Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2x
by Joseph on Jun.20, 2004, under Games
I love the THPS series, though I have to admit I came late to the game. In fact, the only reason I started to play Tony Hawk at all was because the original was on sale for five dollars at Fry’s. For the Dreamcast. So not only was I late to the game, but I was wearing the wrong uniform. Nevertheless, I was immediately enthralled by the game, and played for hours on the relatively lumpy Dreamcast controller.
Since I didn’t get into Tony Hawk until after it had been ported and subsequently discounted for everyone’s favorite thinking console, the next game in the series to be released was THPS3, which I bought for the Gamecube just after it launched (more on that later). I had completely skipped over what I at first thought was just another sequel. I have learned, thanks to the Xbox re-release, that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is the defining game of the series.
Even with enhancements by the Xbox’s hardware, the first impression of the game is that it looks rather dated, especially compared to recent versions of the game. A lackluster character creator and rather unsightly and confusing menus don’t help to change this opinion. But even without the modern additions of the revert, spine transfer, wall plant, and things of that nature, the gameplay of Tony Hawk 2 is skating perfection.
THPS2 introduced the manual, of course, a handy flatland trick for linking street tricks together. THPS3 introduced the revert, a handy landing trick for linking vert tricks together with manuals and thus street tricks. And lo, the circle is complete. A master player could conceivably play an entire level with one mega-combo by linking reverts to manuals to vert tricks to grinds (to a myriad of other things). I am not this player. I do however, use the revert generously, and was initially at a loss without it in THPS2. Simply put, my scores were bad. Then I remembered an interview with a skater who thoroughly enjoyed Tony Hawk 3 because his virtual self in the game could do things that he couldn’t. Like the revert. And the key to THPS2 success hit me like a rail to the crotch.
Where newer THPSs have me doing a 540 Triple Impossible + Judo + Kickflip + SPeshul TrikK OMG!!1! and then reverting and doing it all again in fakie, the key to THPS2 is doing one really cool trick, nailing the landing, and moving on to a new trick, much like a real skater. The most points I could glean out of a series of three or four flip tricks (with a No Comply) was about seven or eight thousand. In comparison, using a No Comply and nothing but a 720 Judo I was able to rack up more than 80,000 points. A potential 80,000 at least, since I ended the trick with an FS Faceplant. My point still stands! Unfortunately, my skater did not.
I was supposed to be talking about THPS2x here, but this entry has become an epic Tony Hawk essay, so I might as well run with it by addressing one final issue. The Tony Hawk games have slowly but ever so surely become less and less about skating. Tony Hawk’s Underground at some points had me groaning due to its non-skate based goals. Why am I am piloting a blimp to knock people off of lights suspended several stories above an arena? Why in the name of all that is good and holy am I driving a car!? I want more of the skating goals laid down in the early games, and new ones like the deliciously challenging C-O-M-B-O and always exciting trick “Tetris.” Making me steal a golf cart to pick up girls for a party may be sophomorically amusing, but it’s not what I want to do when I play a game named after one of the greatest skaters alive. And that’s my rant.
Oh, concerning my purchase of THPS3 for the Gamecube:
As fate would have it, the act of buying the first game for the Dreamcast started a trend of not buying Tony Hawk games for the PlayStation. The console the game is designed for, and I haven’t played minute one on it, and I just feel bad about that. I may break this trend if Neversoft continues their trend of only adding online play to the PS2 versions of the game. Yes, I will buy THUG2 despite my annoyance at the direction the series is taking. The supposed addition of “classic” mode will satiate my hunger for skating action while I anxiously await the release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5.
