Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is a weak ass attempt by the folks at Activision to bring the THPS series back to basics.

User Rating: 3 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD PC
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is a weak ass attempt by the folks at Activision to bring the THPS series back to basics.

Featuring the "greatest hits" of the early games in the form of remade maps (e.g. School II, Warehouse, Downhill Jam etc) and a retro inspired soundtrack complete with music from the first two games, on paper this might seem pretty neat. Don't be deceived. Not only does this game feel unfinished, missing many maps that should of been included in THPS HD to begin with (e.g. Airport) but it is functionally broken. Robomodo clearly aren't as talented as their Neversoft forebearers. There are more than a few noticeable glitches that ruin play including bails that will send you rocketing into the sky and strange clipping/draw-in issues that plague many of the levels.

THPS HD looks and plays far worse than Project 8, a Tony Hawk's title released nearly six years prior. The controls in general also feel awful in this release, not half as responsive nor as snappy as you'd hope. Perhaps what upset me the most about this release is the lack of multiplayer modes. Tony Hawk's online was one of the first experiences I had playing over the internet and I imagine it still has people playing it via XLinkKai. To see the multiplayer missing in this release, even in terms of local splitscreen play, is a complete let-down as far as I'm concerned.

So should you bother with this release? Not really. If anything, this release is aimed at suckers to nostalgia such as myself. If you want to relive the memories of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater there are far better ways of doing it. Nothing is stopping you from getting any of the earlier releases in the series on PC so if you insist on running the likes of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 in actual high defintion, nothing is stopping you from doing that instead.