Tony Hawks Proving Ground

There are few things in life that we know are going to happen. Taxes being one, death being two, and a new Tony Hawk game every year is another. The series is as regular as an old person going to Dennys at 5am. They are coming and you are going to hear and see the same thing. Does Tony Hawks Proving Grounds finally turn this stale series into something good and keep the compition at bay? Well, I am not going to tell you here cause then you wouldn't read the rest!

Before we get into the actuall gameplay, we need to delve into the graphics and sound. Ok, we don't need to but, some people like to hear about these two. Should we start with music? I think we should too! There are lotsa music choices ranging from punk to metal. The soundtrack is really not that bad but, I couldn't tell you one artist from the game mainly because I shut the music off and listen to my own playlist. I know what you are thinking 'you are reviewing the game! Shouldn't you pay attention to the music?' Yes, I really should be! As I don't really keep up with the music scene anymore and am pretty much stuck in the 80's, most of the music put forth in games, does nothing for me. Call it what you want, I just prefer to hear my own music as I am sure a lot of you do as well. Sound effects are good though! Sure, they are basically the same as all the other Tony Hawk games but, they have done it really well and I see no reason to change it.

Graphically, TH:PG does not look much better than Project 8. I am sure there are some subtle differences but really, I don't want to get technical and I am sure you don't want me to either. One thing I did notice about it is that it is a lot darker than Project 8. Maybe this is due to where the game is set. It is not nearly as colorful as P8. I am sure there is a reason for this as it is set in Phillidelphia so rain is a constant factor. It really just seem gloomy and grey. However, this does not take away from how good it does look. As far as I can tell, there were no glitches or hiccups during the game. They have modeled the skaters to how they look now and it is pretty damn close to how they actually look which gives it a realism effect even though the game itself is not really realistic. There is nothing graphically in the game that made me say wow and there is nothing graphically that made me say well that should have been done better. This could be due to the fact that I don't really pay attention to graphics that much. I want gameplay! Which is where we will be going next!


Now onto the good or bad part depending on how you look at it. Gameplay! As per usual TH, you start off a noobie skater trying to climb your way up to the pro ranks. You have basically no skills to speak of. If you have played P8 though, you will know exactly how the controls work except for a few minor changes, which we will get into later. The first thing you are going to do? Create a skater! This can be done randomly or you can make a skater that reflects you as the create a skater mode is pretty in depth. Rings, tats, hats, hair, pants, facial hair, it is all there! You could spend a long time in the create a skater if you felt the need! After that is all said and done, off to skate you go in the projects. (Sound familliar?) I know, you have played many a TH game and know what to expect. Before I go further into gameplay, I am going to break to go into skater skills because this little intervention will stop intrusions later on in the review.


There is a skill and stat screen you will notice when you hit the pause button. Hardcore, Career, Rigger, and Street are the first thing you will see. Hitting the left button will show you your air, manual, invert, and grind skills. These will go up the more you do them and they will tell you what is required for you to get to the next level. The percentage level for the hardcore, career, and rigger, however, will only go up when you complete tasks given to you by the pros. Every task for every different storyline has a bronze, silver, and gold rank that increases the percentage. So, if you want 100% get gold on everything! You die hard TH fans should know this already. Ok, back to gameplay.


Once put on the street, you will get an introduction of sorts as to what TH:PG has to offer. Tony Hawks voice will tell you that there are three paths to follow and show you where the pro is for each one. You do not have to go to all three but, each one teaches you a new skill, opens new challenges, gives you cash and skill points, as well as opening new parts of the world. I have to intervene again here. They really tout the three paths to follow mantra but in reality, it makes no difference which path you choose as you can goto the others any time you wish! Sure, this is not a bad thing but, if you are going to tell consumers that there are three paths to take, when you choose one, you should not be able to goto the others on a whim! I digress. (I am going to try to do this without giving too much away) The first pro you will encounter is the rigger, I can't remember his name off hand. The initial test is for you to place kickers in front of objects and take pictures as you do them. The select button gets you to your rigger menu for this and everytime thereafter. Pressing down on the right analogue stick takes the pic. Learn this cause you will need it in the future! After you pass this little test, things start opening up. Harcore and career will follow, although if you would like to continue on the rigger path, they have been nice enough to allow you to press down on the right analogue stick to tell you where to go next. Very helpful! This pressing the right stick down will work for everything by the way. Once you go throught the basics, you will have the street option open to you. These are the challenges that do not depend on the pros. Such as ginding, manuals, height, distance, etc.. Maybe I should explain some of these things before we go on.

