SolidSnake316's Full Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for PlayStation 2
(Note: This game has online play, but I lack any way to hook up my PS2 to the Internet and play online, so I’m going to have to omit that part of the review, but look for something similar when I describe the multiplayer options.)
I remember it like it was yesterday. My friend and I were playing one of the new Playstation demo discs, and we stumbled upon a demo of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater. At first, it felt weird. We got stuck in the pool, and we had fun knocking each other down, and then we slowly discovered the subtleties of performing tricks, and we couldn’t combo to save our lives, but we played, and played, and played until I had to leave, and then I went home and played some more, trying in vain to beat the high score. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful. But, there lies the magic of THPS. You can play for hours on end, and never get bored. I constantly find myself sitting in a room thinking to myself, “I can grind there, kick-flip and manual, then grind that edge…” It’s very, very addictive.
Then, I rented THPS when it was released later on. I went on to rent it several times, because even though I thoroughly enjoyed it, to me, THPS wouldn’t be the kind of game I’m interested in buying. The magic had seemed to wear off a little bit, but it still had me. Then, I did the same thing with the stellar THPS2, but I rented that even fewer times.
So, the magic seemed to be fading, and it seems like it is very weak in THPS3. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 is indeed a great game, but it lacks the groundbreaking innovation that its prequel had. The revert can’t measure up to the manual. But, before I trash THPS3 too much for not doing anything especially wrong, let me give you a basic idea of what it is.
Let’s begin…
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 is the third game in a series of skateboarding games that started on the Playstation. THPS2 could be considered the pinnacle of the series thus far (please don’t make THPS4… that’s taking it too far), and THPS3 is more of a continuation of THPS2 than a true sequel, but it is indeed new and improved when compared to its predecessors. In THPS3, the object is skateboarding around huge levels, tricking off of railings, ramps, half pipes, quarter pipes, benches, fun boxes, walls, and anything else you can think of while you grind, manual, kick-flip, and revert your way to mega points. Combos are the bread and butter of this game, and if you can’t link, then you won’t score big or get far in this game.
There’s a career mode in which you complete tasks, which include scoring a certain amount of points, collecting SKATE, finding a secret tape (this can be very difficult), and other level-specific goals. For the first time, goals have changed a little bit. Now, you must help out people by finding items and giving them to them, or doing other things like hitting an object (for example, hitting a tree filled with snow to bury a bully in it) or tricking off of certain things to complete these tasks. They are pretty simple, yet still pretty imaginative, so they give the game some character. In Career Mode, completing these tasks open new levels for use in any game mode, as well as new decks, secret skaters, and other goodies. Obviously, the Career Mode is what you’re going to spend most of your time with, and this mode will keep you busy for a while.
THPS3 has a good selection of levels, and each level offers its own scoring lines and theme, and then they are split up into competition levels and normal skating levels. This only comes into play in the Career Mode however, because in the other modes, you simply skate them for points. Some of the levels have weird themes, like the suburban neighborhood, but they surprisingly have a lot of places to perform tricks, which is good because they’d be pretty lame if they didn’t.
The graphics in this game have improved dramatically due to the power of the PS2. All the characters, including both skaters and characters walking around in levels, look natural and are all well detailed. The environments that you skate in are also well done, and there are lots of details throughout the whole game. Animations are smooth, and the grind animations are now dynamic. In English, that means that they change on the fly as you’re grinding, instead of the static, unchanging ones found in previous THPS games. Also, the bail animations have been improved a lot, but some of them are really lame, like when you bail going up a half pipe, and then go flying up, coming down, and tumble about three times. The exaggeration works for the arcade style of the game, but they’re still silly at times. Trick animation is as smooth as ever, but it was fine before as it was.
The sounds in this game are a little weak. The sounds of the skaters groaning and the sounds of grinding and landing and performing ollies sound fine, but the music in this game is pretty lame. There are some cool bands like CKY and Alien Ant Farm, but everything else is lame rap or really bad punk rock. Of course, you could just turn the music off, but the repetitive sound effects will make your head explode, so I suggest having a CD playing if you don’t like the game’s track selection either. It’s all a matter of musical tastes though, and I can’t decide for you.
Then, there’s the game play. THPS has a magic that you can only feel once you begin playing. Everything about it just feels so natural after you get used to it, it’s like the game becomes a part of you. X ollies and speeds you up, O performs grab tricks, square performs kick-flips, and triangle performs grinds. Pressing up and then down or down and then up will cause you to perform a manual. R1 and L1 let you spin, and R2 and L2 let you perform the newly-added revert. When you land after performing an ollie off a half pipe, you’ll spin your board around to keep your combo going, so it’s possible to get even bigger combos than before. This in turn has made Neversoft make things a little tougher by increasing the scores you must get in Career Mode to complete goals. The revert is easy to get a hang of after a little practice, and if used right, it can help you score some major points.
As I said before, linking tricks into combos is the key to success in THPS3, and while THPS pros will feel right at home when they boot up this game, beginners may find the difficulty to be a little daunting. Also, the game can tend to get frustrating even for a seasoned THPS player like myself. I can’t count the number of times I’ve tried to get the secret tape in some levels only to fail time and time again because I just couldn’t get it. But when I look at the game as a whole, THPS3 is a deep, deep game that will keep you satisfied for a long time if you want to put the of effort into beating it.
However, there is one thing that I can cite as a fault of THPS: repetitiveness. Sure, linking tricks and finding the best lines in the levels is fun, but after a few days, this can get boring. The saving grace for this game is the multiplayer options. You can play HORSE, tag, or have an all-out skate contest to see who can score the most points in two minutes. They sure are fun, and will keep you busy for hours. I’m guessing that’s where some of that magic came from in the first place.
So THPS3 is indeed a fantastic game that continues the proud legacy of Activision’s skateboarding juggernaut. Everything here has been expanded, and all though it doesn’t exactly break new ground, it does expand on everything that was so awesome about the first two games. It may get repetitive, but this sucker will keep you busy for a long time. I only rented, but this one to buy.
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