Tony Hawk's Underground

"A great game, but..."

This review might seem odd at first, but be patient and it'll make sense in the end. T.H.U.G. is a difficult game for me to review, but I've never been one to back down from a challenge.

How does one rate a game that has high production values, fine-tuned gameplay, replayability like crazy, and a bunch of fun (and useful extras) but... after playing the game a person doesn't feel compelled to own the game? There lies my problem in reviewing this game.

I've played all the THPS games with the exception of THPS 4.Up until T.H.U.G. the games really didn't have much of a story. Most of the time it was Collect S-K-A-T-E, Win the Contest, Score ??? Points, you know the drill. Then you repeated the process with all the skaters/characters in the game to unlock all the goodies.

Along comes T.H.U.G. and throws away having to play through the game multiple times (with all the characters) to unlock everything. In T.H.U.G. you play one character... yourself. That's right, you can make a skater based upon yourself. In the PS2 version you can even turn a digital picture of yourself into a face for your character, via the PS2 Network Adapter. What gamer hasn't wanted to be physically in the game. It's like a dream-come-true.

Now to go along with you appearing in the game visually, the game now contains a storyline. This storyline put you in the game as a young kid whose dream is to become a professional skater. Anyone that's set foot on a skateboard has dreamed of being as good as the Hawk-man (or any of the pros) and this is a perfect storyline for any player of this game. The story even has a few plot twists which I won't spoil for you. The plot is mostly played out in short cutscenes, just long enough to propel the story, but not so long that it bores the player.

To add a little icing to the cake, your likeness is shown close up and personal in the cutscenes. It's an almost surreal experience seeing yourself in a videogame, but it's also fun.

In between the cutscenes, the player has goals to accomplish to progress in the game. These goals consist of collecting icons, gaining a certain amount of score, winning a skate contest, etc. Sound familiar? These, while somewhat different in this game, are in many ways the same goals that we've been completing in all the other THPS games.

The game throws in extra tasks like driving, or doing certain tricks/combos; but the game really feels like I've done this all before.

On the bright side, the game has a lot of online features that give the game a longevity not usually scene in console games. The previous games have featured Create-A-Park, Create-A-Skater, but they've always been something that players can only play themselves. How much fun is spending 3 hours designing a skatepark only to have 3 people play it ever.

Well T.H.U.G. adds some other features (such as Create-A-Trick), but the best part is that you can upload anything you create and any T.H.U.G. player that logs on will be able to download and use your creations. Make a great skatepark and you might find yourself playing against 7 other people in it. Very useful and fun.

They also have thrown in some additional multiplayer games which help the replayability. Going online with this game is simple and straightforward. Then again Neversoft is one of the few companies that's gotten the online console experience right. They've enlisted GameSpy to hook gamers up together for matches in easy to navigate menus. There is even the ability to be ranked, which gives players incentive to improve their playing skills.

The graphics and framerate are nice in this game and even dial-up users can play online without much trouble with lag. No small feat seeing as the game now supports 8-player matches.

The game also allows players to hop off their boards, run around, and climb to get to normally unreachable areas. This could have been a cheesy feature thrown in, but it genuinely feels right and well done.

All this adds up to quality. This is, in my opinion, the best game in the series. There are only a few minor complaints about a few minor things as far as the production values go. Nothing too terrible.

So why such a low score? Well, quite frankly, even with all the new stuff, this still feels pretty much like all the other games in the series. I feel like I've played this before. You know... been there, done that.

I have really mixed feelings about this game. High quality stuff, but old hat. If this wasn't the 5th game in the series it would get a 9 from me without hesitation. But seeing as I've put a lot of hours into playing this series over the years since it debuted, I can't see owning this game.

As it stands, I have to reluctantly give this game a 7. It's great at what it does, but it would have to be after doing it for some many years.

If you've never really played the Tony Hawk games, go buy this game immediately if you're even slightly interested in it. If you've played them before, you might want to rent it first to see if you're burnt out on the series yet. It's well worth owning if you're not tired of this style of game yet.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/11/03