GameCube

Go! Go! Hypergrind

In fact, that last sentence really sums up Go! Go! Hypergrind. The game's gimmick is very heavily geared toward the Spumco fan base, and, to be more specific, people who like heavy doses of insane, gross-out cartoon humor. However, that's not to say that the game doesn't have appeal beyond its gimmick. As a skateboarding game, Go! Go! Hypergrind is a simple, yet effective, piece of work. The game's heavily stylized--but still impressive--visuals and sound definitely add to the experience. If the very idea of a cartoon-inspired skateboarding game with silly humor doesn't sound appealing, then Go! Go! Hypergrind isn't for you. As far as anybody else is concerned, Go! Go! Hypergrind is an entertaining skateboarding game that serves as a perfect alternative for anyone looking for a non-Tony Hawk skating title for the GameCube.

With the Spumco name to rely on, it's nice to see Hypergrind leave behind any pretension towards the Hawk. The tracks and tricks are interesting enough that it's worth taking the short time the story mode occupies, and creating a huge chained negative reaction is always good for a laugh. The lack of depth is definitely a black mark; it would be good to have a lot more of everything. But well-drawn toons don't grow on trees -- after all, there's a bunch of overworked, hand-drawn actors buried in here that need a break.

Go! Go! Hypergrind defines the phrase "too much style, not enough substance." While I want to applaud them for doing something different with the extreme sports genre none of their ideas were executed properly. More attention needed to be paid to the skating mechanics and less to the gimmicks so that there'd at least be a solid base for the wacky gameplay instead of quicksand.