One of the most popular and longest running sports franchise has been the Tony Hawk series. Since its debut in 1999 on the PS1 it has helped make skating more mainstream and has ushered in a new era of real skaters. While the first three editions of the series were fresh the franchise started to loose steam and some likened it to the repition of the Madden series. The latest installment, Tony Hawk’s Projects 8 is Activision’s attempt at a reboot to the aging series. So is TH8 worth the time to veteran’s and newcomers?

Each of the previous editions introduced a new gameplay element or feature. The newest gameplay element is ‘Nail a Trick’. In this the player can slow down time and actually spin their skateboard via the analog sticks. The left stick represents your left foot and right stick is your right foot. It does take some time to master this but once you do it’s pretty cool and is a good way to chain together combos. You can even practice this through the game’s excellent tutorial. This new addition is possibly one of the biggest additions to the series since it plays a vital role and isn’t a gimmick.

Just like the previous 3 installments of the franchise the game is set in an open world layout. While this will certainly please those fans who liked that layout in the previous versions it doesn’t exactly feel next-gen in Project 8. It seems like the developers didn’t take advantage of the next gen power they had and simply ported a PS2 game onto the PS3. There are no advancements in terms of interaction with the environment or other features such as trying to make the levels feel like living worlds instead of bland levels. Each area is a certain size with the area’s starting out small and getting bigger. This helps newer players get use to the game but the veterans of the series would most likely prefer to get things going with starting out in the bigger environments. And just like every other T.H game the levels are designed as if the entire city was built by a skate designer. There are ramps and grind line galore which allow easy access for the player to do tricks. At this point Neversoft should really try to change things up with their level design. It would’ve been more interesting if the player had to search out for the perfect skate line since that would provide having some skill.

Tony Hawk’s Wasteland was a major visual disappointment on the 360 but this latest installment has an entirely new graphics engine. The character models are detailed nicely and mirror their real world counterparts and feature swaying clothing. There is a nice bloom/out of focus effect used in some instances that simply looks cool. Despite having a revamped engine the game just looks okay as a PS3 title. Some of the textures seem a bit flat and the games visuals seem a bit lackluster since the power of the PS3 wasn’t tapped for anything.

If you weren’t a fan of the storylines in the last few TH games then you’re a lucky since Project 8 doesn’t feature one. There is a small story but it just involves Tony Hawk coming to your town and you trying to rank up and join the team. So if you weren’t a fan of Bam Margera’s antics then you don’t need endure them anymore. During your quest trying to rank up you will face pros such as Daewon Song and Bob Burnquist.

In order to make it to Tony Hawk’s team you’ll have to do various challenges. These challenges are the same type that you’ve done before. Each one however has a different difficulty setting that you can try out which is pretty cool. A disappointing aspect about the game is its core gameplay. A lot of the videos for the game, including its opening cinematic, showcased a more realistic approach to skating as opposed to the game’s more arcadey approach. Unfornately the game never even approaches this style of realism found in the videos and the game just plays the same as it has for the past eight years. Neversoft doesn’t introduce any new gameplay elements other than Nail a Trick. So if you’ve been playing the series since the first installment you may either be happy or disappointed.

There are also some key features missing. Sadly there is no online play and the Create-a-Park feature is missing in action. However during the career mode you can add a few objects to certain parts of the levels but it doesn’t reach that freedom that you had in Create-a-Park and as a whole this new feature is similar to one in Amped 3. The create-a-character mode is still there but the initial options, both in terms of character appearance and clothing, are a bit lacking.

One feature that sets the PS3 version apart is its Sixaxis support. You can control various skating aspects such as character movement, grinding, and tricks through the Sixaxis. All of these options can be accessed through the main menu and the speed can be altered to fit your preference. It does take awhile to get the hang of things but after awhile it feels as confrontable as using the analog sticks.

Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is a bit of a mixed bag. The core mechanics that made the series popular since its inception remain unchanged for the most part. This will either please or disappoint some since after 8 editions the game could use a change. While the mechanics are a bit dated they’re still solid but at this point it’s getting old. So if you’re a big fan of the series then you may either love or hate this newest edition.