Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

"Rent, Buy? Well..."

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, yet still another game to the popular series, and it lives up to its name. THPS is an exciting game filled to the brim with actions, tricks, speed, and sprinkled with a little bloods...

Gameplay: Objective? Simple, you travel from area to area, performing certain tasks that earn you Stat Points. Once you complete a trick, it might or might not unlock another secret one. Stat Points can be used in various areas to help improve your skills, and once you get enough Stat Points, you can go to another area.
The other objective? To perform tricks, I would have thought that would be obvious, since it is a skateboarding game. You receive points for the tricks you do, and your goal is to string together as many tricks as you can into one, long combo. The amount of points you receive depends on how well you executed your trick (whether you fall and splash blood or not), how many tricks you managed to string together, and the amount of time you manage to hold a trick (that only applies to rails and reverts).
Now that you know the objectives, you might be wondering, is this all really that fun? Well, it depends on your points of view, I suppose. If you’re a casual gamer, with fingers that are slow and get tired easily, you will have trouble with the tricks, and they will get frustrating after a while, after attempt and attempt and you still haven’t gotten it yet. If you’re a gamer that has fast and durable fingers callused from years of pressing buttons constantly, you’re guaranteed to have a hoot with this game. You will enjoy it, to what extent only you can limit.
THPS 4 adds some new tricks and qualities to that of THPS 3. You can now skitch behind cars, hang on them and try to balance yourself like you do on rails. The graphics are also much better, and also the gameplay. THPS 4 has patches over the minor mistakes that THPS 3 had.

Rating: 8/10

Sound: The best thing is there are a wide variety of sound, ranging from you nailing a landing or just tripping and taking a spill in the roads. The sound is very realistically created, and you can tell that a lot of work was put into the sound, even if you’ve only been playing for a short while. The sound is ranged, varied, and spectacular.

Rating: 9/10

Music: Okay, okay, I admit it. The music can become boring and repetitive after a while, but you can always crank down the volume and put on your favorite CD, can you not? Anyways, it isn’t a huge problem, you tend to put unimportant things such as music aside when you’re playing an exciting game, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 is just that, an exciting game.

Replay: You can play Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 again and again without getting tired of it. Why? Because you can set new goals for yourself and try to beat it. The possibilities are pretty much limitless. You can play the game from the beginning and not be bored because you pretty much have the same capabilities, except for maybe some minor Stat Points problems, but you won’t notice it much.

Difficulty: This is a problem. Tony Hawk is hard, ranging from the average to the hard-core gamers. People who pick up games once in a while is going to have trouble with the controls, with the buttons, with the fast-pace gaming system of Tony Hawk Pro Skater. Overall, I would recommend this game to people who like a challenge, people who relish thrills and pushing yourself to the limit.

Overall, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 is a pretty good game, drop by the nearest rental store and pick it up sometime. There’s a good chance that you will like it, and if you do, buy it! Be warned, however, that THPS might not click with some people, and you will regret spending the money right away instead of giving it a test trial first.
My recommendations, definitely a game to try. Who knows, you might be a skateboarding fan after you try this amazing game. I certainly liked it, and I am not a sports fan. It just proves that miracles can happen.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/06/03, Updated 04/06/03