Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Four wheels on a skateboard?four games in the Pro Skater series. Coincidence? Yes.

Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 has what fans crave?killer skate stunts, famous pro skaters, and plenty of flexibility. It?s also got one thing gamers don?t want, but it doesn?t get in the way of an otherwise great game.

Go Pro?
Bob Burnquist returns to the THPS family, now 14 skaters strong, not including the ones you can create. Levels have expanded greatly, and the career mode has been completely overhauled?goals are much more varied and nonlinear. Just when you think you have the game wired, the new Pro Challenges kick in to send the difficulty up another few notches. The new spine transfer helps extend vert runs, while the easy and impressive flatland trick system feels like its own game within the game.

THPS4 is stuffed with thousands of personalized speech samples?most of which were recorded by the pros themselves?and the soundtrack is a programmable mix of past and present rock, rap, and punk grooves?everything from AC/DC to Public Enemy. Graphic textures are hi-res, and character animation is sweet throughout; complex vert tricks look butter-smoove. The responsive controls are hampered by the GameCube controller itself?the unusually shaped, sized, and pressure-sensitive buttons and triggers sometimes trip up an otherwise easy combo.

?Or Go Slow
That leaves overall performance, which is where THPS4?s GameCube run gets a bit sketchy. Slowdown, in this day and age? Believe it?it comes and goes, depending on the environment and how it?s populated, but it?s definitely noticeable during some vert tricks, and it?s simply not there on the PS2 and Xbox versions. The minor problems with THPS4 seem to be hardware-based, and not design-oriented, so fans of the series should take heart. Despite the few flaws, the GameCube version of Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 will deliver plenty of skating thrills.

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