Tony Hawk video game series - discussion thread

[X-pert74]

Hey guys, I felt like making this thread in part because there is a new Tony Hawk game in the works that is currently intended for release later this year, according to this past tweet by Tony Hawk from Valentine's Day. Also, I just really like the Tony Hawk games in general, and wanted a dedicated place to discuss the series as a whole.

I'll start off by writing up my history with the series - it all started with my older sister, who really wanted to get a Playstation 2 around the time it first launched, so that we could play Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (I know it's an original Playstation game; we didn't realize until we got the game in our hands, heh). She really wanted to play that specific game for whatever reason, and we didn't own any Playstation console up to this point. I figured it would be cool to get as well, so that I could try out the Playstation-exclusive Mega Man games, so I was up for it. For Christmas that year (maybe? my memory is a little fuzzy on when exactly), we got a PS2 along with our respective games we wanted.

I played my Mega Man games for awhile, but eventually I saw my sister playing and enjoying THPS2, and decided to join in with her, playing split-screen 10-minute runs in the Hangar and School II levels. Previously the only other "extreme sports" game I'd played was 1080 Snowboarding, and while there was a bit of a learning threshold to overcome in the beginning, I eventually found the Tony Hawk control scheme much more conducive to racking up high scores and nailing cool tricks than the system present in 1080. My sister eventually gave up on the game, and I was only too happy to take over. I never actually beat THPS2 until a few years later, but later on we got THPS3, and I absolutely fell in love with it. It's just about a perfect transition to the PS2's hardware; there were plenty of new tricks and mechanics (including double and triple flips, which are wonderful; plus the essential Revert which makes air tricks as a whole more viable to use in combos), much larger levels that featured pedestrians and more interactive environments, and the framerate was so much smoother than on the Playstation. THPS2 was already an excellent sequel, and THPS3 just refines the series even further. I ended up becoming such a huge fan of the series that I even picked up real-life skateboarding as a hobby for a couple years. I eventually dropped it, but for the couple years that I did skate regularly, it was a lot of fun. I can't think of too many other video games that portrayed an activity in such a way that I became inspired to try its real-life equivalent.

Later installments would experiment with the classic formula, starting with THPS4 ditching the 2 minute time limit and encouraging players to explore a fairly open world, accepting goals from various NPCs (almost like an RPG, now that I think about it; also like the competing game Aggressive Inline, which came out between THPS3 and THPS4). Some changes/additions I think were better than others; for example, I really liked being able to get off my board and walk/run around in Tony Hawk's Underground, both so I could perform Caveman tricks and so I could get my skater to a specific area on the map in preparation for a cool combo, without the tediousness of skating there on my own. On the other hand, there were certain things that I felt were kind of pointless and didn't add anything special, such as driving cars in certain missions during THUG, or throwing tomatoes at pedestrians in THUG2. I still generally enjoyed the games despite these issues, up until the last main game I played at the time of release, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. THAW, unfortunately, was a significant step down in quality from THUG2, both design and polish-wise. It's one of the glitchiest games I've played in the series, with fairly common freezes in the PS2 version, and some rather annoying glitches in-game like your character not turning 180 degrees after a wallplant, despite the animation showing otherwise, and vice-versa for a sticker slap. The story mode was also pretty clunky in design; I dislike how you can no longer play as a female character in it, and the much-advertised free-roam world with no load times is pretty much just a series of standard Tony Hawk levels that are connected together via boring, desolate tunnels that you can trick and combo your way through. Considering the relatively uninteresting design of most of the levels (they're all based on various parts of Los Angeles, and don't have as much to significantly distinguish themselves from each other unlike levels in previous games), I think the intention to create a "free-roaming" world was perhaps not the best idea. I would rather have had a selection of unique, separate levels with their own vastly distinct settings like the previous games in the series did. Despite these issues though, THAW wasn't terrible; I still had some fun with it, and I do think the Bertleman Slide was a really nice addition. I never did play any later games in the series, because I didn't have a PS3 or 360 at the time Tony Hawk's Project 8 came out, and I didn't want to settle for the last-gen version of the game. By the time I finally got a PS3, I kind of forgot about THP8, and to this day have never played it


