Summary
Tony Hawk’s clones (that’s clones of theTony Hawk’s video games, not clones of the man himself) are a dime a dozen these days, even though it’s been nearly a decade since Pro Skater 5. Gamers are simply rabid for great skating games infused with radical X-Games energy (Pro Skater 5 won’t have sated their appetite in that case), and developers are happy to oblige.
Whether you want some high-octane cycling action inParcel Corpsor dystopian roller blading withBomb Rush Cyberfunk, you’ve got a plethora of options. Few actually embrace the aesthetic of the OG Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, though. Few until Street Uni X.
Street Uni X is to Tony Hawk’s whatBomb Rush Cyberfunk is to Jet Set Radio. Spiritual successor, shameless copy, call it what you will, but both are great fun if you want a fresh take on the games of your youth. Aping gameplay, art style, and even entire levels at times, Street Uni X nails that grimy ‘90s PS1 aesthetic of the Tony Hawk’s games, and the riding feels great too.
Gameplay makes or breaks these games, for obvious reasons. I didn’t get on with Rollerdrome, a skating game that was critically lauded by my peers, because the movement felt a littleoff.Street Uni X feels exactly like Tony Hawk’s, from the button combos for tricks to the way your character rides their unicycle around each map. Wait, I didn’t mention this was a unicycling game? What did you think the uni in the game’s title stood for?
I think it’s important to understand how difficult it is to make unicycling cool. This is a hobby solely enjoyed by clowns and men who enjoy wearing top hats on casual occasions. So, clowns. But Street Uni X imagines a world in which Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen swapped four wheels for one and gave the least cool mode of transport ever invented a grungy, ‘90s makeover.
The game starts with an MTV-esque montage of some very cool unicyclists hitting tricks, very clearly eschewing my apparently narrow-minded view of monowheel enthusiasts.
Street Uni X is unabashed in where it takes its inspiration from. The first level (and the only one you can play in the demo) is School. You collect the letters T, R, I, C, and K, you ‘unblock’ water fountains, you connect to the Wi-Fi, and you do grinds, tricks, and walltaps around playgrounds and basketball courts. Remind you of anything?
That’s what makes the whole game so heartwarming, though. This is an homage to iconic skateboarding games, a love letter to Tony Hawk and James Bedford Elliott. But Street Uni X is also a great game in its own right, greater than the sum of its parts. Even the starting screen with a fake company logo, Phony Entertainment, is a fun send-up.
As well as the satisfying riding and grainy aesthetic, Street Uni X thrives in its sound design. Every skid sounds like you’re braking in gravel, every landing sounds like you’ve hit the deck. The sound effects are loud and punchy, making every trick and fall shocking and exciting. It’s also soundtracked by the ‘20s answer to grunge, shed rock. The licensed music is loud and raucous, the perfect accompaniment to fountain-smashing, duck-jumping, basketball-hooping levels.
Street Uni X is bombastic, unrelenting unicycling action. It’s a game that transports you back to a specific time period, back to a specific moment in your life, back to when you grazed arms and knees falling off boards until the sun went down as you desperately tried to ollie. The unicycle adds a unique twist to the genre, as well as fresh mechanics in unicycle-specific tricks.
If you want a chance to relive your youth, a chance to throw back to a simpler time, a chance to spin around on one wheel while listening to blaring punk, Street Uni X might be the game for you.
