Tony Hawk's Underground 2

"THUG2 -"

Unlike the previous games in the Tony Hawk series, "Tony Hawk's Underground 2" takes a huge twist of events. Since THPS4 introduced the free-roam in story mode, where you can pick and choose missions, this has give many players freedom, unfortunately, this time you have to find skaters hidden somewhere and do awful missions that have no connection to skateboarding most of the time. This game is not a good sequel to the original THUG, and this game shouldn't have even had the name Underground in it, because it really brings shame to the first THUG. Being a fan of the Tony Hawk game franchise, and playing every single one, I find that this game is where the series should've ended. Honestly, I'm suprised they continued the legendary series after a game like this.

Gameplay: 7/10
The controls in this game are very easy, and special tricks are very simple to perform. There are some new in-game features that are good, and some that suck completely. For example: Focus is a feature where if your special meter is full enough you can perform tricks better in slow-motion. A terrible feature is the Natas Spin, where you endlessly spin on small fire hydrants, and makes skateboarding games more unrealistic then ever. There is graffiti tagging where you can create your own graphic, and freak-out, which when you bail you can regain some points back by attempting to get "angry" at the board. Other than this, there is nothing special.

Story: 4/10
There is where the game lacks. Your in a "World Destruction Tour" where you basically fly around to 6 different parts of the world, and you cause havoc and destruction. There are 2 teams, and the losing team (whoever scores the least amount of points) pays for all of the expenses of the trip. It is a dull storyline, since the first game you went from a nobody to a pro, and now you end up hitting people with tomatoes, and skateboarding with a jester and a witch doctor. I'm not going to spoil the ending, but the ending of the game is when you get to the point where you say: "Why did I ever pick this game up", since the ending, and mostly the whole story has very dumb, 5th grade humor in it. All in all, the story isn't terrible, but it isn't good as well. In my opinion, your really only doing 10% of skateboarding, and the rest is hitting people, tagging billboards, or blowing stuff up.

Graphics and Sound: 9/10
The graphics in this game are amazing. The downside of the graphics, is that most of the characters look like 14 year olds. Other than that, the graphics are amazing, the texture of each level is really good. The menus are very colorful and filled with life, so you could have fun looking around. The soundtrack is great too, you get to hear some underground and classic hip-hop, with a mix of punk, and modern rock, and you'll be suprised to hear The Doors, Frank Sinatra, and other classic bands in this game. The Sound FX are good as well, from the boarding rolling through the street, from you bailing, and the voice-overs are done very well. Voices like Nigel's and Paulie's are horrible though, and very irritating. Other than that, the sound is very smooth and nice to hear.

Replay Value: 8/10
There are many things aside from the story that you can do. The best new feature is "Classic Mode" which has the new and older TH game levels, and the old 2:00 time limit and the objectives like get the S-K-A-T-E letters, and the high/pro/sick score. You can create your own skater, park, graphic, or trick, giving you endless possibilities. Completing the game on different difficulties results in unlocking certain hidden skaters like Shrek, C.O.D Soldier, The Hand, Phil Margera, and others. You can also unlock pedestrians like the German Drunks, German Cop, Bratwurst Vendor, Space Monkey, and Aliens. Just unlocking them is fun, but once you get to the point where you see what your playing as, it kind of makes the game feel childish and stupid. Creating your own park is fun, once you get tired of the same old levels, since you can almost make a dream skatepark for yourself to roam in. Create-a-park is very useful, and that makes this game well worth replaying.

FINAL SCORE: 6/10
The game consists off oddities, and many pranks and gags, but if you get by all of that, you get a pretty decent game. With less than 10 pro skaters, you have over 65 non-professional skaters, which make the game more of an arcade game, since your running around with aliens and bigfoot. Play classic mode, and try to customize the game to it's fullest, since story mode hurts this game completely.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/09

Game Release: Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (US, 10/04/04)