Striaght off I have to say, Im a MASSIVE fan of the Tony Hawk's series, the original PSX incarnation had me playing for a year solid and the 2 player mode another 2 years solid!
Unbelievably each update has surpassed its predecessor in every way, but number 3 in the series is my personal favourite (however I must confess to NOT playing the 2 T.H.U.G titles). Each episode has had brilliant set pieces, amazing characters, sublime controls and fantastic sonics so lets see if the 7th (8th if you count 2x) incarnation of Skating's most popular middle aged role model can meet the challenge.
Upon boot up your given a few multiplayer options (LIVE included), a free skate/high score mode and the 2 main modes 'Classic' and 'Story'.
Nostalgia Rules!...
Feeling nostalgic I dived straight into 'Classic' mode. Ok right away the visuals look slightly ropier than previous versions and the wonderful colour and great clothing effects seem to have taken a bit of a turn for the worse. Also the character select screen seems a bit 'square' and angular but never the less I pursued and picked old favourite Bob Burnquist.
Upon starting your greeted with a familar level from Pro Skater 1, Wow I thought a classic level with polished graphics, gotta be a good thing right? Well yes and no, while the levels look great, they seem to lack any sort of life. The first area lies pathetically empty and other than a bit of a spit shine lacks any oomph. So i skate around for a bit and decide to quit to opt for story mode.
Story Time Kiddies...
Ok now this is more like it, I pick a skater that looks as daft as me and head on in. After selecting your skater your greeted with a rather dodgy illustrated comic book narrative, this is used throughout 'Story' mode to highlight events and as a break up between the action. Sadly the whole idea of this is a bit lame, and not what I would have expected from Mr Hawk, in fact, and sorry to drop this bomb shell, the whole 'story' idea is a bit naff. It seems as though someone appears to have looked at all the amazing neat, little touches in previous titles, underhand humour and brillianty designed set pieces and binned them all in a game set to appeal more to the 'yoof'.
The story is frankly very hammy, and ultimately contrived. Each skater is tattooed, cool and uses words like 'awesome' and 'rad'. I'm sorry but I though Tony Hawk's was all about moving away from this dreadfully outdated, 'gnarly' image of the local 'skater dude'. This story has all the cred of your grandad trying to breakdance at the discotech.
While the game does play well, it had gone down the all too familiar route (a la Spiderman 2 and any other game you care to mention) of ripping off GTA3, why?? When Hawk's has always been a benchmark for skating games!?
The map is incredibly confusing and has you running around like a rat on speed, desperately trying to find something resembling a pink star or a black shirt.
It's a bizarre twist for the series and while opening up a plethora of 'on-foot' moves such as backflips, seems to take away what ultimately the game embodied in the first place. It seems odd how the game actually seems more restrictive even thought it's more free-roaming.
As well as having a deck you can now ride a bike, this is a decent if limited edition to the game, which neither adds or detracts from the overall quality.
Ham-Fisted!?...
Controls throughout can present a big problem. Most people whinged about previous titles and there playability with the XBOX pad, personally i always thought the XBOX controller was great and never had any probs until now...
The complex moves on foot, as well as on board and bike simply cannot be performed in fluid sequence on this pad, I even plugged in a magic box and PSX pad, but still had some problems. I plugged away a good few hours and still couldnt perfect a particular 50-50 combo that was relatively easy on the wrists!
Bring that beat back one more time...
The Audio always a high point for the Hawk's series, from Motorheads 'Ace of Spades' to Public Enemy's 'Bring the Noise, sadly hasn't made it intact. Theres a couple of decent tunes such as Atmosphere/MF Dooms 'Put ya Quarter Up', Del's 'Burnt' and a couple of decent punk tracks, but a lot of it seems watered down cock rock for 15 year olds who think swearing at their parents is cool.
I REALLY wanted to love this title but sadly it just passes as an OK addition to an excellent series, I will carry on playing, Im around 40% of the way through story mode (and the bloody narrative gets worse!). I wished and expected a fantastic piece of software but sadly I got an above average, fairly decent game I'd knock around on for a half hour or so before loading up the previous titles.
I have seen the videos for the Xbox 360 version of the game and that looks a lot better (think Tony Hawk 3 PSX compared to the PS2 version) Not bad, but Mr Hawk where did your high standards go!?
