Lets face it. The tony hawk games is one of the best franchises of all time. It made me like tony hawk himself (oddly being the only athlete i like), buy a skateboard, bust my ass, cry...and well stuck to this amazing franchise. Yea project 8 and proving grounds werent the best, but they still had the gameplay i had adored from the previous games. Where i decided to call it quits was after the disaster known as ride. having wasted hundreds and utterly was dissapointed, i was frustrated to hear that tony hawk shred would continue this gimmick of a plastic skateboard controller, i had lost all hope in this beloved franchise i grew up with...
Then, like a light at the end of a long painful tunnel. Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD was announced...
So what is this exactly? Its not an HD collection, its more so a recreation of Pro Skater 1, 2 and 3 (as DLC) levels piled up with pro skater gameplay. No walking without a board, no vehicle driving, or serious stories. Its vanilla tony hawk as we all remember it...in a high def style. Expect 2:00 minute timers, SKATE collecting, High/Pro/Sick scores and etc. And suprisingly it is fairly faithful to the original games. Its not perfect, as ill explain later, but it does most of it well and it will be a blast to those who havent played the series in awhile.
It also does fan justice with some fan service. Some old school songs like superman and no cigar, aswell as some other song from pro skater 1 and 2, return. There are new songs but they fit well into the feeling of the game. Old skaters make a comeback aswell as some new ones. Every nook about the old levels are here. The animations have abit of the robotic feel of the old games, and well, the fun is all there. Theres even a 4 player online multiplayer mode, which consist of some old modes aswell as a hilarious new mode called big head survival.
However its not all perfect. Pro skater HD is at worst when its unaccurate to the original games. Sometimes railing doesnt register even when your close to it. Sometimes landing on a spot you thought would land, will cause your character to collapse like a lifeless ragdoll, wrecking your deserved score.Wall riding especially is frustrating, because it wont respond unless you angle it perfectly. It also lacks splitscreen. bummer. And the technical issues are pretty bad. While its a beautiful game, especially considering its 300+ MB download, ive had experienced plenty of glitches. Ive fallen through floors, the badly done ragdoll bails has gotten stuck through walls, and would stretch everywhere. The game has crashed on me twice, and the framerate is very poor, sometimes causing skips and a few second freezes. I also think it causes the game to be unresponsive, which is bad.
despite these issues, there no denying the fun that can be had with this game. Some of the decisions for this game is questionable, and the technical issues are embarrasing. But lets face it, there hasnt been a good tony hawk in along time and HD does enough right to warrant a 14.99 purchase. I couldve done with a more polished game but whatever, its old school hawk, without a crappy skateboard controller. A neat return overall. Now then, where is Pro Skater 5?