Name:  - FreeStyler Board
Thrustmaster Description:
Havoc on the Half-pipe
Realistic look and feel, the FreeStyler Board™ offers skateboard and snowboard enthusiasts a chance to get busy in the comfort of their home. With a non-slip surface, one-handed controller and tilt sensors, the FreeStyler will make Xbox and PS2 boarding games that much more intense – Gamers will think they’re on the slopes or in their local boarder park.
Features
- Two analog buttons on the board for up and down moves
- Non-slip surface for greater foot control and accuracy
- Supports up to 120kg / 260 pounds
- Tilt sensor for left and right moves
- One-handed controller with 2 triggers, 6 action buttons (A/B/X/Y, b/w), 8-way digital D-Pad and Vibration function
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9/11/2002 - 
Welcome to Robsta’s gameroom. There are many benefits to playing video games versus trying to do the same thing in real life. I doubt that I could pull a 900 like TONY HAWK or earn a GOLD MEDAL at the WINTER X-GAMES in the half-pipe event. With any luck there just might be someone out there that can help the average gamer have just as much fun pulling those awesome tricks that the pros do. It sounds like the word has been heard because I have a new controller that all of you dudes that like to ride on a board will be very interested in. Thrustmaster has manufactured a brilliant work of art called the FREESTYLER BOARD. It is time to let gravity takeover and start this review, so let the games begin.
Before you do… check out the picture of me and LAZ - posin' for our fans! Click it to see it in all of it's glory.
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Attn: Boarders
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91
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| First Impression |
When I first heard about the Freestyler board there were mixed thoughts about how it would work, what it would look like, how could I do tricks, and many more. I could only stay calm and have dreams of pulling outrageous tricks like nosegrabs, super-long railslides, methods, indys, boardslides, and switch backside 360’s while actually standing on a board like you are supposed to. Then one day it happened… I must admit when LAZ called and told me that the FREESTYLER BOARD had arrived, I immediately stopped what I was doing, grabbed my PS2 and jammed over to joystickreview central for some NEW-AGE, MEGA-EXTREME, NEVER BEEN DONE BEFORE board gaming! The goose bumps were rolling when the box was opened and the biggest gamepad that I had ever seen was lying there just waiting to be plugged in and be put to the Robsta test. I will guarantee you this… that Robsta was very ready to be put to the test as well.
Without a doubt the FREESTYLER BOARD will accumulate 10 phat points from Robsta as we start to pile up the points going down the hills. |
10.0
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| Game(s) Included |
The FREESTYLER BOARD does not come with a game, but it does have a handy little controller of its own or you can use one of your own. I will recommend the THRUSTMASTER U-PAD…that controller is one that is always plugged into one port or the other in the GAMEROOM. There is one thing good about buying a controller that does not come with a game, and that is you can call up your video friends and have them bring over their games because you have this controller that they could only dream of owning. All of this and only 5 points are added to the score..BUMMER!! |
5.0
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| Looks |
The Freestyler board is in the shape of an actual skateboard. It is a black board with two large yellow foot markers (one at each end) with a blue programmable action button inside each yellow circle. THRUSTMASTER has installed their sweet looking logo right in the center of the board completing the package. You will understand what I mean when you open up the box and see the Freestyler staring at you! Thrustmaster has taken old school controller technology and linked it into a New Age game system that just begs you to bust a move instead of a leg. After all of my gamin’ is done and the board is unplugged, I stand the Freestyler on its end in my gameroom so those who enter will instantly lay their eyes on it and ask what is up with the board. Since they all know that I am a serious gamer, the conversation just takes off from there, and the next thing I know they are on my board carvin’ it up in the snow or doin’ tricks on the street. I don’t have a surfing game or else I could write another chapter on that too. One thing is for sure…we all agree that this new controller looks better under our feet than in the box.
Robsta has snow balled 9.5 points for the Freestyler as I pass on the chair lift and turn towards the easy chair! |
9.5
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| Comfort |
One of the most obvious things about this controller is that you will have to get off of your butt to get into the action. I found this to cut down playing time in the beginning because I have not been on any board in quite a few years. The FREESTYLER will definitely give your calves, shins, knees and everything else quite the workout. However, the more you are on it the better you get, the easier it is, the longer you can play, the more fun you will have. After watching guys on TV and seeing how they ride, I started to relax more and flex my knees to increase my board time. The instruction booklet suggests to wear flat soled shoes and I firmly agree. Not only is it safer when your friends come over to game (they get to keep their sweaty shoes on)… if you need to take evasive action and make an aggressive move out of harms way, you could find yourself off balance and heading for any surface other than your board. If there are shoes on your feet, you will have no chance of stubbing your toes on the carpet or anything else within a few feet of the board. This just makes the reality of the Freestyler board all the more impressive because I have never fallen off of a controller before. I will confess to a broken chair or two from leaning to hard into a corner while racing, or giving a gaming buddy the business with a series of forearm bashes and high fives… but that is just the way I play.
