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Andy Macdonald is one of the few professional skateboarders who does not skate in the shadow of the legendary Tony Hawk. An accomplished vert skater, Andy has won numerous skateboarding competitions and has helped push his extreme sport to the edge. At the past couple summer X Games, he and Tony even teamed up for the vert doubles competition, wowing spectators and winning gold medals in the process.

Unfortunately, MTV Sports: Skateboarding Featuring Andy Macdonald cannot compete with Tony's latest video game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Heck, it cannot even compete with the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, the game that helped reinvent virtual skateboarding. While MTV Skateboarding has some good qualities, its execution is horribly flawed and the overall presentation is extremely lackluster.

Presentation/Graphics : 45
As with most extreme sports games, MTV Skateboarding begins with an exciting FMV that features the pros in action. The developer, Darkblack, did a great job choreographing the various video clips to the beat of the Deftones' rocking song "Street Carp," which plays in the background. Sadly, Darkblack apparently did not spend much time on the look of the rest of the game, because MTV Skateboarding's in-game graphics fail to impress on many levels. In fact, the graphics are inadequate in almost every area.

To begin, the 14 professional skaters look hideous and bear very little resemblance to their real-life counterparts. The polygon models -- dare I say it -- almost look as bad as the ones in Sammy Sosa High Heat Baseball 2001 (PSX version); i.e., they are very chunky and lack facial detail. Fortunately, the skaters' different styles of dress help to distinguish them from one another. Andy Mac, the star of the game, is the easiest to recognize of the bunch, as he dons his trademark safari hat in the game. Yet, the selection of outfits -- which you can customize to your liking in Lifestyle mode -- does little to save these video game monstrosities from eternal damnation.

As if the monstrous-looking skaters were not bad enough, MTV Skateboarding's sub-par animation leaves much to be desired. Skateboarding games revolve around the skaters' awesome tricks; without decent animation or smooth motion capture, the excitement of virtual skateboarding is lost. While some of the grabs and airs look decent, most of the flip tricks and flatland maneuvers look very unrealistic and silly. For instance, one flatland maneuver you can do in the game is a 180-degree powerslide. In real life, the board never leaves the ground during this maneuver, as the skater uses his or her body weight to force the four urethane wheels to skid the board 180 degrees. In MTV Skateboarding, however, the 180-degree powerslide looks more like a 180-degree ollie, since the board appears to leave the ground. And do not get me started on the crashes; they are laughable at best. Perhaps the game's most annoying animation is the skater's "running start," which he or she does at the beginning of each run and again after every fall. As you will later read, this particular animation also interferes with the gameplay.

Accompanying the ugly, horribly animated skaters are some decent skateboard decks that the developer modeled after the real things. The variety of decks is welcome, and you can sometimes make out the logos during gameplay. MTV Skateboarding features both real and imaginary decks, most of which you must unlock before they become available. The standard deck for the Lifestyle mode, the main mode of the game, consists of a single bland color, with several different colors from which to choose. Unlike Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, though, you cannot select the color of the wheels.

Level design is well varied, but most of the 30+ levels are bland and dark. In fact, some levels are so dark and murky that, at times, MTV Skateboarding looks like a third-person dungeon-crawl game on skateboards. (Ironically, one level takes place in a giant castle, complete with flaming torches.) Bad collision, texture warping, and pop-up also plague the levels and detract from the overall look of the environments. Nevertheless, I did enjoy taking in the various sights, which include everything from an abandoned train station to the mythological Hades. The objects within the levels (ramps, rails, pools, etc.) are well modeled, but clipping and texture warping mar their appearance.

The biggest problem with the game's graphics, however, is the atrocious frame-rate. Along with the poor animation, the inconsistent frame-rate sucks the life right out of the game. I cannot recall a single moment during the game when the on-screen action moved at a steady clip. As bad as the frame-rate is during the single-player modes, though, it is even worse during the two-player split-screen modes. With the PlayStation versions of the Pro Skater games offering superb graphics and smooth frame-rates, there is simply no excuse for this type of graphical insufficiency.

So, does MTV Skateboarding have anything good going for it in the graphics department? Surprisingly, yes, although nothing that makes up for the disappointing animation and disastrous frame-rate. One thing the game does relatively well is lighting. Some levels feature a variety of colored light sources -- including green, yellow, orange, and red -- that help liven up the environments a bit. In addition, the developer included the famous video walls from Pro Skater to add atmosphere. The video walls in MTV Skateboarding are grainier than the ones in Pro Skater, but they contain more variety. You can even choose which video plays on the walls via the pause menu. Finally, the game lets players ride with a computerized skater during the Freeplay mode, which gives this untimed mode some much-needed life.

Overall, MTV Skateboarding's graphics are simply unacceptable when compared with other skateboarding games available on the system, namely, Neversoft's two Pro Skater games. Moreover, the game's lackluster animation and choppy frame-rate greatly overshadow its pleasing graphical qualities -- what few there are.

