Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

"GBA excellence from the Tony Hawk Line"

Introduction to: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3

The Tony Hawk line is a fascinating and amazing one. It stretches back to PS1 days, with the very first game, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Since then there has been 4 more Pro Skater Games, 2 Underground games, and a new name: American Wasteland is due later this year. All these games are spectacular and I enjoyed each and everyone.

But on to this particular version. As far as Gameboy versions of the Tony Hawk games, I wasn't a huge fan. I thought they were pretty cheap and not all that much fun, not like my beloved Playstation 2 games. This was the first Tony Hawk game on the Gameboy that I enjoyed. You would like it to...

This game was released in 2002 by Activision. It is rated E for everyone, and everyone will enjoy. It is also an inexpensive game, it is on GBA and it is kind of old. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is game play. Well let's see about that.

Game play/Controls 10/10

Smooth and simple, just what we are used to from the Tony Hawk line. This game runs just like that. About the controls, there is a little issue. It really matters on what you like best. I found that the best control set-up is like this: A- Crouch, Ollie; B- Flip tricks; R- Grab tricks; L- Grind tricks. This works best for me, but what works best for you is up to you. I would recommend the above controls however, as I think that they are easiest.

So, just like the Playstation 2 version of the game, you start off with a choice of one of many skaters. Pick your skater, and you start off at level one. Simple enough. Before the level starts, you receive a list of goals to complete. You get two minutes to complete as many goals as possible. When your two minutes are up, you start again and get all the goals that you didn't get on your first try. Continue until you have all of the goals done. At a certain number of completed goals, you move on to the next level. This is how the game works.

Eventually, you will find that you have completed all the goals for one skater. Good job, but now you get to the goals again with a different skater, or you can change the setting in the Skate Shop options menu, giving you a whole list of new goals for each level. Cool! Also in each level is skill points. Collect them and update your list of stats and become an even better skater. You even unlock new skaters and levels by beating the game with new character. I can't tell you much about this, so try it yourself!

Graphics 9/10

This is a Gameboy Advance game, remember? We all know that the Gameboy Advance doesn't have the best graphics in the world, but that's alright. Based on Gameboy Advance standards, the graphics for this game are actually pretty good. They used a system that makes it look like it is 3D, and you sort of have an above view on things. It's different but effective.

As far as level construction is concerned, this game delivers. The levels made me nostalgic of the original Playstation 2 version of the game. They cut some areas of certain levels out, but added some new areas that weren't in the Playstation version, to make it unique. My personal favorite is the Airport level, but other levels feature interesting things in the background like moving cars that run you over, people walking around, etc. The level construction is overall one of my favorite parts of the game because it is like the Playstation game only smaller and it is fun to make comparisons.

Sound 5/10

The music in this game is definitely my least favorite part of the game. Instead of a real soundtrack, they just put some weird drum beats and things in the background. It is kind of annoying and repetitive. I don't like and I often play with my volume off.

The sound in the levels does redeem the sound category somewhat, as other miscellaneous noises sound good, cars other background noises, that sort of thing. The music is really the only disappointing thing in this game.

Replay-ability 10/10

I pick this game up and play it for a little while all the time and I beat it a year or so ago. This game is really good for replay-ability because there is so many different characters and goals to complete, and plenty of neat things to unlock. The multi-player mode is an interesting thing to experiment with, and overall it is fun to just pick it up and try to beat your best combo in a level.

Final Recommendation

You should definitely buy this game. If you are a Tony Hawk fanatic like me, or not, you will take interest into the addicting qualities of this game. You can rent it if you are in to that sort of thing, I however, like to purchase my game so I have all the time I need to discover all there is to discover in a game, and that is why I usually recommend you to buy a game. Anyway, this is a good one to have in your Gameboy Advance game collection, and it is fun for the whole family. So go buy your copy, and get your game on!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/31/05