Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground departs little form it's roots, but it's so short its hardly worth a rent.
Skating in THPG is separated in to three different styles. Career skaters focus more on filming new tricks at different locals. Hardcore skaters use moves that propel them-self’s forward faster, and allow you to slam into punks. However, the most interesting are Riggers. Riggers are billed as innovative skaters who are always looking for the spots that no one has been to.
Now, the game makes a big deal in the beginning about choosing which skater category you fall under. Yet, the game never forces you to choose any of the styles. In fact the opposite is true. In order to advance in the story mode you must complete tasks that are suitable to all of these styles. Any since of these skating types, and the skills associated with them, being exclusive to certain skaters is thrown out the window on the very first level. This takes a lot of the value out of the game as every skater you create is going to end up being exactly the same at the end.
As stated previously, the skating styles have skills associated with them. The career oriented skills are “Nail the Trick” and Nail the grab”. When airborne you press the R3 and L3 buttons similtaneously to go in to a super slow down mode where the analog sticks can be used to control your board. This is the ability previously introduced in Tony Hawk’s Project 8. For the most part this works well, but it is not without its flaws. One major problem is that when activated the camera zooms in on your board very tightly. This can cause you to lose sight of where the ground is, forcing you to either end your tricks prematurely, or bail.
The Hardcore skating skills are much more passive than the other two. The main skill for this type is the “Aggro Kick”. This is a move where your skater will kick the ground to move forward much faster than normal. It is used by pressing the R1 button either once for a short boost, or by pressing it repeatedly in a rhythmic fashion for even more boost. The skater’s leg will kick out, and once it is at the apex of its motion you will need to press R1 again for continuous boost. If you mis-time the rhythm you will lose most of the speed you have gained. The other hard core abilities, skate check and manual push are rarely used. Skate check uses the L2 button and literally hockey checks anyone in your way, while manual push allows you to push your skater along a wall for a small boost if you are manualing.
The Rigger skills are by and far the most interesting. Rigging in THPG means that you are able to set up your own ramps, rails, and half-pipes almost anywhere on the level you are currently on. This allows you to extend runs far past their normal limits, and access places that were unreachable. Although you are limited to just a few selections of addition types, you can place up to 30 on any given level. You can adjust the set pieces height, and even snap them together to make extra long rail sections. This is a great addition to the game play as it allows very quick level modifications. The Rigging skills also include the ability to climb on certain things like ivy coved walls, and hang off rails. This however is done very poorly. The few instances in which the game forces you to climb around and shimmy rails are quite aggravating. The rail grabbing detection is so sub-par; it should have been scraped at the drawing table.
With all these skills you will set off to compete in the various goals to unlock new levels. In career goals you will perform multiple tricks while you are recording your skate demo. Hardcore goals have you board checking baddies for stolen gear and manual pushing your skater past certain areas. While Rigger skills are use to climb to higher platforms and creating user defined runs. There will also be a forth set of goals peppered though out the levels. These are street challenges. In your level exploration you will come across stickers labeled “Manual” or “Grind”. There will be 4 of these stickers in a row starting with a green sticker as the starting line. Your goal is to perform the action labeled for the entire distance of the sticker marking. For example, you might find a green manual labeled sticker. Your job will be to perform a manual until you cross the next manual labeled sticker in yellow. This will net you street points.
With some good additions to the game-play one would hope that the story mode was improved as well, unfortunately it’s as dreadful as always. You play a skater, and well, that’s about as much story as you’re gong to get. You’ll go around completing goals and unlocking new levels per usual Hawk titles. Like most games in the series the story is told via other skaters in short cut-scenes. These scenes are decently acted as most of the people that are portrayed are voiced by their real life counterparts. Yet, to call it “Story Mode” is a slap in the face to even a third grade writer. It should have been named “Career Mode”, as the story is non-existent.
The crated skater you make for this mode will have a plethora of options to choose from as far as identify goes. There are twelve face options, all of which are rendered surprisingly well. They truly look different from once another and it is clear that a lot of time was spent face mapping these selections. You’ll have a full range of skin colors to choose from. If you want make a normal caucasian you can, but it is much more interesting to play as the skating version of the Incredible Hulk. There are twenty-five different hair styles, from emo to pompadour. You can also add facial hair and tattoos, as well as sunglasses and other accessories. With over sixty shirt choices and more than thirty pants options, most allowing for different color and hue settings, you will defiantly be able to crate a unique look. Interesting absent is the choice of gender, as all your created skaters will be male.
Level selection is rather minimal with only nine levels and no hidden areas. That said, the levels you are presented with are well designed as far as skating lines go. In your time skating around these places you will never feel like you can’t start a combo run as almost anything is grind-able or ramp-able. There is uniqueness about each destination and you will find that each area has its own visual style. Each is filled with vert and grind centric sections and the mix is well laid out.
Every level will also contain three different arcade machines. The first arcade machine, called Tony Hawk 2000” Takes the game back to its original goal oriented roots. It will populate C-O-M-B-O letters and S-K-A-T-E characters, as well as give you a high score goal and a secret tape to find. In this mode you will chose one of the original skaters to transverse the level and obtain these goals. The second arcade machine, "Tonyhawkman", is THPG’s version of Pac-man. Colored dots will spawn around the level and your job is to collect them by performing the various tricks that correspond with the color of the dots. Green dots require manuals to pick them up, yellow dots need grinds, red dots are for transfers or jumps, and finally blue dots are snagged with wall rides. The last arcade machine is “High Score Run”, which as you’ve already guessed, is a timed escapade though out the city while trying to reach the high score.
Once you have unlocked all the levels and completed all the skill goals, there is virtually noting left to do. There is no online mode, or create-a-park. You can go against another player split screen style in various Tony Hawk franchise modes, but that’s it. After you spend the six or so hours in the story mode the game loses most of its value factor. You could return to story mode and repeat all of the goals again, but there is no incentive to do so since all the skaters you create will end up being the exact same. The only individuality will be in appearance.
The sound track in THPG is a mix of alt rock and casual hip-hop. You will get new tracks from Foo Fighters and Smashing Pumpkins, as well as older songs from the Beastie Boys. With over twenty songs the sound track is rather beefy and really helps the pacing of each level.
Overall Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground is exactly what you would expect out of a skating game branded with Tony’s name. It doesn’t depart from the game selling behemoth’s formula or arcade style skating in unique settings. That said, the only thing that truly separates this game from the others in the series is the addition of rigging skills. Its shallow story and lack of additional modes really mar an experience that could have been much better.