Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

"The Best Installment In The Series Yet"

The Tony Hawk series is one of the only sports series that I actually like. Many have complained about the series getting a new reinstallment every year, but this game is a great addition to the series and is the best of the series.

GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is really great. The controls are good and very easy to learn. There have been many changes in the series since THPS3 and I think just about all of them are for the better.

The thing I like the most about the game is that you can do objectives any time you want. All you have to do is skate up to one of the guys with an arrow over their heads and start. There is also no time limit when skating unless you are doing a timed objective. After doing objectives, you can get cash to buy things, stat points to upgrade your skater, or pro points that you can use to unlock new levels. You won't beat this game in a day for it has around 190 objectives and 16 on each level. The objectives are pretty good and they don't get repetitive. If you want, you can even repeat objectives that you already completed.

The level designs are great and they are HUGE compared to the ones in previous games. There is so much to do and see that it is unbelieveable. My favorite thing to do in the past installments was grinding rails among other things and I was not disappointed with this game because there is loads of things you can grind and ramp off of.

There aren't that many new tricks from in the last game but there is more ways to do them. By that, I mean there are more ways to do things. For example, you hit a ramp and pull off a 900. Then, you can do a Revert and then go into a Manual. Keep doing this and then hit a rail and grind down it. See? There is so much variety. All you need is your imagination. The gameplay is overall superb and highers the notch for extreme sports games.

The characters are great and look good. There are over 15 real pro skaters to begin with and 4 or 5 secret skaters to unlock. Each skater has around 10 boards that you can buy for $50 each. You can also build up their stats by giving them stat points and stuff like that.

Overall, the gameplay is top notch!

GRAPHICS AND AUDIO
The graphics are great. They look very clear and smooth. The animations when you fall down are funny as hell even though they probably weren't supposed to be. The soundtrack is great if you like rock and there is some rap also. The sound is pretty good too.

REPLAYABILITY
The replay value in the game is great. There is so much to do and so much to see. Unlike previous installments in the series, you will not beat this one in a day so you will have lots of time to accomplish everything and unlock everything. Speaking of unlocking things, there are lots of things to unlock like new skaters, secret levels, clothes, cheats, and so much more.

TO BUY OR TO RENT?!
Even though I don't like skateboarding in real life, I cannot deny myself of this game and you shouldn't either. This is a definite buy for all of the fans of the series and or the extreme sports genre itself.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/11/03, Updated 01/20/03