Enter MTV, who are about as "X-treme" as it gets (not a compliment, by the way), and their batch of licensed titles. On the big consoles, these games all proved to be sad pretenders to the THPS throne, but in an odd twist of fate, things did not turn out quite so in the world of hand held gaming.

I've always been of the belief that, with the current level of handheld technology, it's a very bad idea to try to convert a 32-bit (or 128-bit, or whatever) concept to an 8-bit handheld and expect the same good results. This was proven with the Tony Hawk for Gameboy. But by taking a different approach, MTV Sports: Skateboarding has garnered a bit more enjoyment from your friendly neighborhood Otaking.

The control of the game is hyper sensitive, and as you become more attuned to it, very intuitive. Gameplay itself is centered around having to accomplish a group of tasks in one of the games 18 cities, then moving along. Typically skateboarding games have been founded on the ideology of "Score big points or die!", but this game's different approach does it well, as players will be treated to time trials, obstacle courses, and "Scavenger hunts". Sure, the tricks are in here, and they'll factor in on certain goals, but the game is more about pulling off your goal under the time limit than pulling off a triple dark side flip kick sifl and nollie nosedrop face dive stone cold stunner, or some other strange sk8r jargon.

The graphics serve the game quite amicably, with smooth animation saving the game from the dreaded "clunkiness" that I've found sometimes affects Gameboy games that are scroll fast and furiously. The characters and backgrounds are a bit bland, but it's a small gripe.

Overall, I found this game to be pretty enjoyable, and it'll likely be the top of the handheld skating heap until Tony Hawk 2 for Gameboy Advance makes it debut.

· · · Riisuke