Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

"Unless you are a real skater, stick with the Playstation"

I have to admit, at first I was skeptical about this game--Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 for GBC? Impossible. Or not. I got this game one day when I had a twisted ankle (from skating) and couldn't skate any more. So I found skating in a different form.

GAMEPLAY
When I got this game I was immediately impressed. They even managed to keep the look and feel of its big brother in the menus. When I started playing, I was also impressed. The skater moves fluidly, and is not moving too fast for you to miss things such as rails. The objectives add a nice collectibility (if you will) element to the game. You can't just go into a course and skate around and expect to get anywhere in this game. You have to enter the course knowing what you are going for (as in what objectives you want to complete), and you have to work towards them (especially things like the 12 move combo, 20,000 points, and S-K-A-T-E).

COURSES
The courses in this game are well designed; as much as possible they keep the layout and feel of its Playstation big brother, and they actually feel like what they are. Vert courses feel like vert courses and street courses feel like street courses. Each course has its own look and feel, no matter how similar. For example, the Skate Street looks like a skatepark, and the Hangar, despite the fact that it has similar ramps and rails, feels like a Hangar (maybe its the back ground, maybe its the helicopters and airplane). You know what I mean.

GRAPHICS/SOUND
As soon as I turned on this game I knew that the music was not too great. In the menus, it's just a bunch of beats (as in its big brother), but the way it differs from the Playstation version is that when you actually start skating, it's still just a bunch of beats. No matter how you look at it. As for the graphics, they pack a whallop. However diminutive, a heelflip varial lein looks like a heelflip varial lein and a 360 flip to melon looks like a 360 flip to melon. You get the point. The tricks look like what they are (except for that retarded 5-0 grind, what were they thinking when they made it look like that?).

REPLAYABILITY
Well, if you don't skate in real life, you probably won't be too interested in checking out all the special grinds and moves, which means once you beat this game once, you probably won't be to interested in taking another round. However, if you are a skater (like me), you should be interested in skating till you drop. I can't get enough of those kickflip to bluntsides or 360 flip to melons in real life, what makes you think I 'll leave them alone here? If you are a real skater, you'll probably be thrashing up Venice Beach and Skate Heaven until the cows come home, but if you're not, then you should stick with the Playstation version (which I can't get enough of either).

REALISM
Can anybody tell me how judos and airwalks got into the normal tricks when 360 flips and sex changes had to stick with the special moves? What kind of a world is this when every skater can do a melon but only a select few can quickflip? And what kind of skater can do a 360 method without riding a ramp, and can't do a heelflip varial lein without riding a ramp? If you're not a skater, you probably won't care about these things, but as a skater, this bugs me, and takes away from the realism of the game. Also, I've got a bone to pick with the ollies. These are some of the biggest, best transfers and spins the world has ever known, and the fact that nobody could ever do these kinds of ollies and transfers also takes away from teh realism of the game. And I thought the Playstation was stretching it.

OVERALL
A great game that (surprisingly enough) brings the feel of speed and pain that the Playstation brought us portable. As a real skater, I will be playing this game for a long time to come, but if you're not, you might want to check out another game, because you'll soon become bored with this one. A diminutive yet complex game (if you really think about it) that should hit home with any skater that owns a Game Boy Color.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/18/01, Updated 02/18/01