Tony Hawk's Project 8

"No doubt, this is the absolute worst game in the series."

Introduction:
The series is about skateboarding. I have played every game and the series, and loved most of them. Why not all? Tony Hawk's Project 8 is, simply put, is the worst game in the entire series.

Gameplay: 1/10
A game should never be judged on graphics or sound alone. Instead, it should be judged on its gameplay. If you look back at all the other games in the series, the gameplay was fun. The combos you could pull off, despite how unrealistic they were, were amazing. It was the unrealistic combos that made the gameplay fun.

However, Tony Hawk's Project 8 doesn't seem to believe in unrealistic combos. The unrealistic combos have disappeared into thin air, with boring realistic combos in their place. Most of your combos in this game will consist of a flip trick (Kickflip, for example), and a grind. That's it. No unrealistic combos, no fun.

The camera is also more of a con than a pro. The camera angle is unadjustable. At times, it seems to be much too close to the skater, making seeing the path in front of you difficult and frustrating. When you bail, the camera changes angles, in an attempt to make the bail look half interesting.

There is also almost no customization in this game. If you loved customizing your skaters in the previous games, you're going to be in for a rude awakening. There are hardly any options for customization, and what options that remain look as if they were thrown together in five minutes.

The gameplay had more cons than pros. It is the Tony Hawk's series gameplay...but without the fun.

Story: 0/10
There is almost no story whatsoever. Tony Hawk is putting together a team of the top eight skaters, and you want to be in the top eight. That's it. No plot twists or anything interesting. There seemed to be little to no attempt at making the story more interesting.

Graphics: 7/10
The graphics, surprisingly, were pretty good. The faces of the characters were detailed (Tony Hawk for example). The graphics is probably one of the only things in the game that the developers put effort into.

Sound: 8/10
Surprisingly, the sound was good as well. The sound effects were interesting, but they weren't very annoying at all. The game's soundtrack, however, was fairly good. There are many more categories this time around, including reggae. However, if you don't like hip hop for whatever reason, you'll find yourself turning off a large portion of the soundtrack.

Rock, metal and punk fans will love the soundtrack. There are several good songs on it, and several good bands as well. People will recognize some bands as "The Cure", and "Slayer".

Conclusion:
If you like Tony Hawk's without the fun, go ahead and buy it. The game is lacking severely in the gameplay department, where the fun is supposed to lie. This game is a disgrace to the series, and should have never even been allowed to have been released to the public. Normally, I wouldn't rate a game this low, but after playing the game, I consider Tony Hawk's Project 8 one of the worst video games ever made.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 08/26/07