Tony Hawk Pro Skater may not have invented the extreme sports game, but it sure managed to set the bar for the genre. It would be almost unthinkable for a creator of any high-octane console offering to ignore the legacy of the series. Crusty Demons, a value-priced motocross game named after a semi-popular bike crew, borrows heavily from Tony Hawk's playbook. But rather than improving on the innovator, Crusty Demons apes the series' strengths and weaknesses – as if all the Birdman's games had to offer was gospel. This strict adherence to the success of others is a little disappointing because in the few instances where Crusty Demons does add to the trick 'n quest formula, the results are quite fun. There just aren't enough changes to the Tony Hawk DNA to make this clone stand on its own.

Monkey See, Monkey Bail

Just how close does Crusty Demons stick to its chosen source material? Controls are nearly identical; ground and air tricks are mapped to the same buttons. This is a good thing. Anyone who's played the skateboarding games will be able to pick up and trick instantly. Minor changes have been made to accommodate the differences between skateboards and motorcycles. There's a turbo button and, since rail slides are kinda tough to pull off on a 280 pound bike, no grinding. Story mode missions are doled out in the free-roaming style of the newer Tony Hawk Underground games. And quests are all cut from the same sweaty cloth. Do this trick. Impress me by getting this score. Collect these tokens. Scare this prostitute. So maybe that last one isn't exactly been-there-done-that material.

You Kiss Your Mother With That Mouth?

Crusty Demons is not what you'd call a family-friendly sports game. The f-bomb gets dropped more than Paris Hilton's panties. And there's quite a bit of blood spurting from the riders' jugulars as well. See, the game's premise is that these bikers made a deal with the devil, trading their souls for eternal life. The catch being that they can still feel pain. Of course, they can win their souls back by, um, completing quests and beating Satan in dirt bike races. Most chores revolve around the unsavory. In Amsterdam's red light district impressing hookers wins brownie points. In Japan it's giving a lift to drunken schoolgirls. Despite all the drugs and debauchery Crusty Demons isn't as raunchy as BMX XXX. There's no nudity. It's more a case of “bawdy by association” with most naughtiness occurring off-screen.

Blood Flows Red on the Halfpipe

The most fun in Crusty Demons happens when the game earns its “M” rating for blood. After a crash, riders are launched from their bike a la FlatOut. The collision is graded by the length and width of the blood smear, the amount of broken bones and the intensity of impact. In single player this all happens in slow motion, the rider's scream drawn out like a 45 record played at 33 rpm. The flailing crash victim flops about like a rag doll, ending his trajectory with a splatter of gore and the crack of bone. And this little bit of mayhem couldn't be more fun. The best quests in Crusty Demons are the ones that ask you to bail into targets hidden around the levels, or in one case, into hotel windows where street-walkers and johns are, you know, engaging in commerce.

Wrong Turns

Sadly, the gruesome body flinging missions are few and far between. Much of the to-do list in Crusty Demons was already stale on a skateboard. Many require dismounting your motorbike and using novelty vehicles like miniature ice cream trucks, pimp mobiles and golf-carts. These crappy side-rides blew in Tony Hawk Underground and they blow just as hard in Crusty Demons. At least Tony Hawk had reason to stray to other vehicles – his series needed a little freshening. Crusty Demons, as the first in a series, didn't need to resort to goofy vehicles yet. Forcing players to drive these clumsy, distracting machines is a major misstep.

For its lack of originality and tendency towards the crass, Crusty Demons is a much better game than it ought to be. For better or for worse it duplicates the Tony Hawk experience exceptionally. But Crusty Demons isn't working at the same level as the classic series. Its soundtrack is anemic, but the tunes mostly suck so the lack of song selection is a mixed blessing. The game has split-screen  multiplayer but no Xbox Live support. And worst of all, it's not backwards compatible on the Xbox 360. Those who have already upgraded will have to dust off their old console if they want to play Crusty Demons. Still, fans of extreme sports games, especially those starring the skater whose shadow looms so large over this dutiful copycat, might want to take this flawed carbon copy for a spin.

Article by: Gus Mastrapa
Video produced by: Jonathan Solin