Hands-on: Dreamcast Tony Hawk

I'm glad to report that, even though Tony Hawk's Pro Skater has changed publishers, the Dreamcast version still has the heart and soul that made the PlayStation game such an amazing piece of software. Everything that you would expect from the game has been left intact - from the over-the-top skating action to the various modes. In fact, the only thing I could find that has changed is that there's now a "cheat" menu from the start screen that, while players cannot select from this screen, I'm sure unlocks at some point during the game.

While Tony Hawk's Pro Skater looks really good on the Dreamcast, it doesn't look as good as the early screenshots made it out to be. However, the game is still in an early stage so there aren't a lot of lighting effects or pretty touches, and it also looks as if the black background has been replaced with a light blue one, making everything look oddly tinted. Still, the graphical difference between the PlayStation and the Dreamcast version is obvious. Everything looks a lot smoother, the animations of the characters are more realistic, and your character's shadow looks really, really good.

While there was no music in the game, the audio effects were present. However, they seemed a little off - as you'd get the "you got a tape" noise when you picked up a letter. I'm sure that's just a result of such an early version, and all the sound effects will be the same as the PlayStation and the N64 versions.

Still, the most important part of Tony Hawk - the gameplay - was all there. This game has all the 720 benihanas and switch 540 rocket airs you can handle - and it looks really good doing it. It's good that Dreamcast owners will get to experience the joy that is Tony Hawk, because it's one hell of a game.