AirBlade, a 2001 sports video game for the PlayStation 2

エアブレード (stylized as “airblade” in all lowercase letters)

AirBlade is a sports video game developed by Criterion Games (the same company that developed and the spiritual successor to the Dreamcast game TrickStyle, which we reviewed last year) and published by Bandai Namco (Namco at the time) for the North American release and Sony Interactive Entertainment (SCEE at the time) for the European release. It was released in late 2001 in Europe and early 2002 in North America. The game does not have a Japanese release, despite Bandai Namco being technically a Japanese video game company. The game is also dedicated to Steve Brodie, the voice actor for the Dreamcast-era Sonic games, who passed away in 2001, as the players can see “In Memory of Steve Brodie (1949–2001)” in the game’s credits. Steve Emney and Stephen Root are the game’s composers.

MobyGames describes the game’s story:

AirBlade takes place in the near future as a man named Oscar has developed a perpetual energy source that will revolutionize the world, however, the GCP Corporation has discovered it as well and fears that it will hurt the company which is heavily invested in the oil companies. Desperate, they kidnap Oscar in an attempt to silence him, but before he is captured, he gives his friend Ethan a prototype hoverboard called the AirBlade.

The player takes control of Ethan who then must transverse through various objective-based missions in an attempt to rescue Oscar, get the discovery out to the world and bring an end to the evil corporation. Each mission has the player complete certain objectives within in a certain time limit that include destroying cameras or taking out guards using the AirBlade to travel through these areas and discover various items that will help them along the way as well as bonus rooms and missions.

As the player progresses through the game, they will unlock additional modes including a “Score Attack” mode and a “Freestyle” mode that rewards the player for completing various tricks and stunts using the AirBlade. There are also a variety of multiplayer modes such as “Ribbon Tag” and “Elimination” which consists of eight players taking turns scoring points on time allotted tracks with each round eliminating the player with the lowest points until only one player is left.

AirBlade is very similar to the early Tony Hawk’s video games. Players have a limited time to complete all the challenges in a level (such as knocking out a number of henchmen or destroying searchlights), with small amounts of extra time awarded for each success. There is also an emphasis on tricks and combos, which fill up a Boost gauge allowing Ethan to move faster and jump higher. Upon completing a level, the player is awarded a rank based on the time taken to complete the level, how many trick points were earned, the largest successive combo, and the number of falls. These ranks range from “A” to “D” (“D” being the lowest rank possible to still pass the level), with an additional “S” rank for extremely good performance. Any rank is sufficient to continue to the next level, but high ranks are needed to unlock certain playable characters. The game uses the RenderWare engine, which is not in use anymore, though its official website is working in a Waybacked state.

Though I do not own the game myself and I would try it, AirBlade received mixed reviews from critics. It received a score of 73.12% on GameRankings and 70/100 on Metacritic. Reviewers praised the tight controls and impressive graphics, with IGN claiming that the game was “a brilliant advertisement for the RenderWare graphics engine.” You can find this PlayStation 2 game on eBay at reasonable prices (most likely the pre-owned ones), and that’s it.

That is the very last PlayStation 2 review on Medium. As you may have heard, the lights for this retrogaming publication on Medium will be turned off today. No more serving retro games from tomorrow. More information can be found on the Facebook page. The publication, including its Facebook page and Spoutible account, will remain, but they will no longer be updated. I offer everyone’s heartfelt thanks for everyone’s continued support for the last five years.