Tony Hawk's Underground 2

"Who dosent like a World Destruction Tour?"

Tony Hawks Underground 2 is the sixth game in the great, and popular Tony Hawk series. Its the second game with a story in the series. While the story isn't great, it is still fun to play through story mode. This game steers farther away from skateboarding, with a lot of non-skateboarding related goals. If you want skateboarding play the classic mode in this game, which is just like the old Tony Hawks. The goals in it are things like "high score" and "collect skate".
Thats whats so great about his game- it appeals to everybody.

Graphics- 8/10
There is really nothing wrong with the graphics in this game. They are not superb, but they are good enough. The environments have lots of nice-looking detail to them, but the character models are not very nice looking.

Sound-9/10
The actual sound effects are pretty good-the usual noise when you grind, etc. What was really good about the sound was the sound track. It was a wide variety of good songs- stuff like Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, and The Doors-to your usual punk rock/hip-hop.

Controls-10/10
I think the thing thats always been great about the Tony Hawk series is the controls. They are the same as the last Tony Hawk Underground. The controls are really great on the X box-everything just feels nice and comfortable. . Your hands can get sore while playing this game, but its not as bad on the X box.

Story-4/10
Who really cares about the story in a skating game anyway?. Tony Hawk and Bam Magerea get different skaters and put the on teams- team HAWK or team BAM. They do this for the first annual World Destruction Tour. Group members score points by doing crazy and destructive things. The loser of the competition has to pay for the whole thing. The good thing is it has some pretty funny scenes in it all along the way.

Game play-9/10
Another great part of the Tony Hawk series has always been its game play-and this game is no different. You can play through story mode by talking to people and getting goals, and doing what is required. The goals are split half and half between skating and non-skating related things. You do pretty much everything-one minute your doing a certain line-and the next your releasing a bull that goes around and destroys things. During story mode you skate as four different people-each with there own goals. Yourself, a pro team mate of yours that you can choose, the guest character, and the secret character. The guest character always has something to do with the area your in-in Barcelona you skate as a Spanish person. The secret character is almost always famous, and they each have there own vehicle. You can play as Steve-O riding a mechanical bull.

Then, if you want to go bck to old-school skating you can play classic mode. Classic mode is just like the very first Tony Hawk, just with different environments, and modern-day graphics and skaters. Its a really fun mode that is great when your bored or finished with story mode.

Also, you can spend a lot of time making your own graffiti, decks, skaters, tricks, parks, and goals. It adds more depth to the game, which is great. If you've ever wanted to spray paint your own design, here is the place to do this.

Longevity- 8/10
This game can entertain you for quite a while. Story and classic modes are worth going through a few times-at least once on every difficulty since you unlock new stuff after beating different difficulties. Then, you can play on free skate with your own customized stuff.

Final score-9/10
I would recommend checking out the first Tony Hawk Underground before this one. If you like it, buy this one. If your an old-school Tony Hawk person rent this one first because it is a lot different then old Tony Hawk games.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05