Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

"Fly baby fly!"

Intro

Yet another skateboarding game. There are many of these around, but none of them is even half as good as the famous Tony Hawk games. Other skateboarding games are really boring or really bad. The Tony Hawk games were pretty good, and Hawk's 3rd game is one of the best on the market.

Story Line: N/A

Story line. Hmmm a story in a skateboarding game. Yeah I don't think there is a story. Well if you absolutely need a story, I guess you can say you're a guy that has to skateboard everywhere. But there really is no story in this game.

Game Play: 10/10

In the third Tony Hawk game, there are many things you can do. All of these just enhances the game more and more.

One thing you can do is Career mode, which you skate in certain parks. In these parks, you have to complete objectives. In most level, there are three objectives where you need to get a high score. There is one where you have to get all 5 letters S, K, A, T, and E. Then there's the secret tape. You have to find the elusive tape hidden somewhere. There are also special objectives depending on the park. As you complete more objectives, more parks will become available. The only flaw is once you get through every park, the game gets boring. But completing all 90+ objectives will take a while, so you won't get bored so quickly. And when you complete EVERY objective, you can unlock a new player. As you keep completing every objective on every player, you can get more skaters. This will take an extremely long time to do though.

In some parks, there are tournaments. All you have to do is bust some serious moves. The more tricks, the more the judges will fall in love with you. The more you wipe out, the lower your score will be. You just do this three times and get a final score. If you place in the top three, you get a medal. Sounds simple right? Well wait until you play to see how ''simple'' it really is.

Something else you can do in this game is skate for fun. All you need to do is play Career mode and unlock parks. Then you can skate around in those parks without a time limit. Get use to the park, pretend you have objectives and practice in the area to do what you have to do in Career mode, or just have some fun! Unfortunately, free mode does nothing for Career mode, but hey, everyone needs a day off to rip up a park.

If you have friends, you can play head to head against them. You can go in free mode and see who can bust up more points. You can also play mini games that you need friends to play. These mini games are really fun to play, because you can show off your skating skills to your friends.

Wanna make your own skaters? Well you can do that in this game. Wanna make a guy? How about a hot girl? You can pick either. Want your skater to have pads and a helmet? Be my guest. There are many things you can design from head to toe, including glasses, which some are hysterical. There are clown glasses, snorkel, and other things. Being able to design your own skater is good, because it almost feels like you're the one skating and not the computer guy.

There's something else every skateboarding game should have. A Park Editor. Well Hawk's third game has this. His other games had this too, but this one has improvements. In the third Hawk game, you can add loops and other new designs to make your park better and more exciting. One minor flaw is your park has a specific size limit, and that limit is kind of small. Oh well it's still pretty big.

There are also cheat codes in this game. There's a code to make you big, there's a code to make you small, and many other codes like moon gravity, snow board, perfect grind and manual, and other fun things. These codes makes the game too easy though, so I won't recommend it.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics in this game is really good and well detailed. Snow fall looks like snowfall, trees have branches, leaves, and snow on them. Glass shatters when you skate through windows. The sky is nice and pretty. You can see rust and other small details. The graphics is very good, definitely PS2 material.

Sound/Music: 10/10

In every level, there is a different music running. You can't get sick of the music unless you play at the same place all the time. The sound effect is also really good. You can hear people talking, you can hear your board grinding, and you can hear other things too, like snow mobiles, sound of glass shattering, people cheering in tournaments, cars and trucks, etc. Acti Vision definitely worked hard on the sound and music.

Life Span/Replayablility: 9/10

This game lasts quite a long time, that is, if you don't get bored with it. Once you get to the last park, you might not want to play anymore to complete the other objectives. Some might be too hard, some just might be a time wasting one. But if you really love this game, then you will be playing for a long, LONG time. Replaying this game is also easy to do, because there are many skaters to choose from. If you beat every park completely, then you can start over with another skater, but with the save file intact. And if you do get sick of Career, you can always play against friends.

Rent or Buy: Buy

Everyone should own this game. This game is not violent, it's not gory (except for the occasional red spots on the ground when you mess up and end up on the ground), and it's fun. This game isn't fifty dollars anymore, so it's a good game to buy for a low price. Run out and go buy a copy now.

Overall:

Story Line: N/A
Game Play: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound/Music: 10/10
Life Span/Replayability: 9/10
Rent or Buy: Buy
Total: Awesome 10/10

This game is one of the best out there. Get it now.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/10/03, Updated 05/21/03