Unfortunately, nothing more on that supposed next-gen Hawk game Activision claimed to have in development, but there's finally something tangible (more or less) on that mobile Tony Hawk game we told you about.
TouchArcade had a sit-down with the legendary skater and captured the whole thing on video. Hawk demoed (read -- tapping and scrolling on an iPhone) the game, and broke down the different game modes, but it's about as exciting as watching someone play on a phone. Probably because that's what it is. If you can't bear the view for seven minutes, check out a sum up below the video.
The gameplay is in the endless runner style, ala Temple Run, which worried me at first, because that alluded to a lack of vert skating and insta-death pits and obstacles. However, bails are infinitely more forgivable in most modes than a pit of doom, and half and quarter pipes are scattered throughout levels, retaining some aspect of THPS familiarity. Screen swipes will dart your skater between different tracks to grab items or different grindable objects.
Hitting ramps will launch the character into the air, at which point time slows down and different tricks can be pulled off. Basic flip tricks can be pulled off without launching from ramps, and it appears as though grinds and manuals are all still there to keep those combos good n' long.
For an endless runner styled game, Shred Sessions has some surprising depth, with several game modes, most of which went unnamed during the course of the video:
* one mode consists of collecting spheres
* Skate-Off - a S-K-A-T-E or H-O-R-S-E mode, where players have to duplicate the tricks set by another skater
* Trick session
* Challenge against another skater
* pick up time pieces, presumably similar to picking up the spheres.
* a free mode that Hawk describes as more like old-school THPS gameplay. The higher your score, the more you can unlock.
Of course, with Session being a mobile game, there will be limitations. Speaking on the level design, "Theres some iconic backgrounds and places, but the way the mode of the game is, it wasn't like we could really utilize, say, a bold design, because it's just not linear like that," said Hawk. "But as the levels progress, there's way more stuff you do and more combos to be had."
The explorable levels were a big part of what helped the THPS series take off, so it's odd to see them take a more linear route, especially considering the series already tried such a design with Ride and Shred, perhaps the worst games of the series, hampered by an akward and expensive peripheral. But with Shred Session being a free-to-play title, at least they've made the price agreeable.
Tony Hawk's Shred Session drops this summer, but will have a soft-launch soon enough. Expect a version for the Android if folks find the iOS one agreeable.
