Tony Hawk's Project 8 vs. Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 (X360, PS3, Xbox, PS2; $59.99 (X360/PS3), $39.99 (Xbox/PS2); Rated T for Alcohol Reference/Blood/Crude Humor/Language/Mild Violence; thp8.com)

Yes. I know I rated the “Tony Hawk” franchise as being one of the most needing to be retired.

And no. I don’t mind eating crow from time to time. Actually, I’ve developed a taste for it over the years.

Kudos to Neversoft who are able to take the 8^th game in as many years and still turn out something that’s enjoyable for fans, accessible to newcomers, and (thankfully) reinvented itself after two attempts with the “Tony Hawk Underground” departure.

This is still the same type of Tony you’ve come to know and love over the past 8 years. The tricks are still physics defying, the environments rich with parody, and the bails still spine-splitting.

Though the detailed skater customization from “THUG” is gone, and the “Create-A-Park/Create-A-Trick” options have also been removed. Curiously, the online multiplayer for the PS3 and PS2 versions is gone (a staple for the system), but added for the first time on Xbox 360. In a neat gimmick, however, players can use the PS3’s SIXAXIS controller to balance their skaters by tilting the controller left or right.

New this year is a seamless world with which to get your grind on. In the 360/PS3 versions, there are no loading screens besides the first load into the game. After that, the entire game can be shredded, with particular areas being unlocked after the player gains enough of a reputation or completes certain goals. The lesser-gen versions of the Xbox and PS2 still need each environment to load separately.

The other stand-out feature for “P8” is the “Nail the Trick” mode. At any point in the air, the player can click in on the thumbsticks, entering the mode. Time slows and the camera zooms to the players feet and board. The thumbsticks control the movements of each foot (left thumbstick/left foot), and allows the player to kickflip or spin the board in whichever direction the foot-action would in reality. This minigame takes a great amount of timing and patience, as physics still dictate that you fall to the ground- so if you don’t finish your sick combo in time, you’ll eat pavement.

Eight years has served the series well as game types from the history of the franchise can be seen. In certain areas, you’ll still get the “Classic” complete goals within two-minutes gameplay, while still keeping the same “skate anywhere, go anywhere” exploring of more recent titles. This makes for a whole lot of challenges to complete, and always plenty of side distractions- like my favorite where players are awarded for taking the biggest spills- the more bones broken, the better!

Though Tony may be a little long in the tooth, his first appearance on the new-gen systems is a good one. For those away from the series, now’s as good a time as ever to return.

But beware…

Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam (Wii; $49.99; Rated E10+ for Comic Mischief/Mild Language/Mild Violence; downhill-jam.com)

The Birdman’s entry to Nintendo’s new console leaves much to be desired when comparing it to its 360/PS3 cousin. A far cry from anything that can be considered “Next Gen,” “Downhill Jam” takes a feature not seen since early “Tony Hawk Pro Skater” titles- the Downhill Race- and adds the Wii-motion controls.

Simply a racing game, “Downhill Jam” has none of the goal-based challenges of other “Hawk” games and is a far cry from the progress made by Neversoft in the past eight years. Maybe that’s because Neversoft didn’t develop this game. Maybe Neversoft had the good sense to stay away.

A bare-bones character creator allows players to make a custom skater, or pick from eleven pre-made caricatures. From there, players are only given the option to participate in downhill racing with slight variations for getting to the bottom quickest. There are no side-diversions, once you hit the end of the run you’re done and time to move on.

I suppose the quickness of each round can be seen as a plus if you’re pressed for time and need to get a quick game in. But if you’re so hardcore that you need to squeeze game-time into small minute-sized sessions, you probably shouldn’t be playing “Downhill Jam” to begin with.

Movement of the Wii remote controls your skater, with trick buttons being stripped down to the “1” and “2” buttons. Grinding requires players to rock the controller back and forth for balance, and bails require shaking the controller vigorously in order to get up and start skating again.

Shaking also is required to trigger a speed boost, but carving into the asphalt for just the right amount of time can also trigger boosts. The problem is that most courses are too narrow to effectively slalom down and maintain any real speed. The awkwardness of the controller likely means that you’ll slam head-first into a wall before really picking up any speed.

The Wii’s controller has serious limitations which can’t be overcome without the nunchuck attachment- effectively turning it into a semi-traditional controller. Alone, games like “Downhill Jam” illustrate how limiting the Wii remote actually is.

Skate right by this one.

Singstar Rocks!

