Acclaim's hover-board title rewards tricksters

Acclaim Entertainment has announced TrickStyle, a new hover-board racing game for Sega Dreamcast and PC.

TrickStyle is scheduled to be on store shelves in time for the game console's launch next fall.

Unlike traditional racing games, TrickStyle's gameplay is based on the use of dozens of tricks and stunts in order to win the game, in both single-player and multi-player modes. Performing stunts allows gamers to speed up, access shortcuts and slow opponents down while racing on futuristic hover boards.

In addition to a huge velodrome - a skate park designed just for air surfers - gamers can race through futuristic renditions of cities like Tokyo, New York City and London. TrickStyle uses a node-based racing system, which allows gamers to create their own paths through the cities.

TrickStyle is being developed by UK-based Criterion Studios, known for its arcade-quality PC racing game RedLine Racer and its underwater strategy/adventure game, SubCulture.

TrickStyle utilizes technologies like texture compression and real time physics calculations, taking advantage of Sega Dreamcast's advanced system features to enhance realism and intensify gameplay. The game also uses Sega Dreamcast's Visual Memory Unit (VMU), allowing gamers to play mini-games themed around the hover boards available in the game. By completing different VMU challenges, such as stunts on a half-pipe, gamers can upgrade their hover boards to models better suited for certain courses. The newly-awarded hover boards can be uploaded from the VMU mini-games to Sega Dreamcast.

TrickStyle will be released for the PC with the Dreamcast version this Fall. The PC version will support multi-player gameplay for at least eight players via LAN and the Internet.

Additional information on TrickStyle is available at http://www.acclaim.net .