Tony Hawk's Project 8

"They messed up Underground 2 and Wasteland. This one? Not so much. But it ain't perfect."

Tony Hawk's Project 8, the, of course, eighth installment in the Tony Hawk series. After the "Pro Skater" portion of the Tony Hawk series, Activision decided to take a different approach to Tony Hawk games. The freedom of being able to get off of your board, walk about, get more in-depth with the creativity, and so on. However, this fantastic Tony Hawk revolution only lasted a game. Until they introduced Underground 2 and American Wasteland. Not to be a Negative Nancy, but these games flopped, big time. They went too far with what that made perfect in Underground. And now...Project 8. You know, I didn't have very high hopes for this game, and I didn't think it would meet my standards. I was wrong.

Game Play: 10/10

Forget the boring story, the overall game play is awesome. Feels just like it should. The goals provide quite a challenge, as well as Spot Challenges, and completing the game completely. Although it's the same thing with every Tony Hawk game, I was not let down. The part of the game that really caught my eye however was the Nail-The-Trick mode. It gave you a chance to create awesome looking tricks right then and there, adding huge bonuses to your point total. As well, turning your skater's speed down to 1 or 2 was a joy too. It was fun going into focus mode, kickfliping to a nose manual on a picnic table while being able to manual the WHOLE thing, instead of clearing it before even pulling the kickflip. Same thing with stair cases, rails, and the like.

Graphics: 10/10

There is nothing more I could ask for graphics wise. The way you can see the wheels turning when you go into focus mode....the way your legs move when doing tricks...brilliant. It's a really cool feature how they got the actual pros to come in and do their tricks with the special suits on so it could be put into the game. Of course, the scenery and character models were great, and I would hope they would please any gamer.

Sound: 6/10

Once again, Activision releases a decent soundtrack with the good songs and the bad ones. Decent raps, decent punk, decent rock. Then there are the little sounds like the rolling skateboard, and characters voices. Of course, they don't get any better then the actual person doing them, so I'm not even going to grade them.

Replay Value: 5/10

Well, once you finish everything....what's really the point of going back and doing it again...unless you NEVER get bored. Only really the try and beat your high scores and the increase goal performance, but really, that's all. However, I've heard good things about the online mode. Unfortunately, I couldn't get a taste of online, because my console kept freezing before I got a chance to play. Regardless....

Final Score: 7/10

Well, that's about it. Tony Hawk Project 8 is an above-decent game. Not great, but it will entertain those who have always loved Tony Hawk. It's fun, it's challenging, and it's cool. Finding gaps and secret spots, getting Sick on all goals all lead up to becoming the greatest skater on Project 8. If you're an achievement player, this will be a good game to obtain them in. Rent or buy? Well, that's a tough decision. If you're a hardcore fan who squeezes every little bit out of a game and is willing to do it with this one, then buy. If you're just looking for a little weekend fun because all of your other games are played out, rent this and go buy a different game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/22/06