Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"Many years later, still spinning in my PSX"

There are video game sequels that fail, ruin the franchise and taint the memories of its predecessors; there are video game sequels that fall flat, don't differentiate themselves from any other release in the series; there are video game sequels that succeed, maintaining the quality of the series, satiating the fans as well as the critics.

However, rare is the case that a video game sequel that comes along that is so great, so addicting, so mindblowing that it makes playing the original actually feel like you are taking a step backwards. That is what Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is.

When the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series first appeared on shelves, I wanted nothing to do with it: Skateboarding was a cancer that infected just about everyone in my intermediate school and I, out of protest, refused to play it. I was forced to however at a sleepover at my friend's house. Within minutes, I was hooked. There was something magical about it that I can't describe, even now years later. Much to my dismay, I didn't own a Playstation at the time. When the N64 version came out, I was ecstatic. I could finally play Tony Hawk till my fingers bled and my eyes melted out of my skull. This ecstacy lasted until about 5 seconds into playing the watered-down, half-version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater that Activison tried to pawn off on lowly Nintendo 64 owners.

Eventually, I bought a PSOne. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was the second game I bought for it (No copies were left at Circuit City the day I bought my console.) Weeks later, I went back to the store and there was THPS2. At first, I was apprehensive about buying it. I had never played it before and buying games before playing them is almost like buying DVD's of movies you haven't seen: it's a purchase based solely on pure, blind faith.

50 minutes later, every single one of my apprehensions had gone right out the window. I was hooked. Not only was the incredibly, ridiculously addictive gameplay still there but there was a create-a-skater mode. This concept blew my mind away. I spent a half-hour trying to create myself: a white, pimply, chubby 9th grader with no sense of fashion. Of course, I wasn't as clever as I am now, so my idea of being funny back then was creating a black guy and naming him after myself, only in ebonics. (Jerizzle C-Money isn't as laugh-inducing as it was back then, and that, at times, can be a damn shame.)

As for the actual skating, I couldn't get enough of it. I would spend hours trying to complete each level; if there was a task that seemed impossible, I was damned if I'd let a little plastic disc beat me. I'd replay the level over and over again, all for the sake of getting that elusive "secret tape" or trying to figure out how to get the E so I could spell "S-K-A-T-E" only to give up, play another level, come back and finish the objective on the first crack. The irony is not lost on me, friends.

Of course, Tony Hawk games were not solely for kids who wanted to be skateboarders, it was also for the kids who THINK they are skateboarders. Which is why Activision and Neversoft went out of their ways to acquire the rights and licenses, putting together one of the best video game soundtracks in the history of the planet. Being force-fed music like Sisqo and Britney Spears by MTV and my classmates, it was such a relief to go home and be able to listen to some of the songs on this game. Sure, it ain't Hendrix or Zeppelin, but I defy you to say that to Ninth-Grade Me. Although I have never purchased a Dub Pistols or Lagwagon CD, and probably never will (despite "May 16th" being one of my favorite songs to give me a good-ole shot of nostalgia now and then), the music on this game easily became one of the best features of it.

Lastly, my favorite thing about this game, even to this day. Of course now, I see it as a clever ploy to cross-sell products, many years ago I saw it as one of the best things video games have ever done: Spider-Man on a skateboard. That's right, my favorite comic-book character as a skater sent me into a frenzy. I would play as him for hours. Never mind that Rune Glifberg had fully tricked-out stats thanks to me beating career mode with him, he didn't webbing; and his Christ Air trick, cool as it was, had nothing on webbing.

Sure there are four sequels to this game out on the Playstation 2 with better graphics and animation but none of them capture the pure magical effect this game had on me many years ago, causing my grades to significantly drop. Back then I thought there was nothing Hawaiian history or Algebra could offer mine that this game (or WWF No Mercy for N64) couldn't. If I had a dollar for every hour I played those two games, I might be able to pay off my tuition of next semester. No fooling.

Anyway, this game is incredible and the best game to ever be released on Playstation. The fact that I, a big video game fan and owner of multiple PS2 titles, will still pop this in over one of the newer, sleeker, more-polished titles out there, is really a testament to how AWESOME this game is.

Final score: 10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 06/12/05