Tony Hawk's Project 8

"THP8 proves to be the most satisfying title in one of the most successful and acclaimed franchises of all time. Shame it's not more recognized."

I've been with the series from practically from the beginning. You name it, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground, Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Tony Hawk American Wasteland, and now Tony's Project Hawk 8. Over the years I found the series to constantly get better and better until Tony Hawk's Underground 2, which is were Neversoft dropped the ball. Up until now, Tony Hawk's Underground was arguably the last game in the series to really revamp the wheel. Since then each game had just been a rehash of the year before with a few touchups here and there. Finally Neversoft scrapped everything wrong with the old games and completely redid everything into their most complete package yet.

Story 7/10

For an extreme sports title you wouldn't think a story would even be brought up. However, if you were to take a look back at some of the previous titles of the series you would easily see that Neversoft has been trying to incorporate some snazzy storylines in the game for a quite a while. The best story in any Tony Hawk game yet has been Tony Hawk's Underground, and Tony Hawk's Project 8 doesn't change that. The original underground was an epic tale with betrayal, the becoming of a legend, and the fight for what was right. For some reason Tony Hawk's Underground 2 ditched all of that and made the story look like a MTV show. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland though had the most embarrassing story with it's annoying characters, never-changing plot, and pointless objectives. It seems that Neversoft in this game, instead going back to Tony Hawk's Underground and making a more movie-like storyline, has ditched pretty much the story idea entirely, going back to the roots of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4. There is a plot though. Apparently Tony Hawk is looking for the Top 8 skaters in the region to join up with him. Your goal is to move up into Top 8. Boom. That's it. So those looking for a more involved storyline better go check out Tony Hawk's Underground. I'm guessing Neversoft was too obsessed with the gameplay of this game to make one. Hopefully we expect the next game in the series to have one.

Gameplay 10/10

Tony Hawk has always been addictive for one reason: its killer complex system and smooth flowing combos. Creating combos qualifies for one of gaming's most satisfying things to do ever. It's just a thrill to build up points after doing long and stylish lines across a level. Thanks to this latest installment, creating combos is easier than ever. There are a ton of things to combo here and thankfully none of it feels thrown together. The levels are all perfectly designed to combo into one another, which is an absolute blast to do. This time around Neversoft has even thrown in a new feature called Nail the Trick which basically flings the camera up to the skater's feet and gives you complete control on how you want to flip the board depending on the way you move the analog stick. This feature can build up a lot of points and can be used frequently in one combo. The only way it doesn't feel cheap is the fact getting it down is tough! Nail the Trick requires a lot of precision and perfect timing. One miss of a button and the combo is dead. So what seems like easy money actually comes with a killer price. On top of that, Neversoft has added rag doll to the bails. Normally rag doll is used only for dead bodies in shooters. To see it in a game like this, where it can be triggered at any moment the player feels, is hilarious. The skater can fly at outrageously high attitudes and come crashing in on his/her face at ridiculous speeds only to get back up again. Funny stuff. The game itself surprised me. It's unlike the last four games in the series. This one is hard! For an experienced veteran who's been with the series from the beginning, this game will seem challenging. For a newcomer, this game at times will seem impossible. Getting into the Top 8 is rather easy with a few difficult bumps here and there, but getting into the Top 4 and then the number one spot is practically the hardest thing a Tony Hawk game has ever asked for. I, myself, who has been with the series from practically the beginning and consider myself to be quite a combo master, even have trouble with the absurdity of some of the goals. That's not to say that it's a flaw though. For the last couple of years people have been complaining about the difficulty of some of the Tony Hawk games. The last really difficult Tony Hawk was Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, and since then they've seem to only get easier and easier. Thankfully Neversoft was finally wise enough to finally listen and revamp the difficulty. Hats off to them. There are also new types of goals. Some of which you don't even need to press a button to enter into. Just combo into in it and it begins. Of course, each goal is set to three difficulties. Amateur, which is like just doing a forth of the actual goal, Pro, which pretty is much is fully completely the goal, and Sick, which is completely the goal but with something crazy attached. This is a cool and everything, but to get to the number spot you'll need to get everything sick anyway. There are also secret spots now. There are only thirty-six of them, and not all of them are genuinely hidden, but the ones that are really cool. I hope next game in the series makes more use of this idea. There are some things that are missing, but are probably just waiting to be added for the next installment. Until then, this game feels complete enough to dismiss that anyway.

Graphics 9/10

Definitely not the best graphics on a next gen console, but their good enough to be pleased with anyway. They are definitely the most realistic graphics in the entire series and the colors practically bounce off the screen. The detail is still as crazy as ever. The lighting is great pretty much anywhere you go, though Focus almost lights everything up so brightly that it becomes blinding. There is also a slight framerate issue though there is rumored to be a patch released soon that fixes this, so there's nothing to complain about.

Controls 10/10

Thank you Neversoft! The Xbox 360 version of Tony Hawk American Wasteland had a bit of a response issue and sloppy layout. Thankfully Neversoft has cleaned up all the controls and pervious so that they feel really clean and easy to handle. Even PS2 veterans will find these controls easy.

Replaybility 9/10

It was really the Tony Hawk series that introduced a kind of game to me that a player would want to keep playing long before it was over simply because it would just get bigger and bigger. This one didn't me down. Getting in the top eight feels like it's only the beginning of the game. Even getting in the top four stills leaves more to be desired. The only real issue is that the game world doesn't get a whole lot larger. There aren't any crazy secret levels that Neversoft has been known to make for every other title. There is however plenty of secret characters and many things to purchase in the skate shop. This is no THPS2 or THPS4 in terms of replaybility though.

Multiplayer 10/10

I have yet to play online yet because I've set up an Xbox Live account, but I have played bought game to two parties with my a lot of my friends already, taking turns on and off with spilt screen. It is a blast. There aren't any new gametypes, (except one that is exclusive to XBL), but ones still work perfectly. My favorite is horse because it calls for you really get show off your skills among you're friends…and then effortlessly take them down to ground! This game is a great way to kill time among friends.

Out of all the Tony Hawk games this is by far the most satisfying. It definitely manages to impress on many levels and is the first one in a long time that hasn't let players down. There are some unmentioned issues like lack of customization and ridiculous goals that rely mostly on luck, but everything else balances out so you really shouldn't care about that. There has really yet to be a flawless Tony Hawk game but this is the closet.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/27/06