Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"The birdman's second time around doesn't disappoint"

You might already know that I happen to love extreme sport games. I've been with them ever since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, actually. And while many others get close to being better than Hawk, none quite make it (well, SSX 3 is an exception). And you know what? Of all extreme sport games that came out after THPS, I was only looking forward to one. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. And as soon as I got my greedy hands on it, I was blown away. There were so many steps in the right direction, I was simply amazed. Tune in, you might just get provoked to pick this classic up.

The graphics are improved over the original game, but still not at it's best. Faces are actually recognizable now, and everything is shining and light reflects off them, and, well, other things one would simply expect. THPS2 has it. The bodies are still quite a bit polygonal, but I can look past that. Not a bad leap for the second outing, one may expect more, but that's only because we've all experienced games with better graphics than this. 7/10.

The sound, just like in the original THPS, is cut. This time, we have words in all of the songs, but all of the songs are cut to a disappointing length. I didn't exactly expect full songs - after I was convinced Edge of Reality couldn't pull it off, anyway. The rail slides are better now, and don't echo. Ollies and etc are all improved in one way or another, and you can tell that they re-did every sound. It works there, but the music still doesn't. It was part disappointing and part improvement, one step forward and one step back at the same time. 7/10.

Ah, the much improved gameplay. Many things are different this time around. First of all, for the THPS pros, you now have a 'Sick Score' to complete for each level. That Sick Score is usually double the Pro Score, so you should find yourselves rather busy. Also, didn't you hate a few of the controls used to do the many different special tricks? Well, now you can change those controls to you're liking. Speaking of special tricks, there are about 3 times more in this game, and you can buy them (with money, which you earn for completing goals and competitions). Each level (except the competitions) have 10 goals each now, also. That's double what THPS gave you. And, finally, the legendary Manual. This trick allows you to land on the ground (and into a manual) and keep your balance, while keeping your combo going. This really helps, and is required for the later levels. This means, if you're used to finding a half pipe and skating that, sorry, it'll be impossible to get the sick scores by only doing that. Luckily vert fans get their share of the combo-connection love in THPS3, but here, with the manual, a real revolution has begun in the series. It has got to be the most important addition. Anyway, the gameplay gets 9/10. Nice.

What have I told you about extreme sport games? They last forever. No need to worry about this game ending, because it pretty much doesn't. You'll keep completing career mode with different characters and trying to beat your own combos. It doesn't end. 10/10.

Closing Comments - This is such a huge leap over the first game that it isn't even funny. One would not expect such an advancement. This is considered to be the most important game in the series. I can see why, and as soon as you play it, you should be able to as well.

Verdict - Another Tony Hawk game, much advanced and probably the most important. 9/10. If you STILL don't have THPS, get that first (so then your not disappointed with THPS after playing THPS2). If you've mastered THPS, it's about time you moved on to the next (and better) game. It's a buy, period.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/03