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Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 Review - PS2

Generally, gamers are a fickle lot who won’t put up with rehashes and money-spinners. Games with multiple sequels usually meet swift backlash if the consumers think they are being taken for a ride. Tomb Raider started to jump the shark around Tomb Raider 3 while Resident Evil was getting a bit stale before the GameCube total remake. Tony Hawk fans weren’t that impressed with THPS3- no major advancements from game 2. So how does THPS4 measure up?? Is it time for Tony and friends to hang up their boards or do we have a new skateboarding king to whom all are compared against?

Gameplay

It’s quite clear that Neversoft needed to go back to the drawing board for the 4th Tony Hawk. The first thing that is quite evident is the lack of clock. You no longer have a 2-minute time limit. You can now actually skate around the levels, stringing together combos and practicing your skate skills. Goals are now activated by accepting challenges from NPC spread throughout the level. Some of these characters are other skating pros whom have all lent their voices. There are also more goals to complete. Completing a goal will earn you a pro point- get 90 pro points and a whole new set of pro goals are unlocked. This is a nice touch that adds a bit of incentive to the game. There are a whopping 190 goals in THPS4! Cash is back, completing a goal earns you $250 while cash can also be collected throughout a stage. This money can be used to buy new boards or clothes as well as skate videos and cheat codes. The goals themselves still contain old favourites such as collecting skate or beat the pro score, but there are a lot more skate oriented ones. For instance, Rod Mullen challenges you to manual across a bridge. Another added touch is the fact that a lot of the challenges teach you skating moves. By learning these moves (spine transfers, manuals ect) you then have to implement them in other goals throughout the stages. However, with so many extra goals to complete there are some seriously pointless ones. For instance, the tennis goal on the College stage, you have to beat Bjorn at tennis by using your board as a racquet!! And it’s nothing like tennis- it’s more like pong!! There is 2-3 of these types of goals throughout each level. But, along with the learn-a-new-trick goals, there are other new ones, collect the letter C-O-M-B-O in a combo as well as skitching rides on the back of cars and slalom races. It’s quite evident that Neversoft have definitely put more effort into this title and for the most part, all the additions work. They have gotten rid of the skate competition levels; instead these comps are goals on a level.

The difficulty level has also been amped up a peg or two. Not only are there a lot more goals to complete, but ... (continued next page)