Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

"WoW! They did it again..."

Overall: 9

The first thing I noticed about THPS4 was how much it borrowed from other 'extreme sports games'. It's on the always reliable, always improving O2 engine, and looks very close to THPS3 in that respect. Also, it borrows the actual construction of the single player game from DMFBMX 2, which oddly enough is not an Activision game, and didn't turn out this good. It follows in the footsteps of other THPS games, with a few nice improvements, and there are only a few minor things that keep this from getting a 10.

Graphics: 9

Visually, the game is amazing. It's very similar to THPS3, but the artists went into much more detail this time around. The most noticeable change is the integration of a 'practice' half-pipe into the menu screens and skate shop. Also, there are a lot more decks and griptape options, and the Create-a-Skaters can be edited in much more detail. Only one little visual quirk haunts THPS4. Slowdown. It's not bad, not often, but it's there, and it's yet another thing for Sony's followers to nag NGC owners about. The framerate drop comes from the game being ported from PS2 to NGC, instead of being made for NGC as a seperate game. I've only ever noticed it twice though, and it was almost cool too, since I was doing a 900 as part of a huge combo.

Sound: 10

The first full soundtrack on a Nintendo system as far as the THPS series is concerned keeps the music from ever getting on your nerves, assuming you're a fan of the usual punk rock, metal, and rap compilation. The fact that they actually have the full songs on the disc is a plus too. All the voices for the pro skaters were done by the respective pro skater, and none of the characters sound dull or talk to fast. Other skaters even shout when you hit them. Oh yeah, Ollie sounds as drunk as he is too. The normal sound affects are the same as always, and always in sync, so there really isn't anything to complain about here.

Controls: 9

The controls are the same as always, but that's alright. They work just fine that way. Most people will still need time to get used to using the NGC controller with this though (Yet another victim of a port from PS2 to NGC). You might want to get a PS2 controller and an adapter if you're planning on sticking with the series on the NGC.

Gameplay: 10

THPS4 has a lot more missions than previous THPSs on a few more levels than normal. Like Dave Mirra 2, you choose a level and start in a 'Free Skate' mode until you talk to someone that asks you to do something, and a lot more of the missions are just random and fun, like 1&3, and there's a lot less 'skill' missions to do as there were in 2. In general though, the gameplay is much the same as it has been since 1. We loved it then, on our PSXs, N64s, and DCs, and we love it now.

Buy, Rent, Burn: Buy

It's worth your money if you have it. The replay value's up a bit with some new multiplayer games, and unless you have serious skill, you'll be stuck on the single player game for a while too. If you're all the way down here and you question my judgment, please go back up and read my review. Again, if you need to.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/02, Updated 12/30/02