Project 8 is a difficult yet rewarding experience for series veterans. Easily one of the best in the series. Score: 8.6

User Rating: 8.5 | Tony Hawk's Project 8 X360
I've been a long time fan of the Tony Hawk series ever since I played the first one back on the Nintendo 64. I easily consider the second entry to be the best of the series, although many people consider the third to be. I played American Wasteland on the 360 right away and although it got lower scores, I feel that was only because it wasn't really a 'next-gen' title. Well Tony Hawk's Project 8 is definately a 'next-gen' title and it is easily one of the best games in the series, becuase for the first time in a long time the series actually takes a step forward. This is all thanks to the new 'nail a trick' mode which will have series veterans staying up all day and all night trying to nail that perfect trick.

Tony Hawk's Project 8 puts you in the shoes of a skater who is trying to move up the ranks into Hawk's Project 8 which features the top 8 local skaters in the area. You are taken under the wing of skateboarder turned actor Jason Lee who has starred in such films as Mallrats, Dogma, Chasing Amy, and Stealing Harvard, he also has his recently cancelled show My Name Is Earl. He decides to sponsor you and help you move your way through the ranks of Project 8. You move up the ranks by completing goals at Ameratuer, Pro, and Sick rankings. You can always go back to goals and complete them at higher levels and if you want to get to the number one spot you will have to do do them all and get most of them at Sick which is pretty difficult but series veterans will appreciate the attention to detail that will be needed to get Sick on all of these. The story mode is very similar to the Career mode of Amped 2 back on the regular Xbox so if you played that you should have a good idea of what exactly you are in for.

The only disappointing thing about this is the character customization is very limited. This is disappointing because since the game is all about creating and proving yourself as a skater one would expect for you to be able to make your skater look like whoever you want. The character models in this game do look very good though so that is a plus.

The new Nail a Trick mode is probably the best addition to the series since they decided to have an open environment (no load times by the way). This requires you to hold down the analog sticks and pull of flip moves with your board. It is kind of disappointing that you can only do flip tricks, but it is a great start for something that will hopefully become a series staple.

The sound in this game is almost disappointing, the soundtracks have been going downhill lately but this is easily one of the worst. I am a fan of The Hold Steady so props for them being on here, but I can only listen to the one song so many times. The voiceovers aren't amazing but they aren't terrible either. As always the pro's sound just a little too excited and one can easily tell that this isn't how they really speak as some of if sounds forced.

Tony Hawk's Project 8 is the most fun that I have had with a Tony Hawk game in a long time. This game has lots of replay value because series veterans will want to get to the first rank. That being said this probably isn't the best game to play if this is your first Tony Hawk game. If you have never played a Tony Hawk game before I reccomend picking up American Wasteland first. Tony Hawk's Project 8 is just one hell of a good time and easily the best skateboarding game since Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 came out back on the PSX.

Graphics: 8/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Sound: 7/10
Value: 10/10
Tilt: 9/10