Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x

"The best skating franchise makes its way to the X-Box."

In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x, the ''x'' definitely stands for extra-think of this as THPS2: The Director's Cut. In addition to rebuilt courses from THPS2, you'll find all the original THPS levels waiting to be rediscovered, along with five new stages exclusive to THPS2x, including a London nightclub and a construction site.

While the bulk of it is stuff gamers have seen before, the amped visuals, improved draw distance, and slightly expanded levels make it worth playing all over again. The game doesn't support online play, but up to eight players can network their Xboxes for multiplayer matches.

The player models are based on the Dreamcast version of THPS2 (both games were developed by Treyarch) and though they're smoothly animated, the boarders still look like they could use improvement (one of the skaters seems to have a dent in his head). It's the world details that really pop, however-you can make out the individual blades of grass outdoors, and the colered lighting in the nightclub is downright trippy.

The sound effects, ranging from the scrape of urethane wheels to the humorously angry voices of N.Y.C. taxi drivers, sound fine. Soundtrack tunes by Powerman 5000 and Anthrax with Public Enemy still get your blood flowing. The controls, however, leave you with questions. Microsoft's controller itself could be to blame, but even so, this makes the game experience less fun then it should be.

GRAPHICS: 9
THPS2x's visuals aren't shocking compared to other Xbox offerings, but it's nice to get rid of draw-in at last. With the exception of cool lighting effects, most of what's here has been seen by gamers before, only never this high-res.

SOUND: 9
The bands that powered THPS2 on every other platform return for a balanced mix of hip-hop, metal, rap, and punk. The sound effects seem unchanged from previous versions, too.

CONTROL: 7
The game's low point. Is it a matter of weak programming or an unresponsive controller? It's tough to say. No matter who or what is to blame, THPS veterans will find special tricks unusually hard to perform consistently.

FUN FACTOR: 9
If you're looking for the ultimate version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, look no further. Improved visuals, eight-player support, and a bit of nostalgia make this a library-bound keeper.

RENT OR BUY? If you don't have Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 on any other system, then you should definitely buy this game, but if you do own THPS 2 on another system, then you could at least rent this game to play the new levels.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/03, Updated 02/23/03