Much more recently, I've gone back off and on to revisit the Tony Hawk games I do own for various platforms (mostly Playstation entries, but I have some outliers like the PC version of THPS2, which has a few exclusive bonus levels from the first THPS). I still think the series is really fun, and these games hold up remarkably well. The music is still super awesome, and there's just something really engaging and exciting about free-roam trick-based skateboarding. It's basically an arcade-like sandbox 3D platformer with a score system, and I'm sad that there aren't many games like it that are being made today. I plan on getting Tony Hawk's Project 8 and Proving Ground, and finally experiencing those two games for the first time, to see just how Neversoft's final entries with the series turned out. I did recently get Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam for the Wii... it's not very good I like motion controls when they're done right, but they just feel tacked onto this game, and the downhill-focused nature of the game make it feel like there isn't really much unique content to play through. I might give it another chance, but I'm not surprised it wasn't received well. More recently, after Proving Ground the series was transferred from Neversoft to Robomodo, who made the much-maligned Ride and Shred games, which required that skateboard peripheral and came out at $120 each if I recall correctly. I never even bothered with these games because they seemed like a bad idea to me. Their most recent effort, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, I tried the 360 demo of, but I was very disappointed with it. The controls and physics are off for some reason, and the soundtrack selection is lacking; many of my favorite songs from the first two games are absent from THPSHD, and most of the new songs I find very underwhelming. The new songs, for the most part, lack the energy and aggressiveness that much of the classic Tony Hawk soundtracks featured, and feel completely out of place in a Tony Hawk game. Then there's the lacking level selection, which entirely consists of levels that have already been remade at least once or twice in the series' past, rather than featuring new versions of levels that previously only appeared in their original games, like San Francisco in the first THPS or New York from THPS2. To be honest, I'm kind of worried about the upcoming Tony Hawk game, assuming Robomodo is working on it again. I really want it to be good; I really do. I hope that if Robomodo is working on it yet again, that they seriously consider the negative feedback they received from THPSHD, and seriously consider dropping Unreal Engine 3 for the series.




Here are some questions to help kick off discussion -

• What is your absolute favorite Tony Hawk game, and why?
• What features/mechanics do you want, or not want, to show up in the upcoming new Tony Hawk game?
• How do you feel the series compares to other "extreme sports" series such as Skate, Aggressive Inline, or SSX?

[Aoi]

Ah, they're making a new one?! I love the THPS series.

I think I began those "extreme" games with 1Xtreme, which is a very early PS1 racing game very much like Road Rash (check it out, it's amazing). Going forward towards the THPS gameplay was probably the Cool Boarders series. You mentioned 1080, yeah, I was a psx fan with my Cool Boarders =3. Anyways, my friend bought the original THPS when it came out. To tell the truth, I never owned the original, but I played it alot... We'd spend every weekend trying to play through it.

Going forward, I didn't revisit the series until 3 came out on PS2. Again, I was hooked on it, and 3 kept me held over for a long time. I actually skipped 4 and THUG1, until later. THUG2 is probably my favorite game in the series. Despite its failings as feeling like an extension of the Jackass/Bam brands, moving away from skating and towards pranks, I loved it. Seriously, if I played a Tony Hawk game again, it'd probably be THUG2.

Unlike you, I was lucky to skip AW. In fact, I believe I was still playing THUG2 while AW was getting mixed reviews. When I finally got my 360, I bought P8. You really need to try P8... it feels almost like THUG3. My biggest gripe is maybe the lack of uniqueness and the difficulty of the latter missions. To this day, I don't believe I ever completed the game due to the nature of difficulty.

After that, skating games went towards that realism made popular in Skate, and I dropped them. Haven't touched any of those games since P8. If they were to make another, I'd really hope the steer away from all this serious business and go back to the fun arcade style of impossible tricks/grinds. I doubt they'll return to the THUG-form though = \

[🧀Son of Suzy Creamcheese🧀]

These games are very nostalgic for me. I used to play 3, and later 2 on PC, and I think I had 4 for GCN. A few years ago when I bought my N64 I got THPS2 and Banjo-Kazooie with it. Banjo-Kazooie didn't work, so I spent a lot of time playing that.

