The Tony Hawk Pro Skater series has been an institution in gaming since the late 90s. It set the mould for all extreme sports games that have appeared since, with many games using it’s simple control set up to allow the average player to pull off stunning tricks quite easily, as well as letting the more experienced play rack up massive points and show off their skills. Each of the games in the series added to the range of tricks and customisation of the game, but with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, the series was looking a bit thin. How far can you really go with a skate boarding game?

Tony Hawk’s Underground (THUG from now on) takes a departure from the usual Tony Hawk games, as YOU are the central character. No longer forced to play the part of one of the world’s greatest skater; from the beginning of the game you create your own skater and play with them throughout the game. Skater creation is quite a lot of fun, and quite some time can be spent going through the motions in perfecting your character. And the character can look quite average to very bizarre, with any colour of skin from brown to bright blue, a wide assortment freaky hairdos, a collection of tattoo’s that can be scaled and placed on many parts of the body, plus an incredibly wide range out clothing from safari suits to clown outfits. There’s even the option to be a skeleton complete with bare bones and skull!

This ties neatly into the new Story mode of the game. Unlike previous games where you start out as a Pro, and travel from city to city and park to park, story mode builds you up from being a no name street rat in New Jersey to a major Pro skating the big parks of the world. This is quite a departure from previous titles, as it links the hitherto unlinked cities and parks, giving you a particular and deeper reason for finding yourself wanting to move from location to location. Although it’s rather contrived, it adds a refreshing difference to a game that has had essentially the same gameplay for almost 5 years. In THUG, the Pro Skaters still make an important impact, as they serve as the plot devices in most cases, and you have to meet them and achieve objectives (or goals as they are called) they set to progress through the game. The old favourites are there, such as Chad Muska, who is one of the first met in New Jersey, plus of course Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, old schooler and all round nutter Stacy Peralta, and a couple of new stars including Arto Saari, Paul Rodriguez and Mike Vallely.

The joy of story mode is two fold – you can skate around and explore, and when you are ready go up to those marked with stars and then attempt to do the goal they require of you. You’re not forced along a linear trail. Even better though, you can simply hit “start” and then select the goal you want to do. This is especially good if you can’t find someone on the map, or are just lazy like me. Furthermore not all the goals have to be completed. There is a minimum amount that must be completed in each level to proceed to the next, but there are more goals than required for that level, so those that don’t hold your interest can be skipped. Unlike previous versions, skills aren’t built up by completing goals, but rather as you skate around the expansive cities and parks performing tricks, skills build up. For example, doing a double kickflip will increase the flip skill by one point, and this can be attempted at any time in the story mode. As you become an Amateur and then Pro, the tasks to increase your stats become more complex; again, using the flip tricks as an example, you have to perform a double triple kickflip as a Pro to increase its stats. It’s almost like a role-playing game progression, and again adds just that little bit extra, making the game feel much refreshed. In addition to the required goals, there are also goals that teach you new tricks, and these are acquired by talking to skaters with orange hexagons over their heads. Some of these are quite a challenge, but they can be attempted at any time when you are in the level, and can be revisited later via the pause menu.

There’s also something completely new added to THUG – the ability to get off your board. This allows the levels to be explored like never before. You can jump and grapple and climb to the most inaccessible parts of the level, finding bonuses and unlockables and places to do awesome tricks from. In addition to this, there are also vehicles that are available to drive. Although this adds to the gameplay immensely, the handling of both these is a little less than optimal. Running on foot feels akin to running in mud, and vehicles drive like tanks. Having said that though, it does allow a nice change of pace, and the ability to combo and jump off your board (called a caveman) and then back onto it allows for massive amounts of points.

This series is well known for it’s unlockables and customisation, and THUG ups the ante once again. I’ve already discussed the character creation, but there’s even more customisation that is unlocked during story mode, including deck building and special moves. Deck building is unlocked once you go Pro, and here you get to make your custom deck. Using a wide variety of graphics, text and colour, the amount of board customisation is phenomenal. Likewise, the special moves you can make are truly awesome – want to make a triple triple kickflip with a 900 frontside grab at the end? No problemo! The easy to use interface allows you to create a near limitless array of totally over the top special moves by combining tricks, including other specials. In addition to this, there’s also a fantastic map editor, the best in any Tony Hawk game so far, and possibly one of the best in any console game. The new rail tool allows pinning of rails to all objects, so you can have a rail hanging off and around every object in the park. You can also create goals for your skate park, much like the goals found throughout the level, and you can simply customise for hours on end, in addition to the hours of gameplay found in story mode.

Unfortunately for Xbox users, these maps and tricks can’t be shared over Xbox Live! and the multiplayer options are also limited to two player and system link, although there’s always the option of tunnelling if you must play people on the other side of the world. The Multiplayer options are quite varied though, and they include:

• Trick Attack – beat your opponent before the buzzer
• Score Challenge – beat your opponent to the target score
• Combo Mambo – bust the highest combo before the time limit
• Slap! – beat your opponent off their board by getting a special and collide with them
• King of the Hill – get the crown before your opponent, and then keep away
• Graffiti – tag the joint by hitting the most objects
• Fire Fight – Do combos to gain fireballs and shoot them at your opponent with the directional pad; new to THUG
• Goal Attack (System Link Only) – beat your opponent in story mode or with your self created goals
• Capture The Flag (System Link Only) – the traditional game of CTF, but on skateboards
• Horse (2 Player Only) – nail a trick and get a letter if your opponent beats it. First to HORSE (or word of your choice) loses!
• Free Skate – go crazy on the map of your choice!

Final thoughts:

THUG continues the great tradition of the Tony Hawk games, and attempts to and exceeds in prolonging it’s life by adding the ability to get off the board, and also drive around. While these aren’t great revolutions in gameplay, and not that well executed, they do add to the game greatly. The level of customisation is phenomenal, and allows your creative side to run wild. While this won’t win over any new fans, those who like the genre will love these additions, and those who thought that the Tony Hawk series was on it’s last legs may be more than surprised at what has been dished up.

Pros:

Great new story mode that moves the series forward.
More customisation than you can poke a stick at, allowing for hours of gameplay.
The ability to get off the board and run around, and even drive vehicles.

Cons:

Off the board play not well implemented.
No Live Support.
Not one for those who aren’t fans of the skating genre.

Score: 88%