Review : Tony Hawk's Project 8 [PS3]

Review

Tony Hawk's Project 8

By Mr. Marbles
December 11, 2006 12:18 PM PST
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, let me say that the PS3 version of Tony Hawk's Project 8 is--you guessed it--exactly the same as the Xbox 360 version.

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The character creation mode isn't as robust as in the past.

There's a twist, thanks to the Sixaxis tilt-specfic control options but those are hardly any reason to get yourself excited.

Eighth Times A Charm?

Appropriately named, Project 8 is the Birdman's eighth console appearance and it wouldn't be a stretch to be sick of Tony and his crew at this point. I haven't been addicted to a Tony Hawk game since THPS2, and the five games that followed were mere write-offs.

But with the new slow-motion Nail the Trick mode and a back to basics approach to the level design and the story, Project 8 has that addictive nature that made the first two games in the series so much fun. I've read and heard claims of others knocking the game for occasional glitchiness and slowdown, but rest assured that these problems are few and far between and usually don't affect gameplay.

I won't waste any more of your time telling you how good the game is, because we covered that already in our Xbox 360 review and again, the game's pretty much identical. The only differentiating factor here is the option to use the Sixaxis tilt functionality for specific in-game controls.

Maintaining Balance

The tilt function is turned off by default when the game begins, by the way, but they can be changed at any time through the settings menu. You can turn it on to individually control balance, tricks, and steering, or for any combination of the three. But, as you'll quickly discover, using tilt is unbelievably awkward. It's hard enough to land high-point combos in Project 8 that require the utmost concentration, let alone have to do it by jerking the Sixaxis controller like an idiot to land the simplest of grinds. It's very hard to get used to and, even with a lot of practice, there's still an invisible skill barrier that won't allow you to skate as well as with the standard controls.

Thank the powers that be that they didn't make it a mandatory part of the game. Strip away that flub and Project 8 is still the great skate game that I've come to love. Only difference is, it's on the PS3.