Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

"A fantastic conversion of the console versions"

Playing this after playing its older console brothers, I am honestly floored. It has captured the classic THPS gameplay perfectly, and improves on it by eliminating loading time and making it portable. I have THPS 2 for GBA, liked it for it's shock value, but got bored of it after a while. But I felt an immediate improvement when I played this version (probably because of the addition of the revert move), and I am happy to say it is a masterpiece. 3 has numerous improvements over 2, such as much improved graphics, bigger levels, create a skater mode, a secret level that is actually worth the time you put in to get it, and basically lots more of everything.

Graphics: Absolutely stunning. This puts many PlayStation games to shame. Seriously. The one big thing to note, however, is that the levels are viewed entirely of an isometric perspective. What that means is that you see everything through a fixed (static, if you will) viewpoint. The levels don't really move, they just scroll along with the skater. This takes a bit of time to get used to, but once you do, you'll be just fine. If you're worried this will cause levels to be the least bit mundane, don't fret. The levels rock. Although the levels and backgrounds aren't truly 3D, everything else is. Decks, skaters, and items and characters strewn throughout the levels are rendered in full, rotatable 3D glory. And unlike the first THPS GBA game, these have really good textures. Although I know the GBA hardware can't do the impossible, I give graphics, for the isometric level view, a 9/10.

Control: Undoubtedly the finest aspect of this game (and any other version of this series, for that matter) is the fluid-as-water gameplay. Once you get used to the view, the control is spot on perfect. After going through the tutorial, you'll be pulling off manuals, grinds, reverts, ollies and more like you were doing it the day you were born. The gameplay on this thing is more addictive than crack. 10/10

Sound: Not bad, but not my cup of tea. First off, let me just say that the sound effects are awesome. They sound just like real life. I just don't care much for the music. The menu music is the same as the console versions, and that's fine, but the level music is just kind of ho-hum. They couldn't convert the great soundtrack from the console versions, so they made some new music. And it's nothing special. Generally, I don't even listen to GameBoy music, so it's not much of a loss to me. 7/10

Glitches: The only thing close to being considered a glitch is that when you are scrolling through options when dressing your custom skater, it shows another option for a split second. Actually, all THPS versions do that for whatever reason. This still deserves a 10/10.

Replay: When you beat the game %100 on career mode on normal characters, you open up sponsor mode for that character, which essentially lets you play career mode again with that character, only on the second time, it's a little bit harder. When you beat sponsor mode %100, you unlock something. It may be a secret skater, it may be a secret level, or a cheat. It depends on which time it is that you just beat it on. To play through the whole thing will take a long time, as long as you don't play it constantly like me :p . And when you do complete it, you may just erase your progress and start over for the hell of it. It's that good. 10/10

Overall: There are only a few things barring this game from a ten, and that's these couple of things: You can't open the secret areas in free skate (which really peeves me), you can't edit your stats as freely as in other versions, it could use some more levels and tricks, and you only get one custom skater slot. That's about it. If you have the money, go out and buy it. Now. 9/10

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 09/15/02, Updated 09/15/02