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What’s the Story?

Reviewed by Jinny Gudmundsen

BACKYARD SKATEBOARDING from Humongous/Atari's Backyard Sports expands that series' traditional coverage of team sports into individual sports. Players choose one backyard kid to represent them as they explore four neighborhoods on a skateboard -- one is the kid-version of skateboarding professional Andy MacDonald. The goal is to go on tour, perform a variety of tricks to earn gear and endorsements, and ultimately win a new skate park to explore. Going on tour means the player must complete "challenges" in three different neighborhoods, such as helping another child shoo away seagulls on the railings of a ferryboat by jumping up on the railings to "grind" the skateboard.

Is It Any Good?

4

In Backyard Skateboarding, the neighborhoods are filled with inviting slopes, great rails to grind, and ramps begging to send skateboards soaring. Kid-testers loved finding crazy power-ups, unlocking extra moves, and listening to the funny commentary.

The game is all about hand-eye coordination -- kids hit a sequence of keys at appropriate times to make a skateboarder do tricks. This Backyard Sports game doesn't have as much educational value as the other team-based Backyard games because there is no managerial aspect, which requires players to apply logical thinking to come up with the right combination of kids to field a winning team. But it is a very fun way to skateboard and never get hurt.

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