(Paragraphed on request!
)
Unbelievably each update has surpassed its predecessor in every way, but number 3 in the series is my personal favourite (however I must confess to NOT playing the 2 T.H.U.G titles). Each episode has had brilliant set pieces, amazing characters, sublime controls and fantastic sonics so lets see if the 7th (8th if you count 2x) incarnation of Skating's most popular middle aged role model can meet the challenge.
Upon boot up your given a few multiplayer options (LIVE included), a free skate/high score mode and the 2 main modes 'Classic' and 'Story'.
Nostalgia Rules!...
Feeling nostalgic I dived straight into 'Classic' mode. Ok right away the visuals look slightly ropier than previous versions and the wonderful colour and great clothing effects seem to have taken a bit of a turn for the worse. Also the character select screen seems a bit 'square' and angular but never the less I pursued and picked old favourite Bob Burnquist.
Upon starting your greeted with a familar level from Pro Skater 1, Wow I thought a classic level with polished graphics, gotta be a good thing right? Well yes and no, while the levels look great, they seem to lack any sort of life. The first area lies pathetically empty and other than a bit of a spit shine lacks any oomph. So i skate around for a bit and decide to quit to opt for story mode.
Story Time Kiddies...
Ok now this is more like it, I pick a skater that looks as daft as me and head on in. After selecting your skater your greeted with a rather dodgy illustrated comic book narrative, this is used throughout 'Story' mode to highlight events and as a break up between the action. Sadly the whole idea of this is a bit lame, and not what I would have expected from Mr Hawk, in fact, and sorry to drop this bomb shell, the whole 'story' idea is a bit naff. It seems as though someone appears to have looked at all the amazing neat, little touches in previous titles, underhand humour and brillianty designed set pieces and binned them all in a game set to appeal more to the 'yoof'.
The story is frankly very hammy, and ultimately contrived. Each skater is tattooed, cool and uses words like 'awesome' and 'rad'. I'm sorry but I though Tony Hawk's was all about moving away from this dreadfully outdated, 'gnarly' image of the local 'skater dude'. This story has all the cred of your grandad trying to breakdance at the discotech.
While the game does play well, it had gone down the all too familiar route (a la Spiderman 2 and any other game you care to mention) of ripping off GTA3, why?? When Hawk's has always been a benchmark for skating games!?
The map is incredibly confusing and has you running around like a rat on speed, desperately trying to find something resembling a pink star or a black shirt.
It's a bizarre twist for the series and while opening up a plethora of 'on-foot' moves such as backflips, seems to take away what ultimately the game embodied in the first place. It seems odd how the game actually seems more restrictive even thought it's more free-roaming.
As well as having a deck you can now ride a bike, this is a decent if limited edition to the game, which neither adds or detracts from the overall quality.
Ham-Fisted!?...
Controls throughout can present a big problem. Most people whinged about previous titles and there playability with the XBOX pad, personally i always thought the XBOX controller was great and never had any probs until now...
The complex moves on foot, as well as on board and bike simply cannot be performed in fluid sequence on this pad, I even plugged in a magic box and PSX pad, but still had some problems. I plugged away a good few hours and still couldnt perfect a particular 50-50 combo that was relatively easy on the wrists!
Bring that beat back one more time...
The Audio always a high point for the Hawk's series, from Motorheads 'Ace of Spades' to Public Enemy's 'Bring the Noise, sadly hasn't made it intact. Theres a couple of decent tunes such as Atmosphere/MF Dooms 'Put ya Quarter Up', Del's 'Burnt' and a couple of decent punk tracks, but a lot of it seems watered down cock rock for 15 year olds who think swearing at their parents is cool.
I REALLY wanted to love this title but sadly it just passes as an OK addition to an excellent series, I will carry on playing, Im around 40% of the way through story mode (and the bloody narrative gets worse!). I wished and expected a fantastic piece of software but sadly I got an above average, fairly decent game I'd knock around on for a half hour or so before loading up the previous titles.
I have seen the videos for the Xbox 360 version of the game and that looks a lot better (think Tony Hawk 3 PSX compared to the PS2 version) Not bad, but Mr Hawk where did your high standards go!?
(Paragraphed on request!
)
Comment