Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"This is the Best in its Class...Sports class"

To make a long story short, this is hands down one of the best sports games for the playstation. I am not even done with the first Tony Hawk and before you know it, a better and more improved one comes out. Before the demo, I thought nothing can get better than the original, that any sequel for this game will suck. Well I was wrong. I played the demo and I have been waiting ever since. Now it is out, and I am even more stunned then before. Everything that it does makes even the first Tony Hawk look like an average game..hehe. Well if you haven't got the game, get it. If you don't have money, get some because believe me, this game will be worth more than the 44.95 (I think I got ripped off) you will be buying for it.

Visuals: 9.1/10 - This game has made huge improvements from its prequel. The game looks more real and everything looks so great. The levels look way more better than the first game, and they are way bigger. The skaters look more human, and so do their bails. It hurts to see them fall on the groin on the rail. All in all, wonderful score, but like the first one, there are some flaws in the game, but not as much as before.

Sounds: 9.9/10 - In the first game, they had some good alternative, rock songs that were sung by bands that were pretty popular. In this game, they put somebands that we really know well, and a different kind of genre other than rock, rap/hiphop. That is just great music for people who don't like rock. For me, I like all the music personally. All the songs are good. The sound effects are just as good because they really sound like someone is grinding on a rail, or falling and hurting. Great.

Gameplay: 10/10 - Perfect. Shoot, better than perfect. Neversoft has just outdone themselves in this game. All the skaters from the first game have come back in this game, and there are even more. There are even secret skaters, even one that still puzzles me from the beginnning(you'll know what I'll mean). In this game, there is now a create a skater, and create a park, which will just add on more years on the lasting appeal. There are 2 kinds of skaters, vert and street, and although they have similar moves, most of the different moves they have determines the skater. For example, with the introduction of double taps(a move that requires 2 presses on the controller...up up, left left, etc.) vert skaters have double taps on holds. Street skaters do not. However, Street skaters have double taps on grinds. They also have better grind and manual balance than vert skaters, but very skaters have better air. So it all depends on how you play. If you're a kinda guy that likes to stay in one half pipe and do speicals and holds all day, then vert skaters are your style because they have so many holds(up, down, left, right, up up, down down, left left, right, right, speicals) that they will never be used up (used up means that they will not be worth less because you use the move too much). If you like to skate around and grind pretty much everything and manual and grind to another place and continue, then Street skaters are your thing. In my opinion, I love street skaters way better because I loved grinding in the first game. Now that they have manualing, its even better. Vert skaters are cool too, they have very nice hold specials. It all depends on you on who you want to pick. If you like half pipes, pick vert skaters. If you like the grind around and combo a lot of tricks together, street skaters are for you. This game introduces switch, which is really important if you want to get a higher score. Switch is when you turn the board around, and your feet will be inverted. What this does is your tricks will reset again and you will get maximum points for your tricks again. Be warned though, because unless the skater you picked, or created is good in switch, your skater will most likely fall in places that it never would in regular mode. So use this mode likely. All the levels in this game have improved like crazy, and there is so much more to do in one level. There are also secret levels, but i'll leave it to you to find thoes out yourselves. Career mode is much more better than the first, and there is much more to do. Career mode alone will take weeks off your time, and lets not forget create a skater, create a park, multiplayer games, and free skate, and all the skaters and levels. There is so much to do in this game it is not even funny. The only flaw are the glitches, where you can cheat your score and tell all your friends. Lets not forget those cheats. There are way more than the first.

Control: 10/10 - This is probably the most important aspect in this game. If your control is horrible and not responsive, then you can't do the things you would be doing, like quickly jumping to rail to rail, grinding, manualing before you jump on a rail. This game had none at all. No flaws, perfect. This was very important that they had the control perfect in this game. I could always trust Neversoft.

Replay: Infinite/10 - I am not even done with the first one, and now they have this game? Gosh. Well just read Gameplay again and you will know all the things you can do. E-mail me at the year 2050 if you want to know if I'm finally bored from this game. Unbelievable replay value, and like IGN said, if I was stranded on a desert island and you can bring any game, I would definitely bring this game. Just perfect.

Too good, dont wait another second for this game. Seriously, this is the best game for sports for the playstation. You don't believe me? Well find out for yourself. Have fun.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/23/00, Updated 01/13/01