Rock_On's Full Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 for GameCube
Ever since the original Tony Hawk had come out on the Play Station a few years ago, Tony’s been a household name. I never did play Tony Hawk 2 and I had heard that it wasn’t as good as the original. And now I’ve gotten Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 for the Game Cube from my Grandparents for Christmas, and I’ve been playing it ever since(except for the intervals of Super Smash Bros Melee, SSX Tricky, and Final Fantasy X).
Wow, How’d you do that?
Instead of going through the story(which is to skate and rack up high points), I’m going to cut right to the chase. There are a variety of characters that you can use to skate with like Elissa Steamer, Jamie Thomas, Geoff Rowley, Bam Margera(from the MTV show “Jack @$$”), and of course the star of the Tony Hawk series, Tony Hawk himself.
Once you choose a skater you can pick a level. Only one’s available at the start of the game, but as you win medals and complete objectives, more levels will open. By the way, this all happens in the main game, Career Mode. There are two different kinds of levels; regular ones and competition. There are five regular levels where you’re given a set of objectives to complete and then you’re set out in the level to grind, ramp, and ollie anything you can think of.
Once you complete a certain amount of objectives, or goals, a new level will open up. Goals range from getting a high, pro, or sick score; to collecting an object to give to a character somewhere in the level and performing a certain trick over some ramps or something. Also impressing the local skaters is a goal in some levels.
The other three levels are Competition Levels, in which you get three-one minute runs to do whatever in without bailing. Depending on how much you impress the judges, they’ll grade you and give you your scores after each run, and then the combined scores after the last run. The second competition levels judges are harder to please than the first level, and the third level judges are harder than the second level’s to please. Always move and don’t bail, and the judges will score you high(they should anyway, mine have been pretty hard to please a lot).
There are stat points in each level that you can use to increase the amount of air you can get, how high you can ollie, etc. By the time you collect all the stat points, your character should be maxed out in stats. You can also gain new skateboards by opening new levels and completing goals.
Tricky Tricky
There are lots and LOTS of tricks that you can do including specials, manuals, grinds, and board grabs. There’s also a revert that can be used to revert the other way that you’re spinning and pull off another string of combos. The use of manuals after coming off a grind will help you keep the combo chain going and two-minute long combos are very often. There are also flatland tricks, but so far the only person I’ve known to be able to use them is Bam Margera(the guy from Jack@$$).
Character Design
Aside from being able to create your own character from scratch using the character editor, you can also add on things like sunglasses and hats to any of the existing characters you like. Currently, I’ve not designed any characters of my own, and I’ve added a patriotic top hat and some shades to Tony Hawk(my favorite skater).
Park Editor
There’s also a place where you can make your own skate park to the way you’ve pictured one to be. There are lots of options and I’ve read is suppose to be a lot more deeper than THPS2’s Park Editor was.
Multi-Player
Even though online play was lacking in the Game Cube version of Tony Hawk 3, the multi-player is still fun to with if you’ve got another friend over. The funnest mode I think is Graffiti, where you can pick any level you want, and whenever you do a trick off of anything, it will turn your color. The only way it can be switched is if your friend pulls of a better trick with more points.
Other modes include trick attack where you just plain see who’s the real trickster by pulling off wacked out tricks and combos, Horse where you play...Horse, only on skateboards(one person does a trick, if the other person can do it or better, then it starts over again), Slap! which is a type of tag or so, and King Of The Hill where you find a crown and you must wear it for the most time to win. I really wish that online play was an option though. I can’t wait until Tony Hawk 4 comes out, by then Nintendo should have their online plans up and hopefully running. The Slap! and King of the Hill modes aren’t actually very fun unless online play was available, but oh well.
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Graphics
Finally, another game besides Super Smash Bros Melee that utilizes the Game Cube’s power like it should be. The graphics have had a huge update from the previous titles on the N64, and have been smoothed out a little from the PS2 version. The first thing I noticed were the smoother character models. Instead of looking like a bunch of blocks and jags, they look close to reality and scrapes and cuts are even visible. The skateboards are also more realistic looking.
Now onto the levels. They are humongous. No joke, the Los Angeles level is HUGE and there are lots of places to grind and do whatever you want. There’s been a couple of times where I’ve just rolled around each level just to look at the detail that was put into each location. Like I said before, no place to grind or do some kind of trick is very rare and like the first level, the “Foundry”, I’ve gone a whole two-minute run with one big combo. There is and was never a frame rate drop from what I could see, and the tricks looked very realistic(most of them, some are totally outrageous if you’re talking about the reality factor).
Control
The control of Tony Hawk’s 3 was what had everybody concerned about it coming to the Game Cube. To tell the truth, I like using the Game Cube controller better than the PS2 controllers. Who cares if the D-Pad is small and out of the way? Use the analog stick, it’s a lot more comfortable in my opinion.
I don’t really see what the big fuss about the controller was, as the GC controller format is almost identical to the PS2 except that the “A” button is a little bigger and placed a little higher up on the controller to make it more comfortable than the smaller buttons on other controllers.
The tricks are all easy to perform and controlling Tony is a cinch. Going through a whole two-minute run with one combo is very easy with the tight controls and with the new revert trick that can be used to chain multiple tricks together, and the manual and flatland tricks. I do NOT kid when I say a two-minute combo chain is possible, especially in the Los Angeles level like I said way above.
Sound
The music in the game has kind of down graded since the first Tony Hawk as the first one had mostly punk rock and music that went well with skateboarding, but now Tony Hawk 3 has more rap songs than not. The soundtrack includes songs from the artists Adolescents, AFI, Alien Ant Farm, Body Jar, CKY, Del the Funky, Gutter Mouth, House of Pain, KRS-One, the Mad Capsule Markets, Motor head, Next Man, Ozomath, Ramones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Zebrahead, and Kareem. Wow, what a selection huh? Even though the rap music doesn’t really go with Tony Hawk 3, I still hum the tunes while skatin’ round’ Los Angeles.
Other from the music of the game, the only other sounds you’ll be hearing is the rolling beats of your wheels and the sound of grinding wheels, broken bones; you know...all that deadly stuff.
Overall
Tony Hawk 3 is a must own for your Game Cube, especially if you don’t have the PS2 version. Online Play? Tony Hawk 4, here we come.
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