Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (Sony PlayStation review)

Developer: Neversoft, Shaba Games
Publisher: Activision
Released: 2001

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is an extreme sports game and the follow-up to the 2000 sequel on the Sony PlayStation.

+ The locations are both typical (e.g. L.A.) and inventive (e.g. Airport) which creates a nice mix of disparate environments.

+ Level objectives are enjoyable and include simple fetch quests, alongside more cryptic and trick-based goals.

+ Provides a complimentary experience to those who've played the PS2 version (2001), as it includes exclusive objectives.

+ Collecting stat points by scouring the levels encourages you to explore and upgrade your skater to your preferred style.

+ The addition of the revert allows for much longer combos and opens up the gameplay possibilities in fresh ways.

+ Excellent fusion of music tracks to suit all tastes and seamlessly blends rock, punk and hip hop into a killer soundtrack.

- Winning all three competitions is arguably too easy, as the CPU skater scores aren't difficult to beat.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (N64 review)

Developer: Edge of Reality, Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Released: 2001

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 is an extreme sports game that was first released on the Sony PlayStation in 2000.

The levels have been increased in this sequel from six to ten and include locations such as New York City, Venice Beach and a Bullring in Mexico. The objectives have also been raised to ten per level with much more variety and trick-specific goals. The main control innovation is the introduction of manuals; these are performed by quickly pressing Up then Down on the d-pad and they allow you to link tricks together for much bigger scores. This seemingly minor addition opens up gameplay possibilities as it connects the levels and trick objects together in a way that felt much more isolated in the first game. Using the C buttons to activate tricks is a little uncomfortable, as you need to grip the N64 controller at an awkward angle when using the d-pad; however, once you adjust the gameplay is just as enticing as ever and landing tricks with precision is never an issue. The smooth, consistent frame-rate (apart from in the Bullring level) is also partly responsible for this. The levels are solidly designed and figuring out how to access hidden areas or Secret Tapes is a real joy that never gets old. The biggest reason to play this port is that load times are almost non-existent. However, although the music has always played a huge part in the THPS experience, here it's very low in the mix and many of the tracks either lack vocals or are heavily edited. Likewise, this port is missing many of the skater videos that Dreamcast and PS1 owners enjoyed when completing the game with certain characters. The draw distance isn't the best too which leads to pop-in that makes it harder to locate some items.

From a gameplay perspective, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 successfully captures the magic of the PS1 original and it's held up remarkably well. Saying that, this does feel like a slightly neutered port and although it's still a fantastic game you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by playing this cartridge version due to its various omissions.

Random trivia: Another sequel called Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2002.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (PS1 review)

Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Released: 2000

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 was released a year after the original and brought with it a number of gameplay additions.

This time the levels have been increased from six to ten and include locations such as New York City, Venice Beach and a Bullring in Mexico. You're encouraged to explore each one in depth as there are many hidden sections to be found. The objectives have been raised to ten per level with much more variety and trick-specific goals. It's immediately obvious that the frame-rate has been dramatically improved from the original and pulling off tricks is a lot easier. The main control innovation is the introduction of manuals; these are performed by quickly pressing Up then Down on the d-pad and they allow you to link tricks together for much bigger scores. This seemingly minor addition opens up gameplay possibilities as it connects the levels and trick objects together in a way that felt much more isolated in the first game. Instead of automatically levelling up you gain cash for each completed objective which you can spend in the shop to increase your stats. If you want to beat the later levels it's crucial you do this as otherwise you won't get much lift or hang time when jumping up a half-pipe. The competitions return where you have one minute to get the highest possible score; these are a great place to work on tricks and it's fun scouting around in an attempt to find the best area to suit your street skate or vert style. There's also a Park Editor which allows you create your own skating arenas. Once again, the music really shines and the variety of hip hop, rock and punk tracks really compliment the action.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 takes the template provided by the fantastic original and improves it with new features, more objectives, better controls and smoother gameplay. It's one of the greatest sports games ever released and I'd definitely recommend it as a starting point for people looking to get into the series.

Random trivia: The game was re-released in 2001 as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2x for the original Xbox. Among the additions were LAN multiplayer and five new levels. 

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (PS1 review)

Developer: Neversoft
Publisher: Activision
Released: 1999

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is an 'arcadey' take on the extreme sport rather than a realistic simulation.

It consists of nine levels that take place in interesting locations such as a School, a Mall, a Downhill Jam and even Roswell! You have two minutes per attempt and your objective in each is to complete five missions (known as Tapes); these include reaching the High / Pro Scores, locating the missing S-K-A-T-E letters and finding the Secret Tape. The rest of your goals are level specific such as grinding the lunch tables in School or destroying five cop cars in San Francisco. It's fun exploring the huge environments and one of the game's best features is figuring out whether you prefer being a vert or street skater as the levels cater for both. To unlock certain levels you need to compete in competitions where you have a minute to get the highest score possible; you're then graded by how you performed with medals going to the top three. These are a nice change of pace and a good place to hone your skills. The control scheme takes a while to get used to but once you become accustomed to it it works brilliantly. Replayability is high as each character has a pro video you can unlock if you beat the game with them. The only minor niggles are that the frame-rate is occasionally choppy and the camera doesn't always show you the best angle of your location. The graphics look great though with lots of detailed environments and I love the music videos that play on the big screens when you're skating around! The music selections are inspired and have an eclectic mix of hip hop, rock, ska-punk and hardcore punk tracks.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a revolutionary sports game that reinvigorated the genre and spawned numerous copycat titles. While it doesn't have the depth of its sequel, the control scheme, level design and music are outstanding and it all amounts to a really strong start for the franchise.

Random trivia: The game was ported to numerous platforms including the N64, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color and even the Nokia N-Gage!