Reviews say latest Tony Hawk game is rubbish, Tony Hawk begs to differ

I never had Tony Hawk down as the type to wear cranky pants, but now the Birdman has taken to sulking about the critical reception given to Tony Hawk: Ride.

Ride is about the gazillionth Tony Hawk game released since the series debuted in 1999, and comes with a skateboard peripheral that is supposed to simulate the riding of an actual skateboard in the game. Except, according to the reviewers … it doesn’t.

A number of critics have accused the board of being unresponsive and frustrating to use, a game-breaking gimmick that is yet another insult to a once-great series. Currently, the game has a score of 46% on Metacritic, making it the 440th best game on the PS3, out of all 460 titles.

Well, Tony’s not having this. Speaking to the Sudbury Star, the skateboarding legend suggests that the dozens of people criticising his game – the people who review games professionally – are all wrong, and he is right.

“They were ready to discredit it before they even tried it, and if it didn’t play exactly how they imagined it… then they passed it off. I don’t agree with people who say the board’s not responsive. I think that they’re just not giving it a fair shake. And I think a lot of them came into it with an attitude that it’s going to suck.”

But jeez, why does skateboarding legend and multi-millionaire Tony Hawk care?

“I brought this idea to Activision, and I saw it through, I’ve been playing it every step of the way and I am very proud of it.”

Ohhhh, makes sense now. Those nasty reviewers made it personal.

[Sudbury Star, via Kotaku]