Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Why do the good games have to come out all at once? Catch our gigantic Tony review and see if it's still got enough steam to rule the world.

As Neversoft began the fourth installment of the successful Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater franchise, one mandate became clear: Innovate or die. The original game established the action sports genre; its sequel expanded on its potential. THPS3 brought it onto the current generation of platforms and?almost beside the fact?brought the game online. The team realized that Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 had to incorporate some core improvements to keep its audience, cement its reputation, and keep the genre rolling forward. And thankfully, that?s exactly what the game does.

Career Counseling
Like a good sequel should, Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 builds on the past while moving to the future. The new game retains everything that players love about and expect from the franchise, but has enough changes that it?s a fresh experience. Some of those changes are significant and structural; others are small tweaks. The result, however, is a game with the same addiction level of its forebears without some of the problems that have dogged the series in the past.

The main enhancement lies in the Career mode, which has traditionally been an exercise in repetition: Learn the goals on each level, complete them, then switch to another skater and complete those same exact goals all over again. That tedium is all gone now?the new single-player dynamic involves 9 levels, including London, a zoo, Alcatraz, and Jacksonville?s Kona skatepark, each packing 15-20 goals. Those goals can be completed in any order and with any skater; once you accomplish a goal once with one skater, you never have to do it again (unless you want to, either to try it with a different skater or to improve your score or ranking). This freedom, which is similar to what?s found in Aggressive Inline but kicks it up a notch, simply makes single-player fun again?it feels like all play and no work instead of the other way around.

Pro Motions
The Career Mode goals themselves have been expanded as well. You?ll still find old standbys like spelling out S-K-A-T-E, high-score plateaus, and competition runs, but they?re joined by skill tests like spelling out C-O-M-B-O in one extended trick; call-and-response sessions where you must perform a random collection of tricks within a time limit; and amusing oddballs like saving a painter from a deadly shark or racing a bike messenger through San Francisco. Best of all, you?ll receive the goals from various pro skaters and characters you?ll meet as you explore levels. Chad Muska, for instance, challenges you to beat his best three combos, while cheeky Geoff Rowley tells you to steal the hats off the bobbies in London. A few of the tasks build player skills, too; for instance, some of Rodney Mullen?s goals are actually mini-tutorials on the finer points of flatland tricks. The increased interactivity with other characters really makes the game feel more alive and organic.

Naturally, the further you progress, the harder the goals become, but after you complete a set number of goals, you?ll unlock the Pro Challenges?extremely tricky tasks specific to each skater. For instance, Bob Burnquist?s Pro Challenge is based on his winning King of Skate stunt, where he skated through a fullpipe loop with the top removed. In the game, it?s even harder?you?ll have to perform specific tricks over an ever-widening inverted gap. Once completed, the Pro Challenge unlocks even more difficult goals for experts to achieve. Throughout the game, players build up stat points and cash, the latter of which is used to unlock secret characters, new costume elements, hidden levels, reward movies, cheats, and more. With 190 goals total, it will take a while for even the most experienced players to reveal all that THPS4 has to offer.

Engine Mechanics
The changes run deeper than the single-player structure, however. Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 uses an entirely new engine, which makes possible more complex environments and more graphic goodies than in the past. Visually, THPS4 might not look fundamentally different at first, but spend some time playing and the enhancements become obvious. Player animations are noticeably improved; you?ll spot more subtlety of motion on balances, for instance, and some skaters can incorporate props into their more fantasy-oriented special tricks. Also, clothing and boards deteriorate?knees on jeans become scuffed, while board graphics grind away a bit after railslides. They?re small but very cool touches. It?s difficult to tell the visual difference between the two consoles, except for better reflections and some motion blur effects during special tricks on the Xbox?nothing that will dramatically affect your enjoyment either way.

The levels are not only more interactive, but they?re also enormous?much larger than those from THPS3, and full of creative trick lines that will take you up to rooftops, inside buildings, and around dangerous cliffs. The speed has also been cranked, so that skaters fly through the levels at an insane velocity. The controls respond as accurately as ever; if you?ve got the skills and reflexes, you?ll harness the precise response into tight tricks. New moves include the spine transfer, which lets you transition over a double-sided ramp without losing your combo, and skitching?grabbing the rear bumper of a car and holding on for dear life. Both are easy to integrate into crazy combos, though spine transfers might be trickier for some Xbox gamers, since there are less buttons on the controller.

Neversoft produced more audio in-house this year, so there are thousands of speech samples?a collection of phrases and exclamations for each skater (who all handled their own voice-overs for extra authenticity) plus lots of scripted bits for the characters you?ll meet as you skate around. They?re varied enough that things don?t get boring, and they?re personalized?if you?re skating as Tony Hawk, for instance, Chad Muska will call you over by name. The soundtrack is filled with a mix of old-school metal and hip-hop as well as some bands just about to break big. One small but amazingly cool addition is the ability to create your own playlist?you can toggle tracks on and off at will, so you only groove on what you want to hear.

Grind Online
Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 3 was the first PS2 online game. Now that Sony has finally caught up with Neversoft, the team has pushed even further forward. The PS2?s online mode supports eight players instead of just four, incorporates a new ?Homie List? so you can track down and play with your friends, and adds team play (ever wanted to show off in a 7-on-1 Trick Attack? Here?s your chance) as well as more gameplay modes. Joining last year?s Graffiti, Trick Attack, Slap, and King of the Hill are Combo Mambo, which rewards the biggest strings of tricks; Goal Attack, which uses the career mode events to test teamwork; and eternal online standby Capture the Flag. Players can also turn collision off, so that every pass by a fellow skater won?t result in a smackdown. (The Xbox?s System Link mode supports all the multiplayer stuff listed above too, but it?s networked, not online; THPS4 does not support Xbox Live.)

The park creator returns as well, but online play gives it the ultimate boost?build a killer skate park, upload it to Neversoft, and if it passes muster it will be made available for download and online play soon thereafter. If you start an online game with a custom park, it will be sent to all who join your session (the park files are super-small).

Still the Best
If Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater hadn?t changed, there was a good chance that it would have stagnated and started to lose its loyal audience. Neversoft and Activision have prevented that from happening here with excellent implementation of great ideas. If you don?t go for action sports games, Tony Hawk?s Pro Skater 4 probably won?t convert you. On the other hand, if you?ve found yourself bored and constricted by the series? structure, this is the game that might win you back.

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