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Tony Hawks Pro Skater Review
Kevin Berryman
00/12/0000
The control is great, the graphics slick, and the whole game oozes style. Don’t miss out on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater.
I must admit I was never interested in Tony Hawkās Pro Skater (THPS) even after the PSX version came out and received fantastic reviews. I didnāt even play the demo on the last ODCM disc until a friend of mine forced me. Well, after a couple minutes I knew I had to have more, and so I drove down to the only place in my town that sells games and bought it. And so I played and played and Iām still playing. THPS really has everything skate fans and non-skaters want in a game. Although some of the tricks and jumps are a little over the top at times, THPS can be considered a Skating Simulator. You can play as the famous Tony Hawk or nine other pro skaters that can really hold there own, as long as the player has the skills. And skills are what you will need, as the game can be very tricky at times. Players must pull off tricks while completing goals and all in a time limit. But its this pressure that keeps the game fast and fun, and gamers coming back for more.
Courses range from large sprawling outdoor skate parks and school grounds to complicated indoor shopping malls and factories. But to open up all nine of these fantastic courses you must complete a number of tasks the game calls 'Tape Challenges'. Tape refers to video tape or VHS, and completing them not only opens more courses but also more skate boards, and other extras that add a lot to the length of the game. Tape challenges can be anything like; grind five tables, get 5,000 points, find hidden tape, collect the letters S-K-A-T-E, and lots more. For me beating all the challenges has become an obsession of which my only escape is to finish them all. But all this wouldnāt be fun if you couldnāt pull of some insane tricks at the same time. Once the small learning curve has been overcome, tricks are easy and more fun then I could ever have imagine. Control is easy and never gets in the way of your goal, if you screw up a trick or jump, you have nobody to blame but yourself. This pure-skill gameplay makes for one of the most addictive games in years. As if the one player game isnāt enough, there is an extremely fun two-player mode. Two players go in and... well two players come out, but they do battle it out point style. The 2-player Trick Attack mode splits the screen and has each player pull of strings of tricks to see who is the best skater. The game would have been fine without a multi-player mode, but with it, itās gravy.
I never played the PSX version or the N64 version, but the Dreamcast version looks amazing. The characters are made of over 1,500 polygons a piece and move with extremely fluid animation. Their movements are so well done that replays could be mistaken for ESPN Extreme Sports Live. THPS is high res and runs at a very steady 30 frames per second, with no pop up or fog. Everything is crystal clear and realistic; textures look great and are rendered in high res with deep colors. On top of the great looking textures are water reflections, transparences, lighting effects, real time skid marks, and blood for the crashes and injures. The whole look of the game comes off very polish even though it never pushes the Dreamcastās hardware very hard. Next to some of the best Dreamcast games THPS may look simple. But next to some of the average Dreamcast games or games on any other system, THPS looks brilliant. That is to say, what the game lacks on the technical side it makes up for in style. Some courses even have giant screen with the bands from the soundtrack playing in full motion video. The video isnāt some short loop either, itās high res, long, and looks as good as it would in real life. The graphics in THPS are in one word 'Amazing'.
If I knew anything about music, I list off a bunch of popular rock and alternative bands and their best songs that make up the THPS soundtrack. But since I only know J-Pop, Garbage, and RPG soundtracks, Iāll just explain how the music fits the game. The music in THPS is the aural clone of the gameplay. The game is fast and the music is fast. The game has attitude and the music has attitude. And much like the Crazy Taxi soundtrack, THPSās gets you pumped and ready for insane gameplay. Although there are no voices in the game, there are the sounds of agony and pure pain during crashes and falls. They look painful and they sound painful. Sound effects are also fitting and add an extra bit of ambience that seals the deal and finishes the game out perfectly.
Tony Hawkās Pro Skater is a game that all can enjoy. Fast, fun, challenging and addictive, what more could you want. If you want great graphics, music and a fun two-player mode then this is the game for you. For those out there that are like how I was, and dismiss Tony as just a stupid skate boarding game, think again. Yes its a skate boarding game, but its much more, and its a game no gamer should miss. Although I haven't played any of the other version on the PSX and N64, I canāt imagine it getting any better then the Dreamcast version. The control is great, the graphics slick, and the whole game oozes style. Donāt miss out on Tony Hawkās Pro Skater.