Robsta will stand up on this board and skate over 9 points for the Freestyler. |
9.0
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| Construction |
Thrustmaster has proven once again that they can produce a ‘quality work of art’ that will be able to take the punishment of even the most extreme gamer. For the first time I have actually found a weight limit for a controller, which by the way is 260 lbs. The Freestyler has a non-slip surface for great foot control. This board also has a tilt sensor for left and right movement to give you a realistic feeling of turning your board. Thrustmaster has provided a port on the side of the board to plug in either the dual-shock compatable 4-way d-pad controller that comes with the Freestyler or you can use any other PS2 gamepad. Robsta’s choice of controller without a doubt is the U-Pad - also from Thrustmaster. If you haven’t laid your eyes on a U-Pad then you had better check out my review to see what has been missing from your collection of controllers.
The Freestyler has been the only controller that I have had to stand on so of course it must be durable enough to take a beating from side to side action. I put a lot of time in riding the board so I could give you some good controller input, and the Freestyler board never missed a beat.
Robsta has created 14 pts. for the Freestyler as I strap on my helmet, climb on my board and it the streets. |
14.0
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| Playability |
The Freestyler has been one of the easiest, yet hardest controllers that I have had to test so far. It took me some playing time to find a way that I could use the board effectively. My first attempt boarding with the Freestyler was snowboarder-x on ESPN Winter Games. Once the horn went off and I missed the first gate and then most of the following ones, I just wanted to make it down the hill without wiping out…that didn’t happen. The only thing that I could do was get back on the board and keep trying because I knew that eventually I would become ONE with the Freestyler, and find out what it takes for me as a gamer to get the best out of this controller. I found that when staying relaxed and keeping my legs slightly bent, I wasn’t falling off of the board as much and this increased my riding time. Just like being on a real board… balance is everything. I am pretty sure that I will never be able to pull those sweet tricks like the pros do, but at least I will be able to come close to what it feels like to drop into a half-pipe or an empty swimming pool or maybe bust a gnarly double back-flip off of a huge ski jump…that’s why we play video games.
The Freestyler that is in my gameroom will never change except for the many different controllers that can be plugged into the board. This feature is great because you are able to use a gamepad that you are most comfortable with so you can keep your focus on maneuvering the board. There is one thing that WILL change, and that is the weight difference from player to player who will be riding on the Freestyler. The instruction booklet that comes with the board lists a max. of 264 lbs. I haven’t met a heavy hitter yet that didn’t have fun on the Freestyler, but I did come across a youngster that weighed in at about 85 lbs who had a tough time getting the board to turn - so this might be more useful to players with a little more meat on their bones.
I finally did make it down the hill without missing a gate, so I was pretty stoked about that. My next move was to go to the big air mode and try to do some tricks with some big air time. Since most of the tricks are executed by pressing the buttons on the controller in your hands, all you have to do is line yourself up with the ramps and start mixing up the moves. I found the indy to method to melancholy with a back-flip done on the return side of the slow down ramp was good enough for 2nd place, which was the best that I had ever done on that mode. The super-pipe mode wasn’t as friendly to me, but then I always just try to have fun in the pipe and not worry about scoring massive points. Now the slope-style mode is where I like to spend my time. Cruisn’ down the hill sliding off rails and picnic tables. This mode has many different hills, bumps, and mounds of snow to do tricks like switch front-side 720’s, back-flips or front-flips. I have done these stunts before with regular controllers, but the feeling you get while standing on the Freestyler is not even comparable. It really feels like you are carving it up like the pros - only you don’t get a face full of snow when you turn too sharp, catch an edge, and do a nose dive for about 50ft. while you are still sliding down the hill. The Freestyler board handled the snow with more excitement than anticipated.
Now lets see how we can do on the street. Right off the get go I noticed that the concrete wasn’t as forgiving as the snow. When I started, every time that I turned it seemed like I was always a little too late. It is hard to anticipate which direction to go while maneuvering through pools, half-pipes, fun-boxes and rails. If you snooze too much on your timing you could come up short on a jump and land in the water or a boiling hot kettle of liquid magma! You can get additional help if you need to by using the d-pad on the controller that you have chosen to plug into the port on the side of your Freestyler to help you from over-steering and hitting ramps and rails for longer grinds and smoother jumps. When you get in a very tight situation or a small area that you want to play in (like this half-pipe on the 2nd level in Canada in Tony Hawk 3) you might need all the help that you can get. This half-pipe is very small, and having the Thrustmaster U-Pad to help me from not losing my balance too much was an extra bonus because it allowed me to play there longer. There is an older man standing on a ledge connected to the half-pipe that is standing there watching it ‘freeze before it hits the lake’. Just for kicks and giggles cruise over to the old man and do an invert right beside him. I think that you will get a big laugh like I did. Hey, maybe that old man is Ollie! He sure gets his nose in my boarding business because everytime I ride there is a 180, 360, 540, or 900 Ollie to be found somewhere.
