Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

"A legend in gaming history"

Introduction to: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

You shouldn't have to be a good skater to shred, or at least, that seems to be the premise for this game. At the time, there was little good extreme sports games out there, and this game was a big leap in the right direction. It offered realistic skateboarding, and many fans were quickly attracted. The graphics were considered fabulous, the control was great, and the goals were fun. Even the levels were unique and entertaining. There was little not to like about this game.

Now, in the future, you could say, we know what came from this game. Not just a large series of new Tony Hawk games for all different systems, but a new standard. This game brought out something of a revolution in the gaming industry. It showed people not just how good a game could look, but how well it could handle, how unique its point could be, and even how well the sound track could be assembled. THPS's sound track was risky, all tough punk, rock, and hip hop music, but it pulled out a hit.

Now not only is that same style sound track used in all the new Tony Hawk games, but all new games have a new expectancy to them. This is not to say that games in the past had been sound-less, as that is certainly not the case. Usually, games in the past had been stressing too much on the graphics of the new Playstation games, maybe the gameplay. THPS was one of the first games to ever include all those things and more, a sound track that wasn't just to give you something to listen to during loading times or cutscenes, but something that you could rock out on during the game and afterwards.

While the game may not seem like much of a deal to you now, it was a huge hit back then. The fact that it brought so much great stuff together is amazing, and the gamers were definitely shocked. This was definitely a surprise hit, and it well-deserved the hype that it got. Proof of its success is easily seen through the continuing popularity of current games, most recent being Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. While the style and graphics of the game may have changed over time, it's powerful theme remained, skate, or die.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was released by Neversoft Entertainment in 1999 in the U.S., and then continued into Japan and then back to the U.S. with a platinum edition. It supports 1-2 players. Some of the 2 player games include Horse, Trick Attack, etc. Some of the lyrics are edited where necessary, yet still received a Teen rating for minor language and some blood from the falls, overall though, this game is basically fine for all ages, and in my opinion should have received an E for Everyone.

Graphics

As aforementioned, the graphics are great. Skaters look amazing, and feature many of the features that they do in real life, making the game realistic. There is many tiny details that were taken care of, like clothing, boards, jewelery, hair, etc. They are also colored very well, with realistic skin tones and clothes colors.

The levels are also spectacular. Not only are they uniquely designed, but they are realistically designed as well. The school level is very believable, and levels based on cities also fit well. The colors again are very bright and vibrant, and everything is very clear.

Obviously, compared to today's standards, the graphics aren't the same. Today we notice the many details like hands or some pixelated areas. But, these things should be overlooked as for its time, this game was basically perfect. Very few graphical errors can be found though, and overall the game's graphics are superb.

Gameplay

Single player playing is amazing. You have complete control of your skateboarder and you can skate all over the level. So many tricks are available, and you are encouraged to try them all in an attempt to add up combos for big points. You choose from Tony Hawk and 9 other pro skaters to control, and then you are off to hit plenty of cool levels.

Now, what does all this mean? How does it work? You simply control your skater around the level and perform different tricks using simple button combos. Each trick has a point value, and when you do more than one trick without stopping, for example, a kickflip on to a rail and then a grind and then a shove-it off of the rail, the points for all the different tricks get multiplied together.

The point system for grinds is genius. You get a certain point value for using the grind that you do, and then the value quickly goes up the longer you grind without falling. Also, if you repeat a trick over and over, the point value for it will go down. This forces you to try different things to get more points and land better combos.

But what's the point to all this skating? Well, there's goals you must complete. There's the common ones that are in every level, like high scores which get tougher and tougher throughout the game. Then there's the level specific goals, like knocking down all the barrels or knocking over pedestrians. Some of the goals are tricky and require you to really think to complete them. For example, a goal might be to turn off the running water, and you have to find 5 different faucets and grind on them.

Another little detail that always sticks out in a game is the camera. Some games feature a camera which sporadically moves all over the place, rarely giving you the shot you want. Other games' cameras get stuck or run out of room. Since this game is so fast-paces, you'd think that the camera could be a big problem. Luckily however, the camera moves smoothly with your skater the whole way. You rarely miss a shot. The game's third person perspective makes it easy to see where your going and also the tricks you are doing. Overall, the camera was designed perfectly. No need to worry about this aspect of the game.

Overall, the gameplay is fantastic. It combines so many different elements in to a very simple interface with easy controls that anyone can learn quickly. In fact, anybody can get really great at this game simply from practice. But there's even more to it. There's also gaps in every level, which are sometimes difficult to find. They also add to you point score. Not to mention unlock secret characters. There's also secret areas in levels and other cheats and secrets that you can unlock by beating the game with different skaters.

Sound

As I said earlier, this game as great sound. But why is it great? Well, there's many different good songs to choose from. But not only is it good music, but it fits amazingly with the game. It sets a punk mood that gets you hyped for skating. It's important to have a beat, a pulse that you can skate to, and the sound track is just perfect.

As for sound effects in the game, everything is pretty simple, but good. There isn't much, but there is stuff like grunting when you fall, cars, other common sounds in a city, etc. Overall, there's nothing spectacular here, but there's nothing bad either, so it's all good. It's all clean and realistic, just not spectacular.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer modes are fun, but pretty simple. There's different games you can play like "Horse" in which the first player does a trick and the other players must attempt to do a trick which will get more points. Whenever the a player doesn't reach the set score, they get a letter. The first one to spell out "horse," (or whatever word you wish to spell out actually, since it's adjustable) loses. There's also "Trick Attack," where you skate around in split-screen and do as many tricks as possible. You can set it so that either the highest scorer after a certain amount of time wins, or you can play to a certain set score.

The point is, while the games are well-designed and sometimes fun, they can get boring pretty quickly. I realize that there isn't many options for two-player games that you can play on a skateboard, but I think that there should have been more games added. More games are added in later games that should have been on this, the original, as well. But, this is not a big loss to the game, as although it would have been better with more options, two-player is played much less often than single player.

Replay Value

A lot of games are so straight-forward that you can play through it once, get 100% percent of all the goals, and then throw it on a shelf to collect dust afterwards. With THPS, this is not the case however, for several reasons. Sure, I'm not denying that some people may feel satisfied with simply beating the minimum tasks to get to the last level. Some people might just stop after getting to the end of the game and give up. If you do this with THPS, you will miss out on a quite a bit. Not only is there a lot to explore in each level, there is also secret areas and other spots that you didn't even realize were accessible originally. Sure, there's a tracker that tells you when you have completed all the goals and gotten the medals from the competitions, but there's also the drive to get better combos. Simply skating around and doing mindless tricks is addicting. There's also of course the gaps. You can spend many hours skating around each level in a search for the gaps and money. Overall, the replay value for this game is very high.

Buy or Ignore?

If there's one direct point I'm getting at in this review it's that every gamer should own a copy of THPS. For so many different reasons, it's one of the best, most historical games ever made. It's also very entertaining, along with all the other games in it's series. If you are new to the Tony Hawk line, I suggest that instead of just jumping right to the newest games, you go back and play up the series. It will not only get you better at the game, but it will also help show you more about what this series is all about. There's no reason not to own this game, and if you don't have it, I suggest you go out and buy a copy right away. Because if you've never played this one, you are missing out on a gaming legend.

Final Score: 10

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/06