Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

"Where's Xbox Live???"

I won't usually give a game a perfect score unless it's, well, perfect.  THPS 4 is the first entry in the series to truly break away from it's predecessor's tried and true formula, and I couldnt be more thankful.  Sure, I appreciated the other Tony games for their ingenious control system, stellar graphics, and richly crafted soundtrack (all of these elements will be later discussed in the core of the review) but the career mode was getting a bit stale.  But enough of the intro, lets get on to why I feel that Tony 4 is the rebirh for the series:

GRAPHICS 9.5/10
I really feel Neversoft did a great job in this department.  Character's faces look exactly like their real-life counterparts, and no detail is spared.  I was pleased with the amount of detail that went into the skateparks and halfpipes.  It looked as if they had actually been used before with wear and tear showing, and the halfpipes looked like each individual plank was laid on in a traditional pattern.  The graphic designers obvously did their homework in this department.  The only reason I cant give a 10 to the graphics is for the simple fact that isnt drastically overhauled from Tony 3. With each installment, I expect a new and better graphics engine. Still, considering the size of the levels and the articulant detail, these are by no means bad in any way.

Sound/Music 9.75/10
New Tony, updated soundtrack. Liscensing AC/DC's TNT for the opening movie and the game was a stroke of geinus. The soundtrack now features 80's bands which i enjoy. It also features Punk (Less Than Jake, Flogging Molly) Rock (Offspring, System Of A Down) and Rap (Run-DMC, Public Enemy). One thing I was surprised to see was the addition of MuskaBeats, a compliation of hip hop mixes from one of the skaters, Chad Muska. Truth be told, I would rather saw my ears off with a plastic knife rather than listen to any of these horrendous ''songs'' again. Although i personally loathe them, I do appreciate the idea of Neversoft incorporating some of the skaters's music into the game. They did this in Tony 3 with Jess Margera's (Bam's brother) band CKY. I hope a different skater's music will be placed in next time but i do give credit for a good idea.

Gameplay 8.5/10
Don't fix it if it ain't broke. This is the system upon which Pro Skater 4's engine is built on. The controls still havent changed one bit (except now for the mostly useless spine-transfer) which is a good thing. The manuals and reverts are effortlessly performed, which is the way it should be unlike that piece of crap software that is Agressive Inline (shudder). Shame that online play is absent from a system and a game that could really give it the boost it would need. System link almost compensates for it, but still would not even come close to the euphoric feeling of talking smack through Xbox Live to your virtual opponents. A great new addition to the game is the use of flatground freestyling. Some people may complain that this feature is too dependent on button-mashing. I think
otherwise, as it is very easy to memorize the inputs.

Overall 9/10 (not an average)
As you can probably tell, the new features give this Tony a huge edge over the rest. With 190 progressivly harder goals to complete (I've had this game since release, and I only have completed 180) and Pro Goals (special goals for each individual skater) it will be a long time before you see all that this baby has to offer. If you are in the market for a good action sports game, I highly reccommend getting this over anything else that's out there for now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/03/03