Tony Hawk, in an uncharacteristic whine, has hit out at the poor critical reception of Tony Hawk: Ride, claiming that “most snarky critics had their minds set before ever seeing/playing the game”. Placing blame on anything but the game’s developmental shift, Activision peripheral pressure or ailing stability of a series now a decade old, the skateboarding legend huffed with arms folded and metaphorical fingers plunged firmly in ears. “I’m proud of what we created; it’s innovative, responsive & fun” tweeted Hawk in justification of the 12th barrel scraping iteration of the franchise.

Personally, refusing to fork over £100 for a plastic board which appears to do little more than make standing upright more difficult, I am currently unqualified to make adequate rebuttal to Hawk’s claims. However, after reading several reviews from Metacritic’s fantastically negative cross section of gaming press, I feel as if primary experience would do little to change my mind that the shift from digital triggers to analogue sways was a disastrous direction for the once-grand franchise to pursue.

Gamers can look forward to similar reputation protecting tears from Shaun White and Kelly Slater some time in 2010.

Via: Eurogamer