Still, it's 3 that I'm most familiar with, and it was the first game I ever played online as well. I even was part of a clan with some friends, although I don't remember anything about it. One thing I do remember is only listening to 'Ace of Spades' while playing it, haha. Long before I got into metal, too.

I never really got interested in the later games, although I have played Underground (I think) briefly.

I kinda suck at them, but they're fun regardless, and they make great multiplayer games.

[Dee Liteyears]

I played the hell out of THPS2 back then when I had it on PSX, such an awesome game. Though I think my first contact was the demo of the first for Dreamcast. Two minutes, one hangar, but sooooo much fun. Me and my buddy loved to take turns and chase for the HighScore.
My favourtite though is THUG2. The stages are pretty well done and the places are pretty faithful if very compressed recreations of their rl counterparts. Barcelona and Berlin are great^^
Haven't played any later Tony Hawk games though. Are they any good? I'm still a bit curious about the games which had their own board controller. I still want to get one someday, just to paint it pink, Marty McFly style^^ (good thing you can get them deart cheap now)

I think I also have the first THUG on my HaXBox. (one of the games that were already on the HDD) Maybe I should give it shot.

What would I want for a new Tony Hawk's? Dunno... the soundtrack should rock as hard as ever (Anthrax! Bad Religion!) and it should dwell in it's silly nonsense the series is known for. Also they should keep the arcady physics. If I wanted to steer a falling potatobag, I'd just get myself a real skateboard or play modern FPS . *g
Oh and please let it have the best skatepark editor of the series. That was another great part of the fun, even if my PSX memory card thought otherwise

[ZenithianHero]

I liked the first few, then later ones had a story mode and started doing gimmick missions and just lost me. I should hunt down 1-3 again. They were fun arcade type games.

[Elvin Atombender]

My experience with Tony Hawk started and ended with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on PC. Which was very enjoyable and easy to get into,but for some reason never compelled me to try other TH games,let alone extreme sports simulators. The Airport stage was my favorite.

[Colonel Kurtz]

I have zero affinity for skating or the skating sub-culture, but those games were very good, easy to grasp, and fun to play. A real success story. -the friends I had who actually had a skateboard were mad for this franchise. I only really experienced 1-3, and to me that's what TH should remain.

Amusingly, the only version I ever had was the GBA one, which was reputed for being surprisingly good and faithful.

For a new one, I simply would want a maximum of heritage courses remade in HD, 60 FPS, great clothes physics, so the normal next-gen facelift. I don't think the gameplay needed tinkering. I want a beautiful lightning system, a beautiful game. I could see myself buying that.

[moran]

I played THPS 1-3 a ton. I lost interest at 4. I didn't like the story aspect and open world style of it. I was a bigger fan of the original formula. And I definitely atarted to miss the downhill levels from 1 after 3. 1 was a classic. My friends and I would stay up all night with that one. Rune Glifberg was my guy. I loved the Christ Air move.

I loved the soundtrack for the first two also. So many good songs. I wasn't a fan of punk music at the time but these games got me into it more. The music really fell off with 3, in my eyes at least. I liked that you could turn certain songs off. After only cutting out 2-3 songs with the first two games, the only one I listened to on 3 was Motorhead.

3 had a great create-a-player though. I had a lot of fun with that. I think I filled out a whole memory card with characters that I made.

[strizzuth]

I'd played a few of the games here and there but the one I like to revisit is THAW. The whole concept is just so ridiculously over the top and I love the oh so very punk idea of "liberating" pieces of the city. It's far from perfect and definitely needed more time in QA but I still like it a lot. Plus the soundtrack is fun as hell and a lot of the covers of punk classics are actually good.

