Finally you get to choose Mike Valley as a skater, he kicks ass!!!
User Rating: 9.4 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 PS2
This game is amazing, it takes the last one and pulls off an Emeral Legacy, "KICK IT UP A NOTCH! BAM!!!" Other than the lack of secret skaters(only 4), this game is everything the last one was and so much more. The graphics are looking more crisp, which is awesome, because the last games graphics were amazing, and the new spine transfer move is a great addition to the gameplay. The new pro challenges are great, and I absolutely love the goal system of this game. Intead of having 2 minutes to complete as many goals as possible and then starting over if you didn't get them all, you don't have a time limit in the stages until you walk over to a pedestrian (usually a skater) or a character in the game, press circle, then they will tell you what goal to complete, and you usually have 2 minutes to do it. What the greatest part about this is you don't have to go all the way back to the beginning of the goal and get your position lined up again, wasting time, you can just press start and choose the option of restarting your goal automatically, this makes it much less frustrating and gives more replay value, as you pretty much free skate untill you feel like doing a goal, giving you a much better perspective of the level and letting you get used to it at your own pace, especially considering how much bigger the levels are in this game. A few new goals have also been added, such as collecting the letters in the word COMBO. It's much like the SKATE letters, except you have to collect them in one single combo, if you fall or finish your combo before you collect all the letters, then you have to start over again, and it's extremely challenging and one of my favorite goals. The other one is the HIGH COMBO goals, much like the HIGH SCORE goals, except, you guessed it, in combos, and with the revert introduced in 3, and the spine transfer which debued in this game, it's not much of a challenge, but still changes up the gameplay a little, adding more replay value. My favorite addition to this game is the ability to play as Mike Valley, which I have been waiting for since THPS 2. His moves are hillarious and kick ass. Another great addition that I like is the broader Creat-a-Skater mode, which allows you to go as far as bicep, chest, thigh, calf, head, and waist sizes not included in 2 or 3. More clothes were added, and a bunch more features. Although the Create-a-Park mode isn't as good as it was in 3, it's still awesome and really fun. A really fun and quite well done new gameplay feature is "hitching" on the back of cars, it's a great was to get speed. The mini games suck, though. Also, the return of the currency concept that was introduced in THPS 2 is a very welcome addition as I was quite dissapointed that it was left out in 3. It adds more realism to getting equipment such as decks, wheels, and characters. With much of the core gameplay remaining intact with minor tweaks and additions, graphical enhancements, and a fun soundtrack, this game is worth the buy and just as good as the last and offers an almost completely different experience.
