Review: Tiny Hawk

Developer: Polygon Toys
Publisher: Polygon Toys

Posted by Ben on January 26th, 2012 | 0 Comments | Tags: Minis , Tiny Hawk

There’s something to be said for short games. A small experience can be an entertaining one, if done correctly. Tiny Hawk is a short game, but it still manages to overstay its welcome. A pleasant experience, but one I have absolutely no desire to return to any time soon.

Ever played one of the 2D Tony Hawk games on the original game boy? Tiny Hawk is like that, except even more simplified. You can jump, grind and wall jump, and that’s pretty much it. There are obstacles to vault over, and cans to collect, but the game reveals its hand in the opening 5 levels. There’s roughly 25 levels in the game, but they all blend together after playing through it once. The gameplay itself is entertaining enough, with your little skater going as fast as he can through the levels, but the constraints of the minis platform rear their head once more. In a game so focused on getting ever speedier times, not being able to compare your time with others in a competitive nature saps Tiny Hawk of any replay value whatsoever.

Tiny Hawk’s presentation is unremarkable really. A simple pixel art style with a retro soundtrack is promenaded in front of the player, and it gets the job done to an acceptable degree. Load times are acceptable enough, with each level loading swiftly after completion of the previous one.

It’s a shame that Tiny Hawk doesn’t do more with its gameplay. With a couple more features, namely some form of trick system, what is currently a simple 15 minute diversion could have been much more. I can’t really recommend it to anybody but those really after something that brings back some nostalgia for the extreme sports games of old.

A copy of this game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation Portable version of the game.