The Freestyler board was easier for some of my friends to use because they have spent more time riding on snowboards and skateboards than I have. Robsta has never put on a pair of snow boots or rode up any ski-lift, but I did spend some time on a skateboard way back in the day when pools had water in them and a lipslide would have got you suspended from school. This new Freestyler board by Thrustmaster has been worth the game playing time that it takes to let you play at least as good or better than if you were sitting on your butt in your favorite gaming chair! This review has taken a long time to do because I wanted to get as far as I could in the games that were in the gameroom (and a few other borrowed games).
A few suggestions from Robsta is to definitely clear away a lot of room around the board while you are riding because you will be using both of your hands to bust out moves with names like cannonball, switch front-side 540, stalefish, melancholy, indy, nosegrab or a kickflip and you will not be able to have both of your hands out for balance. I had to step off of the board several times while trying to get the most out of my board so I always wore flat soled shoes so I wouldn’t twist an ankle or stub a toe. The action buttons at the front and rear of the board are big enough so you can feel them when you step on them with your shoes on. I used the front button to do manuals and the rear one for ollies. This helped rack up thousands of points while using Darth Mahl on the cruise ship buzzing around the rails jumping down to a manual to continue adding trick after trick and points after points. I can’t compare riding on the street to riding on the snow because as different as the surfaces are - to me they are both equally fun. However, I did notice that I had most of my riding time on a floor with carpet, and this I am sure had some effect on how much the board tilts from side to side versus a hard floor. The Freestyler played like a hand-held gamepad in the snow while on the street I felt that it could have been more responsive. I found myself leaning all the way to the right to make the board turn and by the time it was headed in the direction I had been leaning for, I now had passed and was now leaning hard left back in the direction I was originally headed. Of course this has happened with regular controllers - it just takes some getting used to. The use of the D-Pad will help you turn in this situation. This was a popular move with a couple of dudes that Robsta had recruited since they had more boarding experience than I did. They agreed that the board could be a bit more responsive and wanted to keep the board for a while so they could get better with it. Of course I said ‘Get your own Freestyler Board from Thrustmaster because this baby’s home is in my gameroom!’ Again the Freestyler board has proven to me how ‘cool’ this gaming system really is. I can only stress that the average gamer will need to spend some time playing with this board to get the maximum potential from it. I probably spent too much time playing with the board before I started the review (Sorry Thrustmaster) but I knew that this was not going to be an easy one…Robsta does a 540 over a fun-box and sees 14 points on the top for the Freestyler board. |
14.0
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| Value (price for what you get) |
Sometimes you have to spend money to save money. Thanks to Thrustmaster I am saving big bucks on lift tickets and medical bills from crashing into those trees on the downhill and freestyle jumps to falling off of a long hand-rail and hitting a parked car face first on its rear window. Whatever way you decide to crash, it doesn’t hurt as much on this board. Considering that this is the largest gamepad that the average gamer will use, the amount of excitement and realism is worth every dollar. I tried to personally break down how much I would be getting for my dollar and it came out like this: 14-action buttons,1-digital/analog switch, and 1-led light all on the controller that comes with the board…$1.00 per feature = $16.00 + $5.00 for controller body w/ cord = $21.00 + 2-action buttons on the board @ $5.00 ea. making the Freestyler board itself about $39.00. Anyway, when dissected the $’s it doesn’t come close to the amount of fun and game playing time that you and your friends will have with your own Freestyler board. For the person with all the ‘bling-bling’ or for someone who just wants to have a fantastic time playing a video game without sitting down - for an excellent change, there is a Freestyler out there for you!! The board can be yours for about $70.00 which will pay for itself within the first few hours of riding or crashing fun. Robsta has saved 15 points for the Freestyler board as its score catches more air than possible. |
15.0
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| Recommend to Others |
To say that I have not stopped talking about the Freestyler board from Thrustmaster, would be an understatement. One good thing about having a PS2 is there are many games to buy or rent which means that there is a game out there for everyone. Some of my friends are not into boarding, however since they have seen the Freestyler they have been wanting to climb aboard and take it for a spin…to bad they couldn’t take it home according to almost each of them they would have if they could have. This proves again to me that curiosity is still a great thing and that you will be surprised at who will want to mount your board!
Then there is a the true boarder/video game boarder that without a question is going to spend the cash just for the fact of being able to go skateboarding on a rainy day and snowboarding in the summer…Finally!!
Robsta will recompense 14.5 points to the Freestyler. This = 14pts for the board + .5pts for anyone who out there who wants to take a chance on a tasty new gaming system. |
14.5
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RECOMMENDATIONS to the Vendor
ROBSTA
With a score of 91 pts out of 95 possible, the Freestyler is everything and more that I expected it to be. I would still like to be able to adjust the sensitivity. This would help the lighter weight riders as well as the bigger dudes. The other would be to put a controller port on both sides. These are personal adjustments that I would like to see, but overall this board is phenomenal - right out of the box!
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