger audience. Describing the title as "Tony Hawk for a younger audience", Kaiser Hwang of IGN noted "the number of moves has decreased, as has the difficulty", finding it to be a "watered-down experience".[2] Michael Lafferty of GameZone similarly noted that the game "may be a bit too simplistic" for older players, citing the "scaled-down trickset and limited controls".[18] In contrast, Frank Provo of GameSpot found the game to be challenging and enjoyable by "kids and adults alike", citing the increased difficulty of the game's challenges across levels.[1] Ian Deane of Cube critiqued the game's "watered down" and "soul-destroying" modifications to the controls, finding them to be "nowhere near as responsive as in a Tony Hawk's game".[25]

Critics were mostly positive about the design of the stages. Provo described the levels as "impressively large" and appropriately designed around the limitations of the reduced simpler trick set.[1] Adam Pavlacka of PlayStation Magazine noted the level design was what "really makes (the game) shine", writing that the worlds were "true to the original film".[24] Greg Orlando of Xbox Nation praised the "themed environments" as "colourful" and highlighted the inclusion of secret areas.[26] Critics were also largely positive on the game's visual presentation. Although commending the game for "running smoothly (and) animating just as well", Hwang noted the game's "lack of defining or memorable effects".[2] Describing the game as having a "good look to it", Provo praised the game's "bright and colorful" presentation and "solid" animation.[1] Zach Meston of GMR found the game to be "bright and cheery to the point of excess".[27]

The Game Boy Advance version received "mixed or average" reviews according to Metacritic.[11] Cam Shea of Hyper praised the game as "quite solid", noting that whilst the gameplay was "greatly simplified" and "a little dull".[19] Jeff Gerstmann of GameSpot observed that the game's presentation was not "as realistic or technically ambitious" as its counterparts, noting that the environments were not "colorful or detailed enough".[21] GBA World condemned the game as an "extremely cynical attempt to cash in on the popularity of Disney characters by sticking them into a Tony Hawk style skating game."[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Provo, Frank (September 9, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Gamespot. Archived from the original on September 6, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Hwang, Kaiser (September 3, 2003). "PlayStation 2: Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". IGN. Archived from the original on February 5, 2004. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  3. ^ Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure - Game Manual. Activision. 2003. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  4. ^ Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure. Activision. 2003. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  5. ^ Hickey Jr., Patrick (3 February 2023). "Robert Leyland: Tony Hawk Downhill Jam". The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 Games: Interviews with Creators and Developers. McFarland. p. 102. ISBN 978-1-4766-8854-1.
  6. ^ "Paul Reiche III, Toys for Bob Q&A". The Armchair Empire. October 11, 2003. Archived from the original on June 20, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  7. ^ "Activision Turns Real Kids Into Videogame Stars as Part of Nationwide Casting Call for Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Activision. April 9, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  8. ^ "There Can Be Only Two". IGN. April 9, 2003. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  9. ^ IGNPS2 (September 3, 2003). "Disney Skates to the Trucks". IGN. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ Bramwell, Tom (September 5, 2003). "What's New?". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on March 25, 2023. Retrieved March 25, 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for Game Boy Advance Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for GameCube Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  13. ^ a b "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  14. ^ a b "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
  15. ^ Zacarias, Eduardo (September 3, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Gamezone. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  16. ^ Hollingshead, Anise (September 3, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 18, 2008. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  17. ^ Bedigian, Louis (September 20, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". GameZone. Archived from the original on October 8, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  18. ^ a b Lafferty, Michael (September 22, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". GameZone. Archived from the original on September 23, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  19. ^ a b Shea, Cam (December 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Hyper. No. 122. p. 72. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  20. ^ Harris, Craig (September 9, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". IGN. Archived from the original on August 10, 2004. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Gerstmann, Jeff (September 10, 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Gamespot. Archived from the original on September 19, 2003. Retrieved June 1, 2022.
  22. ^ "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Nintendo Power. No. 173. November 2003. p. 151. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  23. ^ Kennedy, Sam (October 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. No. 73. p. 116.
  24. ^ a b Pavlacka, Adam (November 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". PlayStation Magazine. Vol. 7, no. 77. p. 48. Retrieved August 17, 2023.
  25. ^ Deane, Ian (November 2003). "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Cube. No. 24. p. 86. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  26. ^ Orlando, Greg. "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". Xbox Nation. No. 10. p. 87. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  27. ^ Meston, Zach (October 2003). "Disney Extreme Skate Adventure". GMR. p. 70. Retrieved August 22, 2023.
  28. ^ "Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure". GBA World. No. 8. April 2004. p. 60. Retrieved August 22, 2003.
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