Game: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Neversoft
Release Date: 29th June 2000
Listen to some music from the game as you read!
Capitalising on the popularity of "extreme" sports in the early 00s, the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series launched on Dreamcast, Playstation, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Colour and N-Gage. The first three versions were of course different from their handheld counterparts, but it's interesting to note the generational gap on home console; the Playstation and N64 were 5th generation consoles, with the Dreamcast being the only 6th gen console to receive the game. As I've not played the other versions, I can't say whether they're particularly better or worse, but a quick youtube search seems to reveal less graphical detail, as well as a more limited soundtrack.
Players can choose to play as any of 10 professional skaters, as well as 2 bonus characters. The aim of the game is to complete a set of achievements on each level for which you receive tapes (presumably of your skater doing the necessary moves to complete the goal), enough of which will unlock new levels and competitions. There are 5 goals to achieve over the course of 6 different locations, as well as 3 competitions. Once all the competitions have been won for a skater their career mode is complete, although you'll need a gold medal in each one to unlock their ending video.
The controls on the Dreamcast are fairly simple; the d-pad or analog stick is used to direct the skater, holding the A button prepares for a jump, and releasing it causes the skater to jump. The X button is used for skateboard based tricks and the B button for grab tricks, the Y button is used for grinds and pressing any direction in conjuction with these three will pull off different tricks, depending on which you use. The L and R triggers are used to rotate the skater in each direction, although players must land facing the correct way in order to avoid bailing.
Each level features a high score and a pro score, beating both of which gets you a tape. There's also a secret tape hidden in each level, and a set of items hidden around the level that need to be destroyed or found. The final objective is to collect the letters S, K, A, T and E, although they can be done in any order. For competitions the goal is to score as many points as possible without bailing, as this costs you points, out of a possible 100. The more you use each trick, the less points you're able to score for it.
Graphically the game is fairly basic, although there are much nicer textures in this version than the PS1 and N64 ones. The skaters themselves are almost recognisable and there's a good variety of choice in skateboard decks and wheel colours. Perhaps the best part of the game however, is the selection of music that you're given to skate to. There's a lot of punk music included on the soundtrack with a little metal and hip-hop on the side, which fits perfectly with the skating theme and really elevates the quality of the game.
Overall although the concept is basic, there's only 5 goals for each level and the competitions are essentially score based, the gameplay is massively enjoyable and the level design almost spot on. It's true that the game can be beaten for a single skater in one sitting, and beating the same goals for each skater can get repetitive, but in short sessions there's a lot to be unlocked and played. For the first game in the series it's a good starting point, and as something to come back to every now and then it holds some replay value.
Rating: 77/100
Grade: B
Game: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Neversoft
Release Date: 20th September 2000
Listen to music from the game as you read!
Released on even more systems than the first installment of the series, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 built upon the foundations laid by its predecessor and added new skaters, tricks, modes and even Spiderman as an unlockable character into the equation. It was the last installment of the series to be on the Dreamcast, due to its declining fortunes but playing the Playstation version, I noticed the graphical downgrade from that of the first game on Dreamcast.
This game plays very similarly to the first, although instead of tapes for completing objectives, you're rewarded with cash which is used to unlock later levels, and stat upgrades. With 5 regular levels and 3 competitions, it features one less level overall than the first game, although that's made up for by the abundance of things to do in each level. Compared to the 5 objectives of THPS1, the 3 grades of high score and 6 other objectives which make up each level, in addition to the cash bonuses make it seem as though there's endless things to do.
The levels themselves begin in a similar vein to those of the first game. There's an abandoned hangar which plays very much like the warehouse, and another school level. With more differentiation in its competition levels, the real difference is the 9 objectives that are to be completed. Collecting the letters of SKATE, finding the secret tape and reaching high scores are still required, as well as finding different sets of objects over the levels. New objectives include doing certain tricks in specific places and other level related objectives.
Controlwise the game is very similar to THPS1 also, the shoulder buttons are used in place of the triggers, to rotate but other than this, there's not much change. Manuals appear as an added move which are handy to string long combinations of tricks together for even higher scores. There are also far more special moves and gaps to find in the game, for added replayability.
Other new features of the game include a create-a-skater mode with a fair amount of options (although they're disappointingly blocky with PS1 graphics), a more detailed stat system and more choice in how you add to it in career mode, and a create a park mode where users can create their own skatepark levels with some of the details from levels featured in the game. Although it's not possible to create something as big or detailed as most of the parks or even competition levels which are in the main game, there's a good amount of options and customisation.
Two player mode remains basically the same as in the first game with HORSE, score contests and most of the same ideas. The career mode takes a little longer to complete than that of THPS1, due to having more objectives and slightly harder ones also. The cash system is a good introduction, although as the levels progress and the amount given for each objective rise, it can feel a little too easy to skip beating every objective for each level.
Graphically the game isn't all that impressive, especially when looking at finer details, and comparing it to the Dreamcast version of the first one. It's not so bad that you can't see what you're doing however, and it hardly ever makes a difference to the gameplay. There was only one level in which I was struggling to tell whether I had landed on, or gone through an object. Musically the game once again features a good selection of tracks, although the emphasis seems to have shifted to an equal amount of punk, metal and hip-hop.
