Before Tony Hawk Pro Skater came
about, the skate boarding (and extreme sports) genre was pretty bad. Most games
tried to come off as having the “underground/hardcore/extreme” look but came off
as very stale. Once Tony Hawk Pro Skater was released all of that changed, and
each year the game keeps improving upon itself by adding more story,
multiplayer, and controls. The ninth game in the series is entitled Tony Hawk’s
Proving Ground.
One of the first differences players
will notice when they launch the single-player game is how open ended and how
customizable the game will be. At the very beginning of the game you can start
doing tricks and combos off anything within the city you have access to, and the
more that you do certain types of trick the more stat increases that you will
receive. When you actually start playing the game you will notice that there are
three distinct skating styles that you can choose from and they are: Career,
Hardcore, and Rigger; or you can choose to be a combination of the three.
Depending on which one you start to lean towards, different goals will open up
to you, and give you a unique experience each time you play through it.
This is how he gets phone numbers
Again there are three skate styles
and each are different from one another. First off the Rigger Skaters are
creative skaters who take everyday objects and use them as part of various skate
lines. There is a new Rig-A-Kit menu, and from there you can create anything
that you have access to, in order to make some sick skate lines. Hardcore stakes
are the underground skaters, doing over-the-top challenge that often make them
end up in the Emergency Room; with them you will become more aggressive and even
gain access to some secret areas. Career skaters are the “attention-getters.”
Their main goal is to get commercial sponsorships and deals. With them you can
get new photo and film-editing goals. As you can see each type is very
different, and that gives you some very interesting gameplay prospects.
Last year, Neversoft introduced the
Nail-the-Trick feature, but it was not executed as graciously as it could have
been, and this was in part due to clumsy camera, which made it difficult to do
anything. This year the camera has been redone and it makes a world of
difference, as the Nail-the-Grab and Nail-the-Manual were really easy to make
really great looking combos. In order to enter in the “Nail-the” mode you have
to click both thumb sticks together at the same time which puts the game in a
“slow motion,” and you perform tricks by moving the left stick (controls left
foot) and right stick (controls right foot) to perform various combination, and
trying to land the trick.
Another new feature in the game is
the Aggro Kick. All gamers have to do is tap the RB button (right bumper) while
you are skating, and follow the rhythm in order to continue to do this. This
increases your speed that allows you to clear bigger gaps while performing some
really cool tricks. On the other hand, if you are off in your timing of the
Aggro Kick you will lose all momentum and you will have to start over again.
Nice view of the city
One of the biggest additions to this
game is a Video Editor that allows you to edit your replays. These editing tools
are very professional and allow you to add various visual effects, music, and
even make cuts to your video to make everything flow more seamlessly. What makes
this even better is that while you are playing the game you can purchase some
upgrades for this editor that includes new screen effects and overlays.
If you are looking to take a break
from skating around for a bit you can always fool around with your own personal
Skate Lounge. You can purchase various themes to give your place your own look
and feel to it. You can decorate your room with items found in your Rig-A-Kit
menu, as well as various objects found within the game world (once you have
unlocked/purchase them). It is nice to have little features like this included
in the game, because it make players want to customize everything about it,
which means you get a lot more replay out of your game purchase.
Making your own skate park
Each year the developers do a good
job of increasing the graphics for each game, and this year is no exception.
What I really liked is the detail of all of the character models, from the
customization options when you are creating your own skater, the facial and
recognizable features of the pro skaters, and even the pedestrians all look
different which makes this game more fun to play. The levels that you play in
are also nice and varied. In this game you will travel to Philadelphia,
Baltimore, and even to Washington, D.C. Each of these locations has their own
unique look and feel to them, as well as their secrets to uncover.
The soundtracks for Tony Hawk games
are always really important since there a lot of bands/groups center around
extreme sports, or the message it puts out. Just like all games in the series
this year’s soundtrack was really great and had a lot of popular songs as well
as more “underground ones” that are getting the air play they deserve. The sound
effects and voiceovers are also really well done, especially if you have a nice
stereo system hooked up, you will be able to hear all of the bone-crashing
action sound as realistic as you extent it to sound. The voices in this game are
really great and add that much more to the overall atmosphere that this game
has.
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is rated
Teen.
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Gameplay: 9.0
As always the controls for this game are
perfect and make pulling off high scoring combos really easy. There are so many
things that will keep players occupied for an extremely long time, especially
when they are trying to make sure their player’s lounge is the best around.
Graphics: 8.7
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground has a really nice look to it. The three
locations where you will be skating look completely different from one another,
which is good since they do in real life as well. All of the characters are have
very high detail to them, even the pedestrians. The bottom line is that this is
one of the best-looking Tony Hawk games that I have played.
Sound: 8.7
The Tony Hawk series has always been great at is the sound department.
The developers always have the latest music, realistic sound effects, and good
voiceovers and this game is no exception.
Difficulty: Medium
If you have ever played any game in this series you will feel right at
home with the controls. From the minute I first booted up the game I was doing
huge combos. The game really gets only as hard as you want to make it, trying to
get the “sick” score out of each goal will be hard, yet just getting the normal
one is easy.
Concept: 8.9
All of the new additions to this game make it a really great buy and
even more fun. I really enjoyed having the ability to truly “define” how I
wanted my skater to be. The Video Editing will be worth the game’s weight in
gold since for those who enjoy that type of thing. Plus, if you look around hard
enough you can find arcade machines that have various mini games, including the
ability to play “classic Tony Hawk mode.”
Multiplayer: 8.9
Having the ability to seamlessly jump from a single player to an online
multiplayer mode with up to eight players is wonderful. I also liked how
whatever stat increases you make in single or multiplayer will carry on with
your skater. Playing online is always very smooth and lag free, which makes
playing it really great.
Overall: 8.8
Even though this year Tony Hawk series had some stiff competition from
another skateboarding game, I think that it has edged out ahead and proves that
this game is king of the skateboarding games, for at least one more year. There
are a lot of things that will keep you occupied for months on end, without even
going that in-depth with the “career” mode. If you are a fan of this series then
picking up this game is a no-brainer.
