Grind Session

• Release Date: May 24, 2000
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Skateboarding
• Similar Games: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PlayStation), Thrasher: Skate & Destroy (PlayStation)

Game Description

With the multi-platform success of Activision's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, there was a subsequent demand for extreme sports and skateboarding games. To fulfil this need, Shaba Games and Sony Computer Entertainment America have teamed up for Grind Session -- a hardcore skateboarding simulation that combines professional boarders with hundreds of realistic maneuvers, locations and equipment.

Attempting to capture a realistic sense of skateboarding, the developers formed a partnership with popular companies and establishments such as Vans, G-Shock, Mountain Dew and Rolling Stone Magazine. With actual Vans Triple Crown of Skateboarding events incorporated into gameplay, you'll compete in eight interactive locations including Huntington Beach, Atlanta, Detroit, London and New York City. Locations feature anything and everything at your local skate park, such as birds, debris, aerial ramps, jumps and rails.

Among the actual skateboarding professionals included are Ed Templeton, John Cardiel, Cara-Beth Burnside, Pigpen, Willy Santos and Daewon Song. Skaters include true-to-life animation, realistic trick combinations and aerial physics. While playing as a professional may be tempting, you may also choose between four fully customizable novice skateboarders; you're given an option to customize wardrobes and gear such as helmets, pads, wheels and skateboards.

Grind Session comes with a few different gameplay options including the single-player Tournament, Endurance, Open Skate and Training modes. There are additional multi-player modes such as Competition, Versus, Teamplay, Tech Challenge and C-H-U-M-P. Regardless of the mode you've chosen, you're given three objectives to complete: earn more trick points than anyone else by meeting time requirements and landing successful maneuvers; collect a number of required items; and perform a given amount of technical bonus stunts. Because you can earn another rider's respect, pulling off the technical maneuvers is important.

Additional gameplay options include the Possessed to Skate and Build Your Own Dream House. Possessed modes. Possessed to Skate awards you with a wacky power-up that increases speed, height capabilities, and trick rotation. Which power-up you'll receive depends on the maneuvers you execute. You can Build your own Dream House by earning a maximum number of points, collectibles and technical bonuses on any given level. By doing so, you're awarded a key that unlocks various rooms in a lavish dream house. Additionally, if you can perform one-thousand point trick within 10 seconds, you'll be photographed and given a real-life picture! Collecting eight photographs enables you to receive a video sequence.

Also included is a Replay mode that captures the action in wide angle and close-up viewpoints. The in-game camera system zooms around in coordination with your skater to create a television-like presentation. Grind Session also features a punk/rap based soundtrack that includes Sonic Youth, Black Flag, NOFX, GZA from the Wu Tang Clan and Dr. Octagon. The game also supports analog control and the vibration function for unprecedented control and feel.

Review: Overall

Grind Session is not limited to those who skate or those who watch people skate. In fact, you could have never heard of the skateboard and still love this game. For those who skate, Grind Session offers a fantasy world of tricks they only wish they could perform! For anyone else, it's just plain fun. The action is challenging, the options are diverse and replay value is unusually high.

The game works two different ways: first, with the one-player game, you can choose between four modes of play: Training, Tournament, Open Skate and Endurance. Second, multi-player options allow you to either pit player against player in one of eight cities or play Simon Says in a game called C-H-U-M-P (a letter is earned for each trick not executed). In multi-player there is also an option called Teamplay, in which you set up as many as four teams of four players each. With all these options, the gameplay is endless and guaranteed to please anyone.

The Tournament mode lets you skate your way through eight levels. Of course, it isn't as easy as it sounds. In order to get to each new city or level, you must gain a certain number of Respect Points. These are earned by scoring trick points, accomplishing technical goals, hitting a certain number of trash cans or boom boxes etc., or by earning "Pro Points." But let's get back to the beginning here: each time you successfully complete a trick, you get a certain number of points based on how difficult it was.

The interesting thing is that Grind Session comes packed with so many different tricks you'll not know where to begin! Kickflip, heelflip, nosegrab, railslide, and grind your way around huge levels filled with impossible stunts. Where else could you fall hundreds of feet while doing 360s in mid air AND land successfully? In one level of Grind Session, you can dangerously grind your board on the tracks of a subway train or jump over it while it's running. These impossible stunts help separate Grind Session from other skateboarding games.

While some of the tricks are downright impossible, the game is not without realism. From the tattoos on Pigpen (one of the characters) to the sounds of the skateboard rolling on the concrete, the details of Grind Session are impressive. When you fall in this game, you really fall hard -- everything from the skater's grunts can be heard. However, it doesn't damage your skater in any way to take a fall. This is either a downfall of the game or an advantage, depending on your point of view. Your skater could fall a hundred feet, land on his head, flip over, and be ready to skate the rest of the level.

Another strong point to Grind Session is the soundtrack, which includes such famous artists as Sonic Youth, Black Flag, Dr. Octagon, KRS-One, and NOFX. The combination of punk, rap and hardcore provides an excellent background to slamming your face into the concrete as you fail to make a combination.

Lastly, a feature that will no doubt make you play for hours on end is the ability to choose where you want to go on the course/level. Grind Session does not make you follow any order -- in fact, chaos is the intention. Obviously, to get the maximum number of points you're going to want to travel around as much of the course as you can, but if you don't want to, you don't have to. Whether you're in the mood for an all-out stunt show or a straightforward skating experience, Grind Session is a game that will last for countless hours of fun.

Review: Enjoyment

Grind Session is a very enjoyable experience. Every aspect of the game is fun.

Review: Graphics

The pro skaters look realistic, and the ramps, buildings and other obstacles were modeled from actual places. In the beginning and end of the game, full-motion video shows all six pro skaters doing stunts in areas that look just like those found in the game.

Review: Sound

Wheels on the skateboard, music and the crowds cheering are all strong points of Grind Session's sound. When your skater falls, however, the sounds effects are redundant.

Review: Replay Value

You'll play the game once to beat it, then again to beat it properly. But you'll play it countless times for the competition between players and the stunt levels.

Review: Documentation

A 30-page booklet comes with {*Grind Session}. It offers all the information you'll need, including how to perform all the jumps, rail, air and grind moves, to name a few. Almost everything is covered in the booklet.

Production Credits

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