LogFAQs > #949475314

#69 - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 (GCN, 2002)


Tony Hawks Pro Skater established itself as basically an arcade game. You had 2 minutes to try and complete a number of objectives the game throws at you. If you have trouble doing one of them, youd have to start over from the beginning of the level and try again.

THPS4 bucks this trend by making even bigger sprawling levels and even more objectives that you can complete at your own leisure. This kinda ruins the whole arcade-y feel of the game, but on the other hand, it leads to a much more focused experience. For example, it allows for more ridiculous scenarios that they can change up the level for, that you wouldnt be able to get from a single level state that you only have 2 minutes to explore. It also allows for a much higher difficulty spike. There is one mission where you have to grind this super long cable for a solid 30 seconds around the perimeter of the entire level. Its a final test for how well you can hold a grind, and it would be absolutely impossible in the old format, because you could only have a maximum of 2 shots at it per run, because its so out of the way.

Also, some of the fun in earlier titles was trying to multitask and see how many objectives you could clear in a single 2 minute run. You dont have to worry about that here. While THPS3s highest score you ever had to get on a level was 500,000, THPS4 makes you get 1,500,000 in a single run. In fact, one of the objectives on not even the final level is to pull off a single combo that nets you 500,000 points. Since the game knows you arent multitasking for stuff anymore, it just asks so much more of you at once. It helps that you now have flatland tricks to accomplish these goals now, which are both fun, and extremely useful in finishing off absurdly long combos.

I have done a replay of all the Gamecube Tony Hawk games this past year. I was able to 100% Tony Hawk 3 in a matter of two days, probably about 12 hours. Tony Hawk 4 took me a few weeks; I would guess over around 40 hours. And it was a very fun 40 hours. After 4, they tried to focus more on the story in Tony Hawk's Underground, putting you in control of an up-and-coming hotshot skater with a less-than-supporting rival. And THUG2 went full-on Jackass mode, focusing more on doing weird shit with Bam Margera and his dysfunctional family. Neither THUG game stayed true to that arcade feeling of the first four games, and after that, the series truly fell off a cliff and never really recovered. Though the 1+2 Remake may instill a bit of hope? Who knows.

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Xbox GT/PSN name/Nintendo ID: TatteredUniform
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