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GC'07: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground Preview
Gwynne Dixon
11/09/2007
The eleventh Tony Hawk's game bears down on us like a 25 ft drop-in. We took a first look at Leipzig...
Mark our words; we're entering a golden age in skating games. Remember when Sports Interactive and Eidos went their separate ways three years ago after over a decade of partnership? Prior to the split, Championship Manager was unquestionably the best football management game on the market. It had been gradually evolving with three all new game engines (Champ Mans 2, 3 and 4) throughout the 90s and early noughties, as well as yearly updates with gameplay tweaks in-between. Then, after the split, it was amazing what a little competition did.
Curiously, the same phenomenon seems to be happening with skateboarding games at the moment. In the past the Tony Hawk's series was the only significant skating game franchise in the land that could cut the mustard. For years it eeked out game after game with minor improvements form one title to the next. Having had a first look at Tony Hawk's during the Leipzig Game Convention recently, we can only conclude that EA's upcoming SKATE title has put the fear of God into Neversoft and jolted them into action like a red hot cattle prod up the a**e might.
SKATE's revolutionary flick-it controls and skate video features have been much talked about and are eagerly awaited by pretty much every gamer who's ever stepped on a skateboard. In order to counter the inevitable success of EA's new title, Neversoft have upped the ante with a barrage of new features. We can honestly say that there seems to be more additions to Proving Ground than any previous Tony Hawk's game.
In Project 8 we saw the inclusion of 'nail the trick', which allowed players to zoom into a bullet time camera view and perform kick tricks using both analogue sticks (each stick controlling one of your skater's feet). They've now added 'nail the grab' and 'nail the manual' with similar analogue stick style controls. 'Nail the trick' was the standout feature of Project 8 and these two new features promise much of the same. What's more, the three 'nail' features can also be linked together into combos.
In another attempt to keep up with the SKATE Joneses (who just moved in and have already procured a very evenly mowed lawn), Neversoft has also added a video mode for Proving Ground. Players can record video clips of their skating prowess and then share them through Xbox Live leaderboards (sadly, however, this option will not be available to PS3 owners via PSN, although the PS3 game will be online). Effects can also be added to clips such as monochrome, fish-eye, film-noir, streaks, colour filters and a Bond-esque gun-barrel effect. Neversoft have even included Guitar Hero III technology, which allows players to earn more points in their videos by timing tricks to the beats of musical tracks.
Another nice addition for camera nuts is the new options with photo opportunities. Unlike Project 8, where photo-ops were a stand alone challenge in the single-player game, gamers can setup a camera on a tripod in any part of the game world and take some pics of themselves doing some narle tricks. They can then share their masterpieces over Xbox Live and PSN.
As for the general structure of Proving Ground, even more stress has been put on developing your character throughout the single player game. While Project 8 saw you taking a nobody skater to the height of skating stardom by getting noticed in their local area (the Project 8 game world), Proving Ground challenges you with the task of developing into one of three skating styles (or, if you want, you can develop your skater into a mixture of the three). Firstly, there's the 'career skater' who's a bit of a self promoter. You also have 'hardcore skater' who lusts after bigger air, faster skating and more extreme tricks. Unique skills for the hardcore skater include the 'aggro-kick' and 'skate-checking' (i.e. rudely knocking people down as you skate along - what a nasty dude!). Finally, there's the 'rigger skater', a bit of a rebel who's obsessed with modifying their environment to create trick opportunities.
Neversoft have bought back 'create a park' specifically for the rigger skater, and they've added a few tweaks for good measure. Players can place obstacles in any part of the game environment to create near limitless variations of trick opportunities. In addition, obstacles can be placed specifically where you want them and are no longer constrained to grids. The rigger skater also has a unique 'mod tool' which allows them to customise the environment to their own ends. All of this should create greater freedom throughout the Proving Ground gaming environment.
Speaking of the game world, we've been assured that Proving Ground's will be about one and a half times the size of Project 8's with no loading screens. Given that Project 8 was already pretty large and seamlessly put together, one and a half times the size is actually more impressive than it sounds. Neversoft has gone for more of a real world feel in Proving Ground, with representations of Washington D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore making up the areas in the game, with four or five zones per city. They've also included some infamous skate parks from these cities, including Bam Margera's favourite spot FDR (in Philadelphia) and the recently shut down Love Park (also in Philly). To complement this added realism, varying weather conditions have been added for the first time in a Tony Hawk's game. We have to ask the question though, can you actually skate in the rain?
Finally for this jam-packed preview, we're going to sign-off with a word about the visuals. While Proving Ground looks much the same graphically as Project 8 at this stage, there are a couple of noticeable differences. The stalwart balance meter from previous Tony Hawk's games has been replaced by two large beams which curve in from each corner of the screen. They then move around depending upon your balance from one side to the other. It certainly does look weird at first compared to what we're used to, but at least it's fresh. We've also been told that the motion capture work that Neversoft did on the skaters in Project 8 has been continued into Proving Ground.
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