Presentation/Audio : 50
MTV Skateboarding's audio fares somewhat better than the graphics, thanks in large part to its awesome soundtrack. The 10 bands on the soundtrack include the following: Deftones, Cypress Hill, Pennywise, System of a Down, Pilfers, OPM, Snapcase, Goldfinger, No Use for a Name, and Flashpoint. Extreme sports gamers should have grown accustomed to a few of these bands (Cypress Hill, Pennywise, and Goldfinger) by now, since they have contributed songs to other video game soundtracks -- including THPS, THPS2, and Mirra BMX. The music ranges from poppy punk to rap-rock, and it is one of the few highlights of the game.

The sound effects, with a few exceptions, are terrible. Annoying clicks accompany each trick, and loud, horrendous boos follow most falls. As much as I hate to admit it, the unnerving boos scared the crap out of me the first time I heard them; I was not prepared for anything that loud or ghostly sounding. Even the cheers grated on my nerves, and I was quick to adjust the sound levels minutes into my first gameplay session. I am afraid I cannot say much about the sounds the skaters make when they fall...because they do not make any! What is up with that? Some cheesy guitar riffs play when you collect one of several icons (MTV logos, photos, board fragments, etc.) in the game, but they sound out of place and do not mix well with the music.

On a positive note, MTV Skateboarding does feature a unique sound effect for every surface within the game. Each of the game's surfaces (wood, concrete, steel, etc.) produces a distinct sound, adding a great deal of variety throughout the game. When taken as a whole, though, the sound effects come up short.

Interface/Options : 40
Keeping with the lackluster theme, MTV Skateboarding's menu system looks dull and lifeless. The same three or four drab colors make up the menus and do little to get the juices flowing. While loading time between the menu screens is short, the load time before actual gameplay is lengthy. At the pre-game loading screen, you can choose which song you want to play during the level. This, at least, gives you something to do while you stare at one of several pictures plastered on the loading screen. (During the Lifestyle mode, some attractive "skater chicks" grace the loading screen, one of which is Andy Mac's girlfriend, if I am not mistaken.)

Besides the boring look of the menu screens, the menu system itself provides very little functionality. Other than the basic options (i.e., control configuration, sound adjustment, high scores, etc.) there is not much here. The game does not include much info about the skaters other than their name, age, stance (regular or goofy), and stat levels (acceleration, maneuverability, balance, and rotation). However, you can read short descriptions for the 10 modes before you start. Oddly enough, the in-game descriptions give more information about the modes than the manual does. In fact, the manual leaves out some important information concerning a few modes. For example, the manual's description for the MTV Hunt mode reads like this:

"Collect the MTV Icons and Skateboard fragments before time runs out. Collect them all to unlock hidden boards."

Yup, those two sentences are all you get. Unfortunately, this description leaves out the part about losing the MTV icons after falls, something I discovered the hard way. One page of the manual is wasted on "teaching" beginner skaters how to do an ollie and a kick flip on a real skateboard. C'mon, this is a video game... I highly doubt a beginner will be busting kick flips after reading the short how-to instructions in this video game manual.

Although memory card loads/saves are quick, you can only load and save a game from the main menu. This is terribly inconvenient, since you must quit your current game and enter the save/load menu from the main menu just to save your progress. If you forget to save your game before you shut off the system, you are out of luck. Why couldn't the developer make life easier for us by allowing saves during gameplay? Oh, and don't worry about saving replays...there aren't any to save. Bah, a skateboarding game without replays!

The control interface is similar to THPS, with the X button used to crouch and ollie; the square button performs flip tricks, while the circle button executes grabs. MTV Skateboarding's layout does differ from THPS in some ways: the triangle button, for example, performs both grinds and flatland tricks. Another difference is you cannot spin your skater with the D-pad or analog stick. Instead, you must use either the L1 & R1 buttons to rotate freely, or the L2 & R2 buttons to turn 180 degrees. You can choose from three different control layouts in the options menu, but you cannot disable the game's automatic kicking, which may alienate some players.

Gameplay : 45
First the good: MTV Skateboarding includes 14 professional skaters, 10 modes of play, and more than 30 levels. The pro skaters are as follows: Andy Macdonald, Colin McKay, Danny Way Rick Howard, Brian Howard, Stevie Williams, Heidi Fitzgerald, Josh Kalis, Rob Dyrdek, Jen O'Brien, Salvador Barbier, Keith Hufnagel, Alan Petersen, and Scott Johnston. Each skater has his or her own stat levels, and you can unlock additional skaters (both real and fictitious) during the MTV Hunt and Lifestyle modes.

The game contains the following single-player modes: Lifestyle, MTV Hunt, Survival, Stunt, High Score and Freeplay.

Lifestyle mode is your basic career-type mode, in which you must impress the judges on each level to advance. Initially, you will need to earn an average score of 6.0 to win contests, but that percentage steadily increases. Also, you must collect photo icons on some levels, too, before you can advance. Your skater begins with zero sponsorship in this mode, so you must gain the respect of sponsors to earn new boards and outfits. The end goal of the Lifestyle mode is to make it to the MTV Stadium, where the final competition and promise of fame await you.

