Another overrated skateboarding game.
Grind Session is nothing short of mediocre, a bad game in almost every aspect. If you have never played a THPS game then this will make you wonder why that series was even worth playing to begin with. The controls in Grind Session however are straight forward, enough, too bad they are clumsy and tough to deal with. Making combos almost impossible, even with the half-pipe, and flip-tricks on flat ground a miracle at times. With the horrible controls already giving the player a headache its a wonder that the graphics didn't do that already.
The game being released on the PS isn't expected to have flawless visuals but games like Driver look better at times. With videos included the game can at least have some point to it for the average skater or common skateboarding enthusiast. Though playing through this entire game for the videos is nothing short of pointless, with the cheat codes pretty much begging to be used.
Other than the unlockable videos the soundtrack does boast its fair share of stereotypical 'punk' songs from the days 'hottest punk bands.' The effects are still as poor as can be, but getting the right sound of ball-bearings and polyurethane is a tough job. And sadly the slams sound a little, well, just really fake, using lettuce as a backdrop for someones head smacking against pavement is not acceptable (more splat less crunch.)
Aside from the bad crunching of the music and slams there are at least a few pro skaters to choose from, and who were bold enough to get paid for this particular venture. Daewon Song (gracing the cover) and Ed Templeton are the bigger names. Hence the unlockable videos, of each pro skater, including the common bails video. Because video game violence isn't the same as someone actually smacking their head on a wall.
For all things considered this will be the worst extreme-sports game you can buy for the PS, and sadly that includes the atrocious Razor Scooter fad-a-thon. Grind Session offers nothing new backtracks to the drawing board at times and fails miserably at trying to be a THPS game. Buy this game if you have some kind of fetish for extreme sports games, otherwise leave it for the trash.