Overall it's a good follow up to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, adding new gameplay features and skaters, as well as moves and modes. With the longer objectives format in the career mode levels, there's added challenge and replayability although they can still be completed fairly quickly if you know what you're doing. The competition levels are still basically score based and can be easily won with a few fancy tricks and no bails. It's hard to pick a winner between this and the original Dreamcast game but purely for the new additions, I'd say this just clinches it.
Rating: 80/100
Grade: B
Game: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Neversoft
Release Date: 28th October 2001
Listen to music from the game as you read!
The first installment of the Tony Hawk's series to be on the Playstation 2, Pro Skater 3 follows the same structure of the other games in the series, in that it features goals to be completed in each level, and competitions that unlock once enough goals have been completed. There's more hidden characters, unlockables and skaters than ever before in this installment and with the addition of reverts to the trick list, it's even easier to string together a long list of moves.
In terms of gameplay not a lot has changed from THPS2, with the same tricks and combinations available and many of the skaters from the previous games returning. There's a focus on differing skating styles to some degree with street and vert styles represented both in the create-a-skater options and the competition types. Featuring 6 regular levels and 3 competition levels there's a decent amount to be done in the game, even if with enough knowledge of the levels it could be completed for one skater in a single sitting.
The level design overall is very good with many of the early stages being particularly impressive and the Tokyo competition stage taking the title of "Easiest level to get 100,000+ points on". I felt that a few levels could have been a little better, although I tend to play in the style of a vert skater rather than a street one. Although the controls haven't changed much, the addition of the revert allows for achieving high score targets more easily.
Park Creator and Create-a-Skater mode have both been improved with more choice and variety than ever. In the Park Creator there's a choice of the shape of your levels as well as some interesting ramps, rails, funboxes and other skate park items. Although I only attempted building one park, it was easy to see that it'd be possible to build pretty much any park that you could concieve.
Graphically THPS3 surpasses both the first game on the Dreamcast and the second on original Playstation. I'll be playing the fourth game in the series on original Playstation so this is sure to the best looking game of the early era for me. The soundtrack has been expanded even further with more tracks, and even the option to turn songs on or off which is a great addition. On the whole though nothing needs turning off as the soundtrack is particularly good with punk, metal and hip-hop classics featured.
Overall this game was the most enjoyable Tony Hawk's experience so far in the series, expanding on the gameplay and ideas featured in the games before it. Alongside a larger choice of music that's just as good as that featured in the other games and improved graphics, it makes for a great play. Its only real downfall is the later level design and the fact that the last level unlocks after the final competition, so there's not much incentive to complete all the goals. There's also the huge amount of unlockable characters and features which you have to complete the game 16 times to unlock all of.
Rating: 84/100
Grade: B
Game: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Neversoft
Release Date: 15th November 2002
Listen to music from the game as you read!
I'll be going back to the Sony Playstation for this installment, as it was the last game in the series to be on the console. The game makes some changes to the formula of the previous three in terms of level goals and the way career mode works but other than that it's fairly similar in terms of gameplay and addition modes and features. The player can choose from a selection of pro skaters, other skaters or select to make their own custom skater to play as in Career Mode.
Instead of set goals which are given to the player at the beginning of each level, the player is allowed to free roam and find individual goals which can be attempted from their locations. The time limit has been completely removed also, and songs play continuously regardless of whether the player is attempting a goal or not. There are many more goals in each level with up to 26 to attempt on any given one.
Another change to the game is that it's far easier to rack up a huge score due to grind and lip trick extensions as well as manuals being easier to balance and resetting after a while, even when continuing a combo. On one level of the game I was able to rack up a combo of over 600,000 points which is almost unimaginable on the first game. There's one competition in each level and these have been made harder to compensate for the free flow of scoring.
With so many goals in each level, unlocking new levels requires a lot of "goal points" which are given to the player for completing each goal. After every few goal points the player is also rewarded with extra stats points to improve their skater's skills. To unlock every level in the game, at least 110 goals need to be completed (perhaps even more, I played as much as I could stand). It's not so much difficult to complete all the goals as tiresome. Two player, Create a Skater and Park Editor modes seem to have been ripped straight from THPS2 with hardly any changes which is a bit of a disappointment.
The graphics are less impressive than those of the PS2 version as you'd expect, although they're an improvement on THPS2. The overall level design is good with many interactable features used in goals, and many levels featuring a variety of places to rack up score points. The music is still fairly enjoyable, sticking to the punk, metal and hip-hop theme, although hidden tracks have been added which must be collected in levels to be added to the playlist.
Overall THPS4 feels like a game that's trying to find its feet with the new concept of location based goals instead of levelwide ones. It's not a bad addition and it certainly doesn't ruin the game, there's arguments for and against its implementation in the games and more often than not I'll find myself on both sides of the fence. While it is a little easy to achieve high scores in the game, it seems like this was also realised by the developers and the game adjusted accordingly. Overall it's really not bad and a taste of things to come later in the Tony Hawk's series as a whole.
Rating: 72/100
Grade: C
So that's it for the Pro Skater era of the Tony Hawk's games which lasted from 1999-2002. Although very similar to one another, the differences in tricks, skaters, unlockables and soundtracks means that everyone will have their favourite installment. Overall they're classic and enjoyable games with no real bad points besides their repetitive nature. The only real black sheep of the series is the fourth game which changes the formula of level based goals. In the next part I'll be looking at the Underground Era which featured more of a story oriented Career Mode.
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