MTV Hunt is not as involved as the Lifestyle mode, since it simply revolves around collecting stuff. Both MTV icons and skateboard deck fragments are scattered throughout the levels, and it is your job to grab 'em. To advance to the next level, you must collect 10 MTV icons within a two-minute time limit; if you want to unlock some extra boards, you must collect five skateboard fragments. Each time you fall, you will lose one of your collectibles, so it is important to skate cautiously in this mode.

Survival mode contains a 30-second starting time limit, and players must pull tricks to stay "alive." The better the trick or combo, the more seconds it will add to the clock. When the clock reaches zero, the game is over. I did not enjoy this mode too much, and it felt strange playing a Survival mode -- a staple of fighting games -- in a skateboarding game.

Stunt mode, the most innovative mode of the bunch, features many death-defying jumps. Players must clear a huge gap or obstacle within a set time limit to advance to the next insane stunt. Stunts range from clearing dozens of cars to jumping huge gaps in the street. This mode is fun, but the lousy controls make it difficult to clear the giant gaps.

The final two modes, High Score and Freeplay, are self-explanatory. Freeplay, an untimed session, only features two levels at first, so you must unlock the rest through the MTV Hunt and Lifestyle modes. High Score mode, on the other hand, gives players two minutes and thirty seconds to try to beat their high scores on any available level.

MTV Skateboarding also contains four two-player split-screen modes, which include Battle, Time Bomb, MTV Hunt, and Deathmatch. In Battle mode, each player begins with 100,000 points, and the idea is to remove points from the other player's score by doing tricks. Whoever reaches zero first loses the game.

Time Bomb mode is a basic game of tag -- but with a deadly bomb. The bomb has a timer consisting of 65 seconds, and players must tag each other to rid themselves of the nasty explosive. Naturally, the last person with the bomb loses...in more ways than one.

The two-player MTV Hunt is similar to the single-player version, but two players battle head-to-head, trying to collect the most MTV icons. Like the single-player version, you will lose an MTV icon if you fall.

Deathmatch mode is the final two-player mode in MTV Skateboarding. Using various power-ups, such as grenades and spikes, players try to knock each other down as many times as possible. Whoever manages to score the most knockdowns wins the game.

On paper, MTV appears to have some entertaining modes, so therefore, it should have some enjoyable gameplay, right? Wrong. The game plays horribly -- thanks to sluggish controls and a terrible frame-rate -- and the 65 badly animated tricks become old fast. Sure, you can create some slick combos, but you never feel like you have complete control over your skater. Furthermore, you cannot bring your skater to a complete stop, although you can continue to hold down on the D-pad or analog stick to keep him or her in place. Nevertheless, setting up a run is difficult when your "runaway skater" will not cooperate. And as I mentioned earlier, the "running start" animation greatly interferes with the gameplay because it is hard to control and is an awkward way to start the run.

To be fair, the game does simulate skateboarding a bit more accurately than other skateboarding games. With its selection of flatland tricks and lack of crazy Pro Skater-like moments, MTV Skateboarding might be more appealing to true skateboarding enthusiasts. Unfortunately, this also means the game lacks Pro Skater's pick-up-and-play gameplay and its hassle-free combo system. And do not expect things like secret tricks and never-ending grinds in MTV Skateboarding; do expect to fall...a lot -- sometimes for no apparent reason. The game places a heavy emphasis on perfect landings, as well as excellent balance during grinds. These things would not present much of a problem if the game offered tight control and a workable frame-rate.

In the end, with so many gamers accustomed to the smooth-playing Pro Skater games, very few will be able to tolerate MTV Skateboarding's rough, unrefined gameplay.

Replay Value : 48
In theory, MTV Skateboarding has lots of replay value: it contains a variety of modes, some decent two-player games, and plenty of hidden stuff. The only problem, of course, is the game is absolutely no fun to play. Furthermore, the game's horrid frame-rate takes a toll on the eyes and the stomach after extended play. Although some of the flatland tricks and level designs are cool, albeit very ugly, there is little else worthwhile. However, MTV Skateboarding will increase the replay value of your other skateboarding games, if only because it will make you realize how much better they are than this one.

Overall : 45
I have been a fan of skateboarding for more than 15 years, and I extremely enjoy playing skateboarding video games. That said, MTV Sports: Skateboarding is a dismal game, one that wasted my time when I could have been riding my real skateboard. Perhaps Neversoft's magnificent Pro Skater games have spoiled me, but that still does not excuse this game's many flaws. While MTV Skateboarding contains some unique modes, lots of hidden stuff, and interesting flatland tricks, its atrocious frame-rate, underwhelming presentation, and sluggish, unresponsive controls completely ruin everything.

Andy Mac may be able to compete with Tony Hawk on the half-pipe, but his game certainly cannot stand toe-to-toe with either Pro Skater game. If you must play every skateboarding game on the PlayStation, I suggest you leave this one at a rental only. Even then, you should probably use a "rent one, get one free" coupon so you can rent another game to have as a backup.