Downhill Jam's move to racing will attract a new crowd to the Tony Hawk camp - most likely a younger set, or those who are turned-off by the daunting button combos and learning curve of Pro Skater and its successors. At the same time, this title's appeal to hardcore Hawk-heads is in question. Single-player mode needs to prove itself to be deep enough, and the trick system will have to show more lasting appeal than it appeared to hold at this demo session. Those are things the SSX games do really well - blending both race and free-roaming elements under one all-encompassing banner.
One thing is certain: Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam is a blast in multiplayer in a way that only a four-player split-screen game can be. The addition of the motion-driven Wii controls means there's a good chance of "accidentally" elbowing someone in the mouth, which makes it that much more fun. This was easily the best of the three Wii games Activision showed at its preview event (Call of Duty 3 and Marvel Ultimate Alliance being the others).
