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Sound:
8.5
Graphics: 8
Gameplay: 9.5
Replay: 9
Multiplayer: Yes, Offline and Online (Playstation 2)
Alright, just about everyone has heard about Tony Hawk. He
is known to be one of the greatest vert skaters anywhere.
That is what sparked Activision to sign him for an Extreme
Sports game. What was it called? Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. The
game spread like wildfire. There are now five games in the
series and kids still talk about them at school. Really, the
series just won't die, it just keeps going and going. Activision
did notice however that people wanted a little change, and
that's just what they tried to do.
But the change wasn't all it was hyped up to be. The change
is good, the series really did need a complete overhaul and
this was a good way to start it, but there are a ton of things
that need fixing.
So, let's get the bad parts out of the way. Starting with
the graphics, the game just doesn't look that good. The characters
are decently modeled, nothing spectacular. They are about
average compared to most games of today. However, the environments,
the backgrounds, the objects like cars and such really look
pretty pathetic. It's not like you notice it when you're pulling
off a 900, but it's just one of the things that needed to
be improved on and it wasn't.
The gameplay hasn't changed much really. There was a lot going
around talking about how much different this game was going
to be by getting off your board and being able to run around
on foot, etc. But really, getting off your board just isn't
fun. There aren't many "secret" places you can get
to. There are a couple, but nothing special. More importantly,
getting off and trying to scale buildings is not only completely
unrealistic but sometimes can be a pain in the ass. Really,
if you are trying to reach a ledgeall you do is jump and continuously
tap the R button and hope the character hangs on to the ledge.
You will make it probably 75% of the time if you time it right.
But the problem is that not only is the running all off, it
doesn't feel right at all, but you can jump ridiculously far
distances.
Another beef about the gameplay is the missions themselves.
They are really stupid sometimes. Especially when you end
up doing the same exact missions for different people on different
levels. Honestly, it gets really annoying. I thought it was
bad in Tony Hawk 4 but at least they were all listed out and
called the same. In this they actually have it as if you are
doing something new for a new person but you aren't. The driving
missions are absolutely ridiculous. The driving controls are
extremely clunky. The car physics are just plain sad. The
cars will go very low speeds (driving in a street racer you
might get about 30, got to be safe for the kids!) and turning
is pretty hard when all the streets are only one or two lanes
(and the controls are not tight). When you crash the car flips
over at about 1 mph, meaning very slowly, and you have to
wait until it's done before you can reappear.
Not really a big problem, but a big disappointment, is the
levels in this game. Really, I just expected them to be a
lot bigger. When they advertised "skating the streets"
and "roaming the cities" I thought there was going
to be some huge levels in this game. But really, the levels
aren't much bigger than the ones in Tony Hawk 4. Also, there
aren't many levels at all! There is one secret level, yes,
one, to be found in the game. The levels have quite a bit
to do in them, a lot of places to bust off some big tricks,
but the levels need to be bigger and there needs to be a lot
more.
The online play is another one of the problems I have with
this game. I really don't understand why Activision had to
jump on the EA bandwagon by not bringing this game online
for the Xbox version. EA has been anti-xbox since the Xbox
came out and now Activision feels they have to do it to. The
fact is, the Gamecube and Xbox versions do look a bit better,
but the Playstation 2 always gets the Holy Grail of the console
world, online play. The online play for the Playstation 2
adds a ton of replayability.
Alright, now all of my problems with this game have been pointed
out. I just had to weed out the gamers who couldn't handle
it and now the true gamers are still here who want to know
if the upsides outweigh the downsides. And for the most part,
they do. The game is actually very fun other than the tedious
missions. Of course, the sad part is that you HAVE to play
the missions if you plan on advancing the story (even though
the missions don't have anything to do with the story most
of the time). Really, a bit more relationship development
with the other characters would have been nice. Really, only
the two main characters actually change during the game, and
the change is fixed. There is no way to have an alternate
ending or more character development, which is alright but
the fact that it isn't there is what holds this game back
from its true potential.
The sound. This game has pretty good sound. The Tony Hawk
series has always had music that fits the game pretty well.
