Please login to submit a screenshot

"Wow! Better than what I was expecting!"

Let's just give a little bit of history of Tony Hawk games here, and my thoughts on them. I loved the original Tony Hawk Skateboarding. I loved it. I played it for hours and hours on end, and to this day haven't beaten it. Tony Hawk 2 rolled around, and I wasn't impressed at all. I never even bothered to buy Tony Hawk 3, because the second one disappointed me so badly. Then I found a copy of Tony Hawk 4, and decided to give it a try.

Wow. That was one of the best decisions I made this year.

I was addicted from the word go. Everything about this game screams, perfect skateboarding package. But enough of my random raving, on with the technical stuff.

The idea behind the game (and the gameplay too, while I'm here): You get to be Tony Hawk or one of 15 other skaters, doing your little skating thing. THPS4 is different to previous games in the series, because in those you had a two minute time limit to skate around each level, completing as many of the tasks as you could. THPS4 works differently, with a system of goals. Goal markers are strategically placed around each level, and each marker has a particular task attached to it.

The object of the game is to complete every single goal. Goals range from the simple (score 10,000 points) to the tricky (sardines!) to the downright impossible (perform a coffin grind between the rafters). Once you select a goal, by skating up to the marker and pressing O, you have a certain time limit to perform that particular goal. Time limits vary depending on the goal. If you're not actively attempting a goal, it's free skate around the level. Explore. Have fun.

Completing some goals will unlock others in that level. Complete more goals to unlock new levels. Complete every goal to unlock the last secret level. Sound like fun? Oh, it is, it is.

Graphics: Better than just about any Playstation game I've seen. No wonder, as it's one of the most recent releases for the PSX. The levels are bright and bold, and while they're not entirely realistic, they're the closest thing I've seen to it in a PSX game. The skaters are designed well, with individual faces, and their trademark clothes and stances, and there's no more of the fake-blood stuff from THPS2, I didn't like that stuff. No more of the slowness from THPS2 either. The game moves fast, I reckon this game must've squeezed every bit of oomph out of the PSX's game engine.

Graphic glitches do exist in the game, though. If you find yourself performing moves too close to walls, or in corners, you'll sometimes get eerie graphic effects beyond the walls. Sometimes they're flat screens of bright colour to detract from the environment, other times it's an interesting blue-on-black pipe effect I've noticed especially in the sewer level. Not a major gripe, just irritating.

Sound: Good music was selected for this game. I mean that. While they've strayed away from the punk music that's typically associated with skateboarding, they've replaced it with music that sounds just as good, and fits just as well. From the classic AC/DC, to the modern System of a Down, to just some weird stuff that sounds like something you'd hear at a barn dance... all sorts of music was included to create the soundtrack of this game. It sounds like an absolutely eclectic collection, and for the most part it is... but somehow, it works. You'll find yourself singing the tunes from this game long after you turn it off.

As for sound effects, well, you get the skateboarding sound effect of wheels on concrete, or grass, or whatever. Breaking glass is used with good effect when it comes to, you guessed it, smashing through windows. Skaters go ''oomph'' when you make them land on their heads. (Was that an accident, or did you do that intentionally?) That's about it in terms of sound effects, most of the noise in this game is from the music itself. One noticable thing about sound effects, though, is no crowd noises in competitions... I thought that was a real drag. I kinda liked having the crowd spur me on while my skater performed huge air tricks to get thousands upon thousands of points...

Difficulty: this game has everything. It starts off simple, so simple I reckon my seven year old sister could unlock a level or two. But on each level, there are several goals that are just so tricky that you will be tearing your hair out. So you ignore those few, go on to the next level. By the time you get to the hardest levels, the difficulty level is right up there for even the most basic goals, plus you've got all the hardest goals you couldn't do on previous levels too. Completing the game is NOT easy. But mastering the basic skills is easy, and the learning curve is not too steep. In one word, I'd say the game is challenging.

Replayability: You will be playing this game for hours. Upon hours upon hours. When you finally beat it, if you end up beating it, you will immediately play it again. It's an addictive game. Why is it so? Because some of the goals are so tricky, you'll be attempting them tens or maybe hundreds of times before you finally achieve them. (Tony Hawk's pro goal springs to mind here.) And when you finally do manage to pull whatever it is off, be it a 60,000 point pro score combo or the twelve grind extensions pro goal, your first reaction will be ''WHOA! Oh my god! I did it! I wanna do that again!!''

Nuff said, really. It's a compelling game.

Rent it or buy it? Buy it, most definitely. Rent it first if you're not sure about the whole idea of a skateboarding game, but I tell you, you'll be hooked. Take it from me, someone who loves RPGs to death and usually won't play anything else. It's an awesome game. It pleasantly surprised me, and this is a very good thing. Buy it. NOW!

10/10.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 09/01/03, Updated 09/18/03