The street challenges are the challenges that are just basically laying around the street for you to find as mentioned above. I really like this part of the game as there are tons of things to do! Any person that has played a TH game knows what I am talking about. These little hidden gems are scattered around the world for you to find and complete. They range from grinding to wallplanting and for the most part, they are not the easiest things to do! They are all marked green as a start. Orange is AM, blue is Pro, and another shade of orange is Sick. (why the couldn't use a color for sick that differes from AM is beyond me) The better you do on these, the more money you get! And let me tell ya, it is not easy! Some of the Sick requirements are insane! I won't spoil it for ya though. Also, every level has an arcade machine. There are three things you can do in them. Classic, high score, and a collect the bubbles thing (forgot the name). Classic mode should be familliar to anyone who has played the series before. You are given two minutes to collect SKATE, get high scores, find the secret tape, etc.. High score is just that. You have a certain amount of time to try and get the three levels of scores. The last one is a little different. You are presented with a line of different colored bubbles and your job is to get them in a certain time (they realllly love the timed runs). Different colors require you to get them a different way. For example the green one requires you to manual and the blue requires wallriding.

Back to the story mode. After the rigger, you can choose to follow him or take a different path. Career or hardcore. Each of these let you learn something new such as the nail the trick, grab and manual (which is not the easiest thing to do!) Just like before, you follow the pro or pros completeing the givin task and there are a lot! Following the pros opens more of the map and more things to do. This is basically your single player experience. Pro challenges, street challenges, find hidden money, and get parts for your skate lounge.

Sadly, the multiplayer part hasn't changed much. You still need to unlock maps in the single player part before they are opened in the mp part. All the modes are still there such as horse, high score, etc.. You can play local or online...blah blah blah. This is all fine and dandy and it is still fun to play but, they have not fixed the problems from Project 8! One of the biggest problems I have with local mp is that you can't use the nail the trick! I can almost understand this when you play high score and the screen is split but, when you are playing horse?? It is one at a time!! There is no reason for the NTT not to be in there! I have some more complaints about the mp too! The entire city should be open, period! None of this pick a place and be locked in there crap. This wouldn't be so bad if you could start your player where you wanted to as TH:PG seems to start you at the same place over and over! How fun is this? How hard can it be to let the player decide where he/she wants to start? There are tons of places that would be great to start from but, usually you start on the ground where you don't want to be and take a lot of time getting to the good stuff. Another thing is that the controls/gameplay just don't feel right in this game. At least in Project 8 you could hit a line with relative ease. In TH:PG, it feels like the stop you for no reason. I would go into the online play but, I didn't play it because I didn't see the point in torturing myself.


Overall, it is a fun game but it has a lot of issues. If you like the past TH games then, you will like this one as long as you are not expecting a massive change. There are a lot of good things in the game like a ton of things to do, some of the missions are really fun (pushing ppl into the water is a hoot!), massive air and massive points, a big city to explore, and they brought the editor back (sorta). However, there are some bad things. No NTT in local mp, you are still stuck with skating just a part of the map in mp, for some reason you don't bend down before you ollie, same thing we have played for years now, and the skate lounge seems pretty useless. Hardcore TH fans are sure to love it but, ones that are on the fence might just wanna give it a rent.

Time for a new section! I thought that I would add a section in the review for what I think would make for a better game. So, here are my tips to make the next TH game better (ok, not better, just what I would like to see) First and foremost, if it is in the single player make sure it is in the multi player as well! It really sucks when there is a cool part in the sp and then come to find out that you can't do it in the mp part. Seriously, NTT, pushing ppl into the water, etc., should be in the mp part! I should not have to go online for mp NTT! Keep the entire map open! Being limited as to where you can skate sucks! For the love of God, let people pick where they want to start! It can not be that much harder to ask the players where they want to start before the game starts. For example, if you are playing horse, before the round starts, ask each player where they would like to start and give them a start point for each letter. If you are playing high score, give them one start point! Not that hard. Bring back the editor! Sure the skate lounge is a good idea but, it is enclosed and you are limited to what you can do. Instead, have it where you can edit a section of the map and save it. Also on the editor thing, I would like to see a different approach. I would like to see an editor that is not limited by pieces but by HDD size and have every building, ramp, car, railrood, etc. included. This might be asking a lot but, if you have to limit the size, you should be able to go vertical! I am sure there is more but, I forget.


Score:

Graphics: 6
Sound: 7
Gameplay: 6
MP: 6
Overall: 6

good review man where did you learn to be such a good reviewer.

Originally posted by homes500@Dec 24 2007, 04:32 PM
good review man where did you learn to be such a good reviewer.

Talent, dude. Talent
And some experience I guess.

Originally posted by homes500@Dec 24 2007, 03:32 PM
good review man where did you learn to be such a good reviewer.

School, English class ...

Good review man

Thank ya much! Not sure if it is a talent, I just like to write