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.