scaught69's Full Review: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 for Game Boy Advance (GBA...
I remember the first time I played a Tony Hawk game like it was yesterday. It was Christmas time back in 1999 and I was at my girlfriend's house. We were hanging out in her livingroom when suddenly I heard her brothers upstairs going crazy. I went to go see what they were up to. I noticed they were in front of their television playing Tony Hawk on Playstation. I had never seen the game before, but I was instantly blown away by just how cool it looked. Never would I imagine that a skateboarding game could surpass my childhood favorite 720. When they saw me standing behind them, they paused the game and handed me a controller. "You want to play?", they asked. "Sure," I said not knowing too much about the game. Suddenly, I was hooked. My life became a world consumed by playing Tony Hawk. The remainder of my college days were well balanced between Tony Hawk time and classwork time (as well as the requisite college partying time). That is why I had to have Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 for my GBA. It is Tony Hawk greatness on the go.
Game Features
13 pro skaters
Six readily-available levels
Career mode, Free Skate, Single Session modes
Battery back-up
Only for Game Boy Advance
Overview
In case you don't know what Tony Hawk is about, it is real simple. It is a skateboarding game. That's about it. However, there is so much fun in it. There are tons of tricks to master and there are plenty objectives and secrets to discover in each level. This is what I call a "pick up and go game". You can easily turn it on and get right into it.
Graphics
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 delivers top notch graphics. It is somehow able to maintain the great character animation seen in both the Playstaion and Dreamcast versions. Whether the skater is grinding down a rail or popping an ollie over a fire hydrant, the character animations remain fluid and realistic. They seem very 3-D like (which is a great achievement for a tiny system).
The backgrounds are nice and detailed too. Though there isn't as much background detail as its home console counterparts, it is still able to hold its own.
A major gripe though is since it is 2-D, the levels can often look confusing. If you get stuck in a corner, you might find trouble seeing your way out of it. Sometimes the walls blend into each other and the screen can look dark. This can lead to you riding straight into a wall or messing up a trick.
Sound
Tony Hawk on the home consoles boasted an impressive soundtrack featuring punk bands as well as rap artists. Since the GBA isn't capable of playing CD quality music, its sound was drastically cut back. However, the music is very impressive. The GBA shows that it is able to play complex music. Most of the songs are hard edged rock instrumentals as well as some songs thrown in with hip-hop flavor. Tony Hawk is a testament to how good the GBA can sound.
The sound effects are equally amazing. They are directly ported over from the Playstaion game and sound incredibly realistic. Every wheel screech is heard as well as the skaters pain when he bails from a trick gone horribly wrong. This helps to bring a great level of realism to the game.
Gameplay and Control
Another major gripe in Tony Hawk is the control. Since the GBA only has four buttons (2 of which are shoulder buttons), the tricks can often be hard to perform. This is what is stopping me from rating this five stars. You kind of get the hang of it after a while, but you never get 100% comfortable.
Once you get somewhat used to controls though, the game becomes one heck of a ride. You can control your skater with ease having him go wherever you would like and having him do whatever you want. This is where Tony Hawk excels. The fact that the game is so open is what makes it so appealing. You can go to what ever part of a level you like and just do tricks. The skate parks for example are the most fun. I could spend hours in them perfecting my moves.
There are also different modes. There is career mode where you skate to earn money. With the money you can unlock later levels and you can buy more skating equipment. You can even purchase new tricks. You have to complete certain tasks in each level to be awarded money and you are given a time limit of two minutes to do it(you can also find money scattered throughout the levels as well).
Free Skate mode is exactly how it sounds, you just go off and do what you want. I usually do this mode if I want to practice my moves or if I want to familiarize myself with the layout of a track. The clock on this mode is unlimited.
Bottom Line
Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is an amazing game. Its graphics are a technical marvel on the GBA and the level of fun continues the grand tradition started by the first Tony Hawk game on the Playstation back in 1999. Though the control and the weird viewing issues can be a problem, they don't stop this from being a must own title.
Roll with The Hawk.Tony Hawk s Pro Skater 2 for the Game Boy Advance recreates the thrill of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise with new level designs...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
For Play on Your Game Boy Advance Perform hundreds of complicated tricks for points Game Genre: Sports, Game Sub-Genre: Skateboarding, Platforms: Game...More at Amazon Marketplace
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