Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"The Greatest One hands out only his second perfect score ever!"

When you hear that a sequel to a popular game is coming out, you may be careful to judge it. It is very easy to just add some gimmicks to an already popular game and bank on its name to sell it. The Tomb Raider series is prime example of this. The guys at Neversoft didn't know this.
THPS was one of the best games on the Playstation. Thus when I heard that THPS2 was coming out, I wasn't sure how it could be improved. Still, I bought it the day it came out and I am not sure it has stopped spinning in my Playstation yet. THPS2 takes what was great in THPS and manages to improve it. There are now even more moves for each skater, the new levels are massive and there are a lot more transfers to find.
The career mode has improved dramatically. The format is still the same. You skate in a bunch of parks completing objectives and compete in tournaments. This time however, you don't collect tapes. Instead, you earn money. Every objective you complete earns you a specific amount of money. You can then use this money to buy more stat points, buy new tricks and skateboards. Also, earning specific amounts of money unlocks newer levels. In THPS, you had to complete 5 objectives per level. In this version, you have a lot more objectives. Some of them are similar to the original one, but there are quite a few unique objectives. You also can find money lying around in the parks to add to your total.
The two player modes are back along with a new tag mode. All this would have made a great game, but the best is yet to come.
The two best additions are the create-a-skater and create-a-park mode. You can now create your own skater and take him through the career. You can edit his moves, appearance and a lot more. Although it is not as detailed as wrestling create-a-player's, it is pretty deep.
My favorite mode is the park editor. You can now create your own skatepark and even assign up to 10 transfers per level of your own. You can even name them whatever you want. The choices in this mode are pretty large and a lot of time will be spent on this mode. The only drawback is that it is in an enclosed area and there isn't a whole lot of room. Still this mode is simply awesome.
Overall, THPS2 does the impossible. It delivers a game that improves drastically over the great THPS.

Graphics: 10.
The graphics are awesome. Skaters look very well detailed and the action is very smooth.

Sound: 10.
The sound effects are great and the soundtrack is really good. It has some big name bands such as Papa Roach, Rage Against The Machine and Powerman 5000. There are also some hip-hop and punk tracks, all of which are pretty good.

Gameplay: 10.
It is like the first one. You have to input button combinations to execute moves, only now with a lot more choices.

Replay Value: 10.
Unlimited gameplay is possible with the park editor. All the different modes and the huge career mode will keep this game spinning for a long time.

Overall: 10.
I don't normally hand out 10's unless I feel that there cannot be a better game on the console. That is exactly what I feel about Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/22/00, Updated 09/22/00