[Colonel Kurtz]

Mar 5, 2015 12:03:13 GMT -5 strizzuth said:

I'd played a few of the games here and there but the one I like to revisit is THAW. The whole concept is just so ridiculously over the top and I love the oh so very punk idea of "liberating" pieces of the city. It's far from perfect and definitely needed more time in QA but I still like it a lot. Plus the soundtrack is fun as hell

You know, your definition could exactly apply to Jet Set Radio/JSRF. Definitely one of those games you must try to play at least a little bit once in your lifetime as a gaming afficionado. You move by inline rollerblades, you do tricks. You free pièces of the city by tagging graffiti in special, hard to reach places, and the soundtrack is legendary, although in this case it's big beat and indie rock/electronica.

[toadofsky]

I honestly loved all the games up to Underground, I never played Underground 2 at the time because I didn't like the whole integration of JackAss, even though I find that show and the films hilarious (my taste in media varies greatly from high to low brow). I really liked Underground even with it's half baked storyline, I had fun on the bigger maps to explore and skate in. The play-list was good, but not as strong as the previous games.

The version of the game I hated most was the HD game. I bought it on PC and what a turd, not only did they not have the DLC on the console versions available, they did a bad job with the game. The physics don't feel right, you never feel like you're properly connecting tricks, and landing them often feels like there's a hair delay. It screams of nostalgic cash grab like some of the recent HD re-releases (Silent Hill, Resident Evil 4, etc.).

[tokenflipguy]

What is your absolute favorite Tony Hawk game, and why? I liked either Tony Hawk 2 or 3 the best. Why? Because they brought a lot of new features to the games such as manuals, interactive environments, and the transition from 6 and 7th gen was great in terms of frame rate and fidelity. I also like the selections of tracks and fondly remember Alien Ant Farm and Xzibit songs that were in it like 'Wish' and 'Paparazzi' 

What features/mechanics do you want, or not want, to show up in the upcoming new Tony Hawk game? No motion controls, I think sticking to distinct stages would be a good call, and new stages. It'd be ok to bring a few old ones, but still.

How do you feel the series compares to other "extreme sports" series such as Skate, Aggressive Inline, or SSX? It was the breakout title and those titles owe a lot to Tony Hawk's success. I think the quality has dipped in its latter years for THPS, but the only other series that remains potentially are SSX  and Skate. I wouldn't mind EA bringing out some current gen offering from those series.

[toadofsky]

Mar 5, 2015 13:22:45 GMT -5 tokenflipguy said:

What is your absolute favorite Tony Hawk game, and why? I liked either Tony Hawk 2 or 3 the best. Why? Because they brought a lot of new features to the games such as manuals, interactive environments, and the transition from 6 and 7th gen was great in terms of frame rate and fidelity. I also like the selections of tracks and fondly remember Alien Ant Farm and Xzibit songs that were in it like 'Wish' and 'Paparazzi' 

What features/mechanics do you want, or not want, to show up in the upcoming new Tony Hawk game? No motion controls, I think sticking distinct stages would be a good call, and new stages. It'd be ok to bring a few old ones, but still.

How do you feel the series compares to other "extreme sports" series such as Skate, Aggressive Inline, or SSX? It was the breakout title and those titles owe a lot to Tony Hawk's success. I think the quality has dipped in its latter years for THPS, but the only other series that remians potentially are SSX, and Skate. I wouldn't mind EA bringing out some current gen offering from those series.

Oh God I looooved Skate, my room mate saved a few awesome videos off of the video sharing they had. Some were absolutely hilarious, I wish YouTube was more prominent at the time, I'd share some I saw. The guy who fell off his board, with an old granny that somehow managed to get on his board and slide away in the background, another of a guy sliding across a park bench or landing on someone with his hands going erratic got a lot of laughs from me and my friends.

[Bobinator]

I'm going to be weird here and say that I actually had a lot of fun with Disney's Extreme Skate Adventure. I mean, it technically counts, since I believe it uses the THPS4 engine, and it's actually a pretty good game, because of that. I get the feeling that the physics seem somewhat floatier than TH, I'll admit, but I couldn't say for sure, since I haven't played any of them beyond THPS2.

