Aggressive Inline Xbox Review

It seems quite a lot of these tricks and stunt games are coming out on the Xbox, but rather then skateboards and bikes, we have skates. Don’t despair as skating instead of other types of stunt vehicles is still very fast paced and frantic.

Aggressive Inline has 9 massive levels and huge they certainly are. They are vast and interesting and very cleverly detailed with little things happening everywhere making for hours of just exploring the levels and secret sections which can be opened up by completing set tasks. One of the best features for me on this game is the dispensed time counter. In other games of this type the usual method includes a clock that counts down usually giving 3 minutes to achieve the tasks and score points for skills. This results in constantly missing the opportunity in completing a very hard set of tasks in the time allocated. Instead Aggressive Inline includes a “Juice Meter”. This basically means every fall looses you juice and every stunt increases the juice. Depending on how difficult the stunt is, you acquire more juice for the more difficult of skills. This results (if you are careful enough) in unlimited time to explore the massive levels and gather your senses for each task. For me this makes the game much more interesting then others in this category.

The stunts have the usual grinds, jumps and spins etc, but also includes things like flipping off object at waist level which is funny to watch and your skater reaches out for a railing, flips over it with some height and lands on their feet. The tasks are very difficult right from the first level as you have to avoid moving traffic and get to grips with the controls. Nothing majorly different from other games similar to this, but requires some time to master as most games.

A game like this is always boosted with a multiplayer section. Of course there is the usual point scoring games with the traditional countdown timer, but also strange but satisfying games like “21”. Yes the card game. How does it work? You skate around looking for cards and activate them by skating into them or jumping and grinding to reach the higher cards that float in the air. Just like the actual card game the aim of the game is to obtain cards that equal 21 or as high as you can get without going over 21. If this happens you have to start from scratch. When the timer runs out the player with the highest total or 21 wins. Oh and another thing to mention. If in trying to get a hard to reach card you fall over, you lose any cards you already have in your collection!

The graphics are sharp and detailed. Not overly intensive on the Xbox but enough to make for pleasing visuals. The music included in the game is good and a good variety of tracks so as not to seemingly repeat every 5 minutes.

The downside to the huge levels is it can be hard to locate where the tasks are located. There are no flashing highlighted objects or building to guide you, only a pause menu where some tasks do have a few camera shots of the areas covered, but not all are covered and this can be frustrating. Ignoring this fact there is plenty to do and the game is very rewarding for your patience and persistence with new areas in a level opening up.

As you progress the levels tend to get tighter and tighter making it harder to get easy points and forces you to expand your stunt skills until you become an expert. This is not going to happen over night and this game boasts more grinds, manuals and big air tricks than any other game! So expect many hours just looking through all the stunts and mastering them. You will soon realise how valuable the juice meter is in this instance more then even compared to a countdown timer as at least you have time to explore, master and complete the game with no immediate pressure on you.

Conclusion

This seems quite a low score for the game which has a good longevity value within. Due to the lack of full 5.1 sounds, this has really affected the overall score which is a great disappointment for such a good game. Crisp graphics and entertaining gameplay allow for many hours spent staring at your TV screen even if the audio isn’t up to scratch.