Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3: The same old grind?
Written: Nov 07 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Music went back to its roots, great graphics, fun gameplay, replay value
Cons: Park Editor could've had more stuff, some songs I wonder why they put in
The Bottom Line: You cannot own a PS2 without having a piece of the Hawkman in your library, and a great title it is as well.
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| Broma_bull2269's Full Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for PlayStation 2 |
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is a revolutionary title name, specifically for extreme sports games. Almost any game that involved snow boarding, skate boarding, wake boarding, whatever you can think of, sucked (SSX doesn't count, came out after TH did ;). Once Tony Hawk's Pro Skater hit the Playstation, the way we made extreme sports games was changed forever. Realism to a backseat to fun, and the formula worked, making THPS1 one of the must have Playstation games ever created. Shortly after, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 slapped the Playstation with improved graphics, more and bigger levels, new soundtrack, a create-a-park and create-a-skater modes, and as much skating goodness as you could fit onto a Playstation. In my personal opinion, THPS2 was an okay game, but it could have been much better. Despite that, it was also a hit. Now Tony Hawk breaks onto the PS2 after leaving the PSX with a so-so version of its big brother. Did THPS3 land sucessfully, or was it doomed to grind on its face?
The gameplay goes as this: You skate several levels and completing goals that are given to you before you embark, racking up stat points and unlocking all you can before heading to the next level. Three levels are competitions, in which you must earn a gold, silver, or bronze metal by busting out better tricks than the competition. Once you've beaten the last competition, you unlock a movie (Pro bails, a oh-ow-ouch movie in the least) and a fun level called the Cruise Ship. If you managed to complete all goals and get all gold metals in the competitions, you'll recieve a video biography of the chosen skater. Beat the Cruise Ship? I have no idea what happens, cause that level is harder than I imagined, heh.
That was, of course, the season mode of THPS3. A good thing they did was doing away with the crappy "money" system of THPS2. To earn your stat points and new decks, you've gotta find them on each level.
In Free Skate, you choose a place and grind and flip to your hearts content. Single Session allows you to do basically the same, but now with a time limit.
Create-a-park mode came back from THPS2, which wasn't very good on the PS. But now on the PS2, with all its hardware, now you can make a bigger level and fill it with alot of stuff. The only thing lacking is an extensive choice bar, it would have been great to have loads of objects to choose from.
Create-a-skater is also back, and much improved as well. Every detail on the skater is almost fully customizable, from his/her face to the watch on his/her wrist. This is definately a fun little tool to create all your favorite people in real life.
The new, and biggest part of THPS3 is the Network play. If you own a USB modem, you can go online and bash heads with other TH players. Those waiting for the network adapter are out of luck for a while (Not due out for a few months or so). Being the first ever PS2 game playable online, you should see alot of players. If you own this game, make sure the next thing you get is a USB modem. Free skate, Graffiti, and King of The Hill are just some of the fun modes you can play online. Normal two player is availible as well, but online is so much more cooler.
The sounds in THPS3 are greatly improved from its PS counterparts, the wheels create different noises when going over different terrain, people cheer and rant at you, everything feels so alive. The music is definately a step up from THPS2, with most of the tunes fitting the style of the game, and if you don't like some of them, you can always edit the playtrack.
The graphics are without a doubt the best improvement in THPS3. Now, there are actual pedestrians walking along and minding their own business, the flow of the game is faster, the details greater, and the skaters look as they should look like.
The replayability is great as well. With 13 skaters (Bam Margera, from "Jack-you-know-what" fame, is now onboard), emersive levels, and new moves and things to skate, it never gets old (quickly, anyways).
DESICION TIME: Buy or Rent? - Buy. You cannot own a PS2 without having a piece of the Hawkman in your library, and a great title it is as well. Non sports gamers might get turned off, but its very unlikely. And with internet support, the game is just even better.A PS2 direct hit.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
Broma_bull2269
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Member: Shawn
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada
Reviews written: 53
Trusted by: 8 members
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