Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam really gets no more complicated than getting down a hill first. Well, okay, there’s a little more to it than that - but not much more.

Formalities have finally taken a back seat as Mr. Hawk has managed to fully wrangle the spotlight all for himself. It’s unfortunate that this is the project where he became king of the hill. The only named skater in the game, Tony Hawk is surrounded by skaters fitting all sorts of tired stereotypes – the goth, the punk, the lug-head, etc. – as well as the mysterious Custom. For those who enjoyed the ability to tweak their skater in previous Tony Hawk titles, you will be happy to know that Downhill Jam supports a fairly robust customization section; something the last release lacked. Custom will soon be renamed and dolled up, with the ability to tweak facial and body features, as well as clothing and all of the logos and tidbits that entails, present.

After a few minutes of tweaking, Generic Guy representing Toys For Bob – Star Control, what-what? – set out to conquer Tony and his painfully bland cohorts. Starting out as a lowly rookie, he had to set his sights high. Real high.

There are 8 environments in all, each having a main course and several marked and unmarked shortcuts. Placing in the top 3 earns you points, gear, and characters. After reaching a set number of points, you move up in rank. The next rank unlocks more levels, courses, and ways to earn even more gear, skins, and other goods. The first set of trials consists of only a handful of levels, with more trials opening up as you rack of points. While the courses and goals are the same, the rules of the race aren’t. There are several different requirements to winning: courses demand that you destroy the most property, perform the best tricks, beat up the most people, or just make it to the finish line before your opponents. The variety of play styles doesn’t make up for the lack of environments, but they do help.

Of course, it would also help if the game was enjoyable. The eight environments vary between boring to decent, but none are noteworthy. The graphics are so muddy and dated that it is often difficult to see just what’s going on – the fact that some shortcuts are pointed out with arrows speaks volumes. As you race to the finish, whatever excitement you have building up, maybe from a close finish to a dangerous upcoming obstacle, is hindered by an erratic framerate.

To place first you’ll have to pull off tricks and smack others around, both of which fill up a boost meter that can hold multiple charges and allow you to zip past the competition. The tricks, pulled from the series, however, are so simple that they don’t offer the kind of unique challenge that they should. I realize that the moves can’t be exact, due to the quicker pace, but there is such a thing as going too far with an approach. It’s just not as satisfying grinding a quarter of a course when it’s nearly impossible to fall.

The Wii controller is used sideways, with button 2 being used for jumping and grabbing while mid air, button 1 being used for grinding and flip tricks, and the directional pad is used for attacking opponents. It took me a while to get acclimated with the controls, but no amount of time would make them any better at handling tight turns or shake the fact that the game would be completely playable, and sometimes more enjoyable, had the directional pad been used in its traditional role. Every now and then I could sense where the title could’ve gone, while I was struggling to make a turn or skating – hilariously – alongside a grassy hill without the laws of gravity stopping me, and that was with the controls taken more seriously and implemented as such. The different terrain that is skated over provides a great amount of variety, from cobblestone to asphalt, and fighting each portion with the remote would have added a great deal more to the title. Instead of tilting and jerking the controller all over the place, nurturing each turn and taking into account the kind of turf and compensating accordingly would have really put Downhill Jam on a level far beyond what it is.

The game often comes across as if it's a value title. Aside from the namesake and developer pedigree, one of the reasons that it actually feels like a full-fledged, we’re-serious-and-not-just-cashing-in-on-a-franchise release is the licensed soundtrack. Even though the songs are poorly implemented, often breaking up in-between the numerous load screens and during the full-motion video (why?!) clips, fans of Lupe Fiasco, Rob Zombie, and the typical Tony Hawk soundtrack roster will at least have that to enjoy. While I would like to high-five Rob for saving me from the same 15-second clip of Lupe Fiasco constantly repeating, even he was wearing thin after a while. The voice-overs aren’t bad, but the dialogue is enough to make you wince. While some of the jokes are a jab at the style and culture, there is also enough corny jokes and pandering to the same culture to have you tuning it out. Considering the companies behind the title, the production values are surprising – Wii, is this your fault?

Overall: 4.5/10