I'll admit, part of the appeal of that particular game for me is how visually distinct it is. I mean, THPS was set in the "real world", for the most part, so you're mostly stuck to characters like "Tony Hawk", "some other dude", "maybe a girl" and "Spider-Man". ((I don't know much about skateboarding.)) The levels, again, for the most part, are mostly grounded in real places. Skate Adventure, though, even if you look past the license, is a lot more visually distinct. You've got levels like a giant bedroom, the African savannah, and things like that. That's something I can appreciate.

Although I do think it's kind of dumb how there's a generic "kid" character in the game, and their missions involve stuff like delivering McDonald's food to people.



If we're talking the mainline series, however, it's something I've dipped into a couple of times, when I was a kid. Back then, I could never figure it out, but a while ago, I actually opened up the original game and had some pretty good fun with it. I'm still pretty awful at it, but at least I generally how tricks work, and such. My real issue is knowing how high in the air you have to be to make certain tricks work, which isn't something the game really tells you. I've also tried the GBA version of THPS2, which is... an admirable effort, although the perspective makes it tough to play very well.

[jjc14]

A friend and I tore through the original on his N64, going so far as to get seven-digit points in The School by repeating some crazy long trick lines in the days before manuals existed to extend combos. There was also a glitch in Alcatraz Roswell involving grinding a ramp corner where you got stuck "hopping" it repeatedly, pumping up the multiplier without controller input. We'd get a kick out of triggering it, leaving the room to do something else for a bit, then come back and land it for a score that was more digits than the game supported, causing that area of the screen to blank out! (Many years later, I rented the PS1 version and completed it solo.)

He also bought THPS2 on his system, and while we spent a lot of time building stages, we never really got the same mileage out of it. Oddly enough, the second game remains the only entry from the series' heyday that I still haven't completed.

THPS3 was an early rental with my then-new PS2. It really is the capstone of the original "hit goals before time expires" trilogy, and was just a great "pick up and play" experience that the series would lose somewhere along the way...

I'm glad X-pert74 mentioned Aggressive Inline, because while I played and replayed the THPS4 demo and went on to enjoy the game, its "free roam" approach was nothing new by that time, and the media coverage back then about the fourth game "revolutionizing" the formula rang hollow. This game was also one of my first online console experiences, although I was still on dial-up back then, and so the experience was little more than a leaderboard with the occasional choppy frame of a fellow player in my periphery.

I have a soft spot for THUG. Yes, the story mode was incredibly cheesy, but as someone who grew up in Jersey, I lapped it up all the same. Having broadband by this time, playing online allowed me to actually see other players' tricks and lines, and I learned a LOT about extending combos to ludicrous lengths...

The whole Jackass/Bam Margera thing was a major turnoff with THUG2, but I can't deny that the actual skating mechanics were in top form. I spent far more time online, where the challenge wasn't so much the total score, but keeping a trick line going 2-3 minutes after the timer expired. (Oh, and hoping you didn't waste all that effort by crashing into someone else doing the same thing!)

I took a breather from the series after that, mixing in a few of the clones like Airblade, Evolution Skateboarding, Whirl Tour, and Eyetoy: Antigrav. Whirl Tour aside, they presented some redeeming qualities and features, but it really put into focus just how refined Neversoft's engine was in comparison.

By the time I got around to THAW, the online mode was disabled. (Rumor was someone hacked their servers back then. Was this ever confirmed?) While I liked the concept of the story as kind of like a "West Coast" reimagining of THUG, the execution was flawed, the stages dull, and the hyped "no loading" feature a complete waste. (The "loading zones" resorting to slow-mo "security camera" footage of the player to buy time particularly irked me.)

THAW was the last PS2 release to support online functionality, and so I never got around to Project 8 or Proving Ground. If I recall correctly, at least one, if not both were outsourced to another developer anyway, giving me even less motivation to pick them up. (A friend-of-a-friend claimed to have Downhill Jam during it's limited PS2 release, but it never materialized.)

Overall, fun games and great memories, but I feel no need to continue with new releases...