Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 Preview

By Giancarlo Varanini, GameSpotPosted Jun 26, 2000 6:28 pm PT

Activision is bringing the popular console game to the PC. We take an early look.

As sporting games go, skateboarding titles for consoles have been an interesting subgenre. While other subgenres seem to merely appear as a result of a new fad or other brief cultural phenomenon, skateboarding has always maintained a presence in the console market. Even when it seemed like developers had lost interest in creating skateboarding games, a new developer would come along and reinvigorate the entire subgenre.

For consoles, this pattern began with the arrival of Skate or Die on the Nintendo Entertainment System. The game spawned a number of sequels on both the NES and the Game Boy. The 16-bit console era, however, was met with a lull. The Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo both had a few skateboarding games, but none had the impact that Skate or Die made a few years prior. When the 32-bit era rolled around, it seemed that developers would once again miss out on an enormous opportunity to bring skateboarding to an audience starving for something new.

Then along came Neversoft and its first title, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Initially, the response to the announcement of the game was less than enthusiastic, no doubt due to the substandard "extreme" games that had bombarded the market at the time. But once the media started to sing the praises of Tony Hawk, the old Skate or Die feeling returned. Gamers anxiously anticipated the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on the PlayStation, and when it was finally released, the game was met with high praise. The fact that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was so easy to get into and fun to play, and that it carried a reasonable amount of depth and technique, made it an instant classic.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ushered in the return of the skateboarding subgenre. Witnessing how well the game performed on the sales charts, other major developers took note and attempted to capitalize on the subgenre's resurgent popularity in the console market. Recognizing how powerful the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater name has become, Activision has now decided to bring Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 to the PC. Unlike the console systems, though, the PC has seen a dearth of skateboarding games, maybe because the PC market tends to focus on older members of the gaming population, while consoles tend to focus on the teen and preteen audience. But Tony Hawk's Pro Skater's universal appeal is strong enough in the console market that it should give the subgenre of skateboarding a strong foundation in the PC market. What better way to reintroduce PC gamers to the skateboarding subgenre than with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2?

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1 Comments

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jakeboudville
Posted Sep 16, 2006 1:29 am PT

looks good
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