Tony Hawk's Underground 2

"Old school, new school and jackass."

Introduction:
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is the sixth game in what has been a hugely successful series that has made skateboarding more popular around the globe. With each installment the game has added more and more new things, this time it's no different, the classic mode, graffiti, freaking out, new school tricks, sticker slaps, new goal types and a few other things are the main additions this time round, the cost for all these new features is the removal of the Create-A-Deck mode and the removal of loads of the pro skaters from previous installments, there's no more Steve Caballero, Kareem Campbell, Rune Glifberg, Bucky Lasek, Jamie Thomas, Elissa Steamer, Arto Saari, Paul Rodriguez, Andrew Reynolds or Geoff Rowley. The question? Is the new content better than the removed content, we'll see.

Storyline:
Very linear, Tony and Bam decide to throw a World Destruction Tour, with two teams of pros competing against each other for points in locations across the globe.

Graphics:
Stunning, as they always have been. First up, the attention to detail, all the characters and levels look absolutely brilliant, from Ryan Sheckler's hair and Steve-O's tattoos to Berlin's church and Barcelona's Parc Guell, everything is as realistic as it is possible to be, which is a good first impression for newbies to the series. Secondly, the menus. The main menu now sports a wheel, which is very innovative and impressive, whereas sub menus are the same as always, a bit dull, to be precise. Onto the negatives, one thing I was disappointed with was the wreckages disappearing after a few seconds, if you're embarking on a World Destruction Tour, you should be able to see your carnage after it's creation, it's just not right without it. The other negative is graffiti and stickers, whilst a small bit of this is good, there's way too much everywhere, making the otherwise lucious levels look like a council estate. Overall, graphics are pretty good, they retain the wow factor they've always contained, but it's less of a wow factor than before with the eyesores.

Sound:
Absolutely magnificent, as it always has been, the Tony Hawk series has always been a game with great audio, licensed music tracks, incredible special effects and proper voices, it's all there. This installment sees the playlist of licensed tracks fall slightly, but there's still enough to keep everyone happy, even if you don't like the genre most of the tracks fit into, you can always listen to 'That's Life' by Frank Sinatra. The special effects are in the promised land, as always, everything has an effect that is incredibly realistic, from bailing to being scorched by a burning car, it's all there, and it's all fantastic. Just about everyone has their proper voice again this time round, everyone from Tony and Bam to Phil Margera and Wee-Man. Overall, sound is great.

Gameplay:
Again, superb. Gameplay has always been one of the factors that has made the Tony Hawk series so addictive and fun, there's no exceptions to that this time round. Firstly, the controls, easy to master and not as frustrating as some previous versions. Secondly, multiplayer and online play, there's a good variety of things to keep all sorts of players happy, from fighting to marking your territory, there's also good online play where you can compete against anybody, and that offers even more types of play for everybody, nice. Next, the fun factor is still there, the game is more complicated then it has ever been, but literally, it's still just a simple skating game with lots of fancy things in between, which is a great combination. The fourth and final positive is the variety of different modes and things that can be done within them, veterans and newbies alike will be happy with the Classic and Story modes, whilst everyone can smile at the amount of customisation that can be done, from parks, goals and graffiti to tricks and skaters. Onto the one negative, which is the repetition in some of the tasks you have to do, it gets very boring having to hunt down five pieces of graffiti in every level, not to mention having to tag a billboard and find "special" guests, but even with that, gameplay is swell.

Lifespan:
A long time, Classic mode effectively doubles this factor, wheras the customisation can keep you hooked for months on end, plus if you get bored of one thing, there's always another thing that's completely different.

Extras:
Loads of levels and skaters to unlock left, right and centre.

Final Recommendation:
A game the majority of us would be happy to own, the variety of elements that can be found in this game can appeal to gamers of all ages, shapes and sizes, this is one of the better games to put on your Christmas list.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/04