Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"THPS2: Worth the wait? Ablsolutley! Not without minor little ditties, but still definately worthy of a purchase."

Tony Hawk Pro Skater has to be without a doubt a true gaming miracle. Brilliant and fun gameplay with realistic visuals that appealed to both the skating and non-skater alike. THPS2 delivers all you could want it to, but still manages to fall short in a few minor areas.

Graphics: 8/10

Really not as good as they were in the first one. There's a few extras in comparison you will notice, but I was still slightly irritated by the clippiness. It doesn't detract from the gameplay at all, but it still brings down the visual factor. But, just like the first one, there's still a few jaggies and sharp edges around and about. The tricks and characters, on the other hand, are very nice indeed. The characters look as good as they did if not better than they did in the first one, and the newcomers look good as well, right down to the Tensor logo on Rodney Mullen's shirt. The tricks look about as good as they did in the original, whereas after a while, you don't need a scoreboard to tell you what trick it is.

Sound: 9/10

I love it. I loved Tony Hawk 1's punk soundtrack, but it did feel lacking. They filled that hole in number 2 with the addition of some nice hip-hop tracks with the punk. Any game that combines Naughty by Nature with Bad Religion and Millencolin catches my interest pretty quickly. There were a couple flaws in the soundtrack, however. For one, the awesome title screen music has been changed with something not quite as catchy. Secondly, I for one didn't like the metal that was thrown in. Papa Roach? Powerman 5000? This is THPS, not TRL.
The sound effects are pretty much the same as they were in the first one. No real difference. Aside from the skater letting out grunts every now and then.

Gameplay: 9/10

Just as innovative as it was last year. With a brand new roster of tricks, completely new career mode, and a huge new roster of Pro Skaters, (Rodeny Mullen. Yay!) Tony Hawk 2 is almost completely without flaws. The only real one being control, and the ability to jump right into the game. In THPS2, control is much more tighter, and not as free-flowing. And this is one Pro Skater where you have to warm up a bit before going out there. Tighter control leads gameplay a little less comfortable, especially for those of us that have played the crap out of Pro Skater 1. The tricks are a wee bit more confusing, and at some points you feel like you don't know what's going on, especially since the levels are now far larger. Then again, it's also a nice change of pace.
Create-A-Skater reminds me a Acclaim's brilliant Create-A-Wrestler for WWF Attitiude in that it allows great configuration in the move listing and visual appearance of your Skater. It also takes advantage of the new gameplay elements by not only letting you decide what moves you get now, but how much new moves will cost you. (Just so I don't have to say it later, instead of tapes, you get hard cash to buy new levels, tricks, decks, and stats. And there's quite a bit more than 5 goals per level this time around.) You can even get around to picking what brand of board they ride and what brand of shoes you wear. The Create-A-Skater will give you a lot of fun not only making prop skaters that don't appear in the game, but making yourself to say, ''Hey, I'll do a Heelflip Darkslide on of these days!'' A very entertaining thing, I might add.
And, of course, Create-A-Park. While they take a while to set up, with paitence you can have a great gaming experience creating infinitely revolving rails and halfpipes for your skating pleasure, or recreating the ol' neighborhood skate spots/parks and use yourself (as created in Create-A-Skater) to make yourself look good. (No seriously, try it. I's pretty fun.) With a huge selection of pieces and setups, it's possible you'll spend more time in Create-A-Park than you do in Career Mode.

Overall Fun Factor: 9/10

A few minor problems shouldn't waver your decision to buy this instant-classic. Even if you hated the first one, this one is still worth a try. I can only hope the Dreamcast version can do as good. Seeya! --Rick >:P

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/24/00, Updated 09/24/00