(PS2; $49.99; Rated E10+ for Lyrics/Suggestive Themes/Tobacco Reference; us.playstation.com)

Finally, after years of enjoying success in Europe, Sony brings its karaoke party game over to the Colonies to butt heads with reigning champ “Karaoke Revolution.”

Despite the fact that “Singstar Rocks” comes with two microphones, 30 licensed songs and videos from the original artist, and the ability to record your voice for playback purposes, what “Singstar” lacks is any fun sense of competition.

Let’s face it: no one plays karaoke alone. In fact, solo-karaoke is so taboo that I’ve heard it’s been outlawed in most states. Karaoke is a communal activity, and as such, should have an element of competition with it. “Singstar” implements a team-based competition, which puts players to battle by singing against each other. The biggest problem is that “Singstar” forces members from each team to sing the same song at the same time. So rather than being able to sit back and listen (heckle) someone while singing, team members have to be quiet so as not to screw up their member that’s singing. Also, if one singer is naturally louder than the other, the softer singer can’t hear him/herself or the music, quickly crashing the attempted fun of this game.

“Karaoke Revolution,” on the other hand, allows people to sing their own songs, through a certain number of rounds, and totals up the points at the ends of the rounds, declaring a winner. It’s a sing-off, and it’s a whole lot more fun.

Pick your opponents’ songs, add some beers, and that’s a fun night of karaoke.

“Singstar,” unforgivably, doesn’t allow for anything like that- if two people play, they’re singing the same song- always.

Here’s to hoping that the PS3 version of “Singstar” will be substantially different and take a lesson or two from the far-superior “Karaoke Revolution.” It promises to have downloadable karaoke songs via an iTunes-like service, which will only be great if the game mechanics are substantially changed. I’m not holding my breath.

“Singstar Rocks” would score a lot lower if it weren’t for the original videos that play during each song and the legitimately great selection of music. Skip it and pick up the newly released “Karaoke Revolution: American Idol.”

Viva Piñata: Review

(X360; $49.99; Rated E; vivapinata.com)

The Xbox 360 is home to the hardcore - a place where blood, guts, bullets, and testosterone is more common than Starbucks on a street corner. So how does Microsoft shape the “adult” system for family use?

Crank out a psychedelic gardening simulator and while producing its Saturday morning cartoon tie-in.

¡Muy Bueno Microsoft!

“Viva Piñata” substitutes the automatic rifles and rocket launchers for shovels and watering cans, as you lay claim to a little parcel on Piñata Island- a magical land where animals made from colorful paper and sweet candy roam, mate, and hopefully call your little garden “home.”

The object of the never-ending game is to cultivate your land to attract the various piñata animals to your garden, get them to stay, reproduce, and raise enough money to expand your garden.

And this is where “Piñata’s” deceptively simple “child’s game” becomes a time-absorbing challenge for all of the burgeoning economists, zoologists, agriculturalists, and entrepreneurs in the audience.

Sure the simplicity of the controls and the bright colors are enough to keep a younger audience entertained for hours, but the resource management aspect of the game is as intricate as any “SimCity” game you’ve played. Raising certain crops will attract certain types of species during certain hours of the day. Once the animal is attracted to your garden, certain requirements are needed to cause the animal to become a resident. Sometimes, it’s a matter of having enough water and fruit to eat; for larger animals, however, it means having a particular species in your garden to feast on.

So if you want to keep the fox-like Pretztails around, you’ll have to make sure to have enough squirrel-like Squazzils for them to nibble on, but attracting the Squazziles requires having hazlenut trees, getting the Squazzils to romance and reproduce means having blackberry bushes for them to eat; but my blackberry bush just died of dehydration, because I was busy attending the to medical needs of my Fudgehog and stopping a fight between the warring Raisants and Buzzlegums, and… dang it! Where did the evil, piñata-infecting Sours come from, and how come my Cinnamonkeys won’t mate!?

Yep, it’s a little like that sometimes.

Thankfully fences, trees, and buildings can be purchased to wrangle the eventual zoo you’ll be running. Currency is earned by selling crops or piñatas- which bring up interesting situations like being able to breed animals for profit, or breeding animals for food to keep other, rarer piñatas happy.

There are multiple levels of complexity that can be enjoyed by players of all ages, but “Viva Piñata’s” real charm is that the game begins and ends with adorable-looking piñata animals that, like Pokemon, makes you want to “catch ‘em all.” Pick it up to play with the kids.

Or as satisfying reprieve from gun battles.