The rock music matches hardcore tricks (and headaches). Grinding
or cracking your head against the half pipe (one being a good
thing and the other a bad) both sound fairly realistic (although
the head is still 100% intact after impact). The screams of
agony are a pretty good addition. When you crash your character
will scream, "Ooh, my ankle!" among some other things.
More of these, especially more humorous ones, would have been
some nice additions. Really, the game is on the right track
and it just needs some more improvements.
Character voice-overs are done well in this game. I still
can't tell if the characters are really voiced over by the
actual skaters or not. Really, some sound like they do, Tony
Hawk has to be, but Bam Margera sounds NOTHING like Bam. If
they didn't bring in Bam to do the voice then I am going to
be really disappointed. The guy is crazy and he's awesome.
Other than that though, I don't know what all the skaters
sound like, only a few, and most of those ones sound good
enough. The voice-overs for the non-skaters are well done.
There is some interesting and humorous dialogue.
Upsides to the graphics...upsides to the graphics...well this
is a section that doesn't have much going for it. Really,
the game just doesn't look very good. The graphics department
looks really rushed. More detail would have been a huge improvement.
The environments should look more realistic and should look
more like the actual cities they are representing. The characters
look good enough. But some more detail, like getting hurt
when you crash, would have been awesome. Smacking your face
against a pole should make the character have a broken nose
and a bloody face. I mean, it isn't the biggest thing in the
world, but it would be pretty cool. Like having it so that
if you get hurt too much and you have to go to the hospital
for a while and you lose time impressing the fans and that
takes away from your fame. It would be a factor that would
encourage gamers to not mess up. Really, if you are going
50 feet in the air off of a huge jump and smack into the ground,
you aren't just going to pop back up like nothing happened.
The character and board designs are pretty good in this game.
There are different facial designs, colors of the skin, clothes
designs, etc. The customization is pretty good, but it's nothing
special. The boards can be customized to your liking but it's
not like you can actually even see the bottom of the board
when you're riding in. Sure, you can customize the grip tape
and the wheels, but you just don't notice those things. So
really, although it is good for those people who like to change
their looks, it's not something that will be keep you coming
back, especially when there isn't much to unlock.
The gameplay is over the top in this game, just like the rest.
That is what keeps people coming back. Being able to pull
off crazy tricks, many of which are impossible in real life,
is what makes this game so fun. Jumping off a thirty story
building and pulling off a McTwist over a helicopter is definately
fun. Getting tons of air and pulling off a 720 Madonna, reverting,
nose manualing to a pole, and frontside noseblunting for thirty
feet, all in a few seconds, is definately fun. Continuing
a trick after the time expires by manualing and grinding just
to run up the score on your friend to prove who's the man
is always fun. The gameplay in this game is just about the
same as the previous games, fast pace, crazy trickes, and
a whole lotta attitude.
The one big improvement to the gameplay in this game is the
ground-based trickes. In Tony Hawk 4, they introduced manualing
and then going into the ground-based trickes like pogoing.
This game expands on that by adding a ton of new trickes and
combos that can be pulled off by doing this, and by pressing
in a new combo while still pulling off the trick switches
to a completely different trick. The same goes for lip tricks.
By putting in a new combo while doing lip tricks you can change
the lip trick you are doing and keep the points piling up
and getting multipliers. This addition makes these types of
tricks a lot more fun and give them more importance.
This game has a good deal of replay for all the consoles.
It has the same multiplayer modes as in previous versions,
like "Slap" and "Horse" and "Trick
Attack" but also has a new mode "Firefight"
(where you can launch fireballs from your skateboard, hey,
don't ask me, play it yourself). But the real fun and replay
comes in the Playstation 2 version only. It has some online
only modes like "Capture The Flag" and a few others.
This game will keep you coming back for more and a lot of
hours will be pumped into it.
This game is worth the money. Although it has it's share of
problems, it is still an extremely fun game. The gameplay
is as solid as ever (regarding tricks) and it has even more
replayability than previous versions. So if you liked the
originals, or even if you have never played a Tony Hawk game
before, this game is a good buy for all types of gamers. If
you have the money lying around (unlike most of us) than you
won't regret buying this.
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