While it would be easy to consign this title as a me-too attempt to cash in on the popularity of the extreme sports genre, this isn’t fair. Players who dismiss Namco’s Airblade as another lame Tony Hawk-wannabe are mistaken since this is quite a unique title that offers gamers something different. Thankfully, Criterion/Namco have smartly decided that to differentiate themselves, they need a unique hook. Unlike many other skating titles, Airblade allows the player to perform interesting moves and has a unique plotline that helps motivate the player. The board itself is rather cool and which is explained as being a prototype stolen from an evil corporation. What’s so special about it is that the ‘blade is an anti-gravity hover board with special abilities, which gives the game a unique feel and allows for some fairly spectacular stunts as well. This is important because each level throws many obstacles in your path. Players will have to perform many of these tricks, including jumping from building to building, making dangerous grinds, attacking the evil minions of the company while constantly looking at their scores. Sure, the trick catalog isn’t as deep or complex in other games but the interface still offers some pretty cool maneuvers. The cool thing is how all the moves and methods tie together nicely. For example, when you successfully perform a trick, the boost bar goes up. This is used to give the character a speed boost at critical times and gives you some extra motivation to perform as many tricks as possible.

The Airblade itself is a versatile board that allows the players to perform spectacular aerial tricks in addition to the usual grinding, spins and grabs which makes for a fun game offering some things you can’t do in other games. Since it isn’t limited by gravity, the traditional physics you encounter in most snowboarding games don’t apply which gives you an added sense of freedom. This opens up a lot of possibilities in the gameplay, making it feel quite unique. The game’s strongest aspect comes alive in Airblade’s unique moves which are quite spectacular yet easy to perform for the most part. For example, you can spin while grinding or grab bars and lampposts with your hands and spin around several times, which is pretty cool. Spin-grabs are an impressive maneuver but aren’t gimmicky because they play a significant part in the missions. Controlling the board effectively is crucial and the game works because of its intuitive controls which are easy to learn yet allow for some depth.

Airblade’s controls rarely interfere with the gameplay and make performing tricks seem natural and flow nicely with the rest of the game. The timing can occasionally be difficult to get the hang off, and you sometimes find yourself careening off a ledge when you wanted to grab onto something. There are also points in the game where you have to perform multiple tricks in succession in order to complete an objective, which can be extremely difficult as you’d expect. This can be a bit frustrating because it takes awhile to become accustomed to the controls’ quirkiness, especially if you’re used to Tony Hawk’s system. Once you get the hang of it and memorize the level layouts, things really become interesting.

However good the interface is, doing stunts after stunts is nice but gets old and repetitive quickly. Airblade combats this effectively because it includes a compelling storyline to keep you motivated. The good news is that the story isn’t constrictive and is interesting enough to keep you motivated throughout. It’s told in a variety of cinematic cut-scenes between each level and features interesting characters and decent voice acting. Even though there are set-objectives to complete which each level, this can be done in a non-linear fashion which adds to the sense of freedom you have in the game. This gives the gameplay a good structure and making a good balance between freestyle and mandatory action. The best part comes in story mode where you have to complete multiple objectives before time runs out. This isn’t as easy as it sounds, but the level layouts are clear enough that most objectives are easy to understand. There are a few times when the next objective isn’t clear, or when you might have to spend a lot of time trying to master a single part of the level. This can get annoying sometimes, as you may have to play a single level many times in order to beat it – making things excessively frustrating. However, the levels are quite large and have good layouts, that are both challenging and fun. Things keep getting more challenging as you progress which keeps the player constantly challenged.

It isn’t all the story mode however, because Airblade has other features that should keep players interested throughout. Criterion has also included several extra modes including score and trick attack plus a freestyle section where you can roam freely. The cool thing here is that these parts of the game can only be unlocked once you beat that level in story mode. While the score and trick attack modes are self-explanatory, they are good for practicing your moves and somewhat fun in their own right. It also offers a cool versus mode where you and a friend can duke it out with each other. It’s disappointing however, that the extras seem to be so famished, and the developers were so stingy in offering the extensive extras other games do.

The production values are much better than in other games and bring Airblade’s futuristic sensibilities to life. From a technical standpoint, Criterion has crafted an excellent graphics engine that gives things a cool look and excellent sense of realism, making for a believable futuristic environment scattered with billboards, decent lighting effects. Its beautiful urban environments are impressive for both their detail and size. The buildings are rendered in good proportion and feel, giving the players a good sense of space. Character animations are realistic, and the pedestrians wandering around the levels add to the realism. A good move was implementing a behind the player perspective, which can be adjusted to zoom in closer. This engine also allows you to manually look around and change the camera angles. The automatic angles make playing simple and rarely get in the way of the action. Unfortunately, the view can sometimes change too quickly, making it hard to place your character in the environment. Airblade’s above-average soundtrack fits the mood perfectly and is highlighted by an aggressive hip-hop score. The music adds to the intensity and atmosphere while enhancing the underground street feel perfectly, so overall the production values are excellent and make the experience much more enjoyable.

Unfortunately, there are some really severe problems that hurt Airblade’s appeal significantly. The game’s biggest problem is its length which is much too short and leaves the player with little motivation to play through it again after they’ve beaten it. There are only 5 levels in story mode and these can be beaten easily once you get the hang of things. The other cause for concern is that there are only two main characters to play, which can be quite limiting and hurts the game’s long-term replay value. This undermines the whole thing, because it ends much too soon. While the extra modes are nice, they really can’t make up for the premature ending and aren’t addictive enough to play again and again. This is where the game falls down the most severely and the cause for disappointment. Still, there are many cool ideas in the game and for the most part, it’s a lot of fun while it lasts. Hawk fans will find that the controls are decent if a bit simplified but the environments and tricks are worth the effort. Airblade is a fun and enjoyable game while it lasts but its short length means renters will probably get more from their money than those who paid the full retail price.