Product description
-------------------
Skate as legendary Tony Hawk, or as one of nine top pros. Work
your way up the ranks by landing suicidal tricks in brutal
competitions to become the highest-ranked skate champ.
.com
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Tony Hawk, famous for his 720 move (a mid-air 360-degree
somersault done twice), is widely credited as being one of the
best skateboarders in the world. Hawk lends his technical advice
and character likeness to this nine-level title, which is among
the better skating titles on the PlayStation. While it is cool to
play as Hawk, would-be skate pros can also choose to play as one
of eight other skaters. Each character has a different riding
style and at least three unique tricks to master.
Solo players will skate to win the world championship, with over
100 moves available to score points, including slides, grinds,
and landing tricks. A split screen allows players to compete
against each other. During this head-to-head mode, you can score
style points, race between obstacles, or play tag. If you opt for
graffiti mode, both players compete against each other by
"tagging" objects while performing their tricks. A replay mode is
available for players to view highlights at the end of a game.
The level design is enormous, with 10 interactive courses,
including skate and pool parks, half pipes, and a downtown area.
Each skating environment is filled with secret places, shortcuts,
and obstacles. Once you get the moves down, you can perform a
trick off of just about any object that you see. Tony Hawk is not
the only star in this game--the music stands strong on its own.
Cool cuts come from Primus and the Dead Kennedys--which can be
inspiring during the frantic onscreen action. While game control
is relatively solid, there are some minor problems in tight
areas.
This title is so large it is overwhelming, given the enormity of
levels and available moves. However, persistent skate pros will
master this game with a little practice. (Fortunately, there is a
practice mode to scrape your knees on.) --Kasty Thomas
Pros:
* Variety of moves and tricks
* Excellent course design and graphics
* Solid controls
Cons:* Control problems in tight areas
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Review
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The concept of a skateboarding game isn't exactly new. Atari
kicked off the genre with the still-classic 720 Degrees.
Electronic Arts followed up with its event-based home game, Skate
or Die. As skateboarding faded from the mainstream's view, the
games stopped coming. Fast-forward to a decade or so later.
Snowboarding games are all the rage. Sega's got Top Skater out in
arcades, and EA returns with Street Sk8er, an abysmal PlayStation
skating game. Now, between Tony Hawk and Rockstar's upcoming
PlayStation skate sim, Ther: Skate and Destroy, we're in the
middle of a skateboarding renaissance.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater takes a more arcade-like approach to the
world of skating. The object of the game's career mode is to
collect videotapes, much like Mario collects stars. With the
exception of the three competition stages, the point of each
level is to collect five videotapes. You can enter each stage as
often as you want, but you can only skate around the stage for
two minutes before having to start the stage over. Two of these
tapes are received when you achieve certain scores within your
two-minute limit. A third tape is picked up by collecting letters
scattered around the level, eventually spelling the word skate.
Another tape is scored by breaking five things in a level. The
object you must destroy changes on each level and ranges from
anti-skateboarding signs to cars. The fifth tape is hidden
somewhere on the level, and you must figure out how to get to it.
You start career mode with only one level . As you pick
up tapes, you'll unlock new levels and new skateboards, which
raise your skater's stats.
The game features ten real-life pro skaters, which have been
broken up into two styles: vert skaters and street skaters, who
have slightly different tricks. Beyond that, there are a few
subtle timing differences between the skaters, and each skater
has three special tricks that can only be performed while your
special meter is full. The special tricks include the 540 Board
Varial, back flips, front flips, the 360 Shove It Rewind, Christ
Air, and the Judo Madonna. Each of these tricks will bring in a
higher score than most normal moves, if done correctly. Some of
them can even be included in combos.
Aside from the career mode, there's also free skating, which lets
you take a little more time examining a level and mastering your
tricks. Single-session mode is a pure score competition, where
you pick a level and try to get as many points as possible in two
minutes. The two-player mode works on a vertical split-screen and
has three different modes. Graffiti mode causes certain parts of
the level to change to your color when you do tricks on them.
Your nent then must do a better trick on that part of the
level to change it to his color. The person with the most colored
pieces at the end of two minutes wins. Trick attack is a simple
score battle. Horse is similar to the basketball game upon which
it was based. Player one has ten seconds to do the best trick he
can do. Player two must match or beat that trick to avoid getting
a letter. The first person to get all five letters (spelling
horse) loses. This is the slowest of the three modes, since the
game goes through a short load while it switches skaters. The
ability to choose the same skater here to reduce load times would
have been nice.
Career mode doesn't take a whole lot of time to complete once
you've gotten familiar with all the levels, but even after
completing the game with all the skaters, you'll still want to go
back and do some free skating. It's one of those games that will
keep you coming back long after you've mastered it. The level
design is part of what gives the game such longevity. The large
levels have lots of extravagant areas, all ready for tons of
combos, while the smaller levels are tightly packed with rails,
ramps, and s.
The soundtrack is filled with songs by bands like the Dead
Kennedys, Goldfinger, and Primus. I wasn't a huge fan of the
soundtrack, but that's something better left to your personal
taste in music. The sound effects are really outstanding. Rails
clink when you jump off them, sidewalks have different textures
than the street, and different ramp materials make different
noises. My favorite sound in the game is probably the noise
generated by skating on the metal half-pipes in the game's final
level. The game's graphics are really good. The game runs at an
excellent pace, and the camera rarely gets in your way. The bit
of blood that shoots out of your head on the harsher wrecks is a
very nice touch.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a game for skaters and nonskaters
alike. Some may be initially turned off by the occasionally
questionable physics, but this little slice of unreality brings a
lot of gameplay fun along with it. It would have been nice to see
some more variety in the game's tricks, but as it stands, THPS is
an outstanding game and is a worthy addition to anyone's
PlayStation collection. --Jeff Gerstmann
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction
in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written
permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot
logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Review
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- Skate as legendary Tony Hawk, or as one of nine top pros. Work your way up the ranks by landing suicidal tricks in brutal competitions to become the highest-ranked skate champ..