Every now and then someone tries to come close to the range of Tony Hawk skateboarding games and the just fall short… again. For many years they have be unequalled and that is definitely also the case with the newest version of Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD game.
Not to say that everything has always been smooth skating for the franchise either. Just looking back at the not-so-successful Tony Hawk Ride and Shred disaster will attest to that. As all good skaters like the Birdman knows, you will wipe out some times, but you just need to get back up and go at it again.
All you need to do is to get back on your board and hit a classic trick hard and all is well again. So what they did is to take the original Pro Skater as well as its sequal’s best levels and have now done HD reimagining of it.
The first improved HD version of the skateboarding game is the warehouse used in the original Tony Hawks Pro Skater game. Some feel though that it might not have been the best stage to use for the showcasing of the new HD format though as it is a little dull. Even though the colors are not inspiring with the hundreds of different shades of brown, it is definitely still true to its skating roots. This made me really happy and I know it will be the case for all of the Tony Hawks Pro Skater fans out there.
Everything throughout the stage was the same with the ramps and rails all being in the exact same places. All of the secret hidden tchotchkes were in the same place as well. The only thing that really changed was that the tapes that were replaced with discs. You can also see a lot more facial definition than in the previous versions of the skate game.
As far as the rest of the gameplay is concerned there is a definite balance between the old version of the skate game and some new additions. Manuals will of course be included in the game, but according to an Activision rep it couldn’t be confirmed if Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3’s revert or the nail-a-trick option would be in there. He said that Robomodo was trying perhaps to just take the best of the old games. So if Robomodo does limit the feature set to the first two Tony Hawks Pro Skater games, grinding once again becomes crucial for really hitting the huge scores.
The game will be available as a download for a measly $15 through XBLA. In the rebuilt version of the skate game a number of excellet skaters will be available to play with. This of course includes Tony Hawk, Riley Hawk, Lyn-z Adams Hawkings, Nyjah Huston, Chris Cole, Andrew Reynolds, Rodney Mullen (one of my favourite skateboarders out there) and Eric Kosten.
The sad news about the Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD is that the skate game will not feature the original soundtrack from the first and second installments of Tony Hawks Pro Skater games. It would not have been possible for them to simply just take all of the music and just use it again on the new game without compensating the artists again.
So they decided to take a number of the old tracks, mix in a couple of new ones and use that as the new soundtrack for the HD version of Tony Hawks Pro Skater. The process they will go through in figuring out exactly which of the old Tony Hawk tunes will be the best to use is to work through the game’s Facebook page and get the opinions of the fans.
Luckily unlike the Tony Hawk Ride and Shred versions the new Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD skate game will be played with the traditional controllers. The skate game would be the first in the Tony Hawk family to be available for download everyone hopes that it will help to relaunch it.
It looks to be a dramatic turnaround after Tony Hawk Ride and Shred didn’t exactly fly of the shelves. Activision actually had put it on hold indefinitely up until the announcement of the HD version of Tony Hawks Pro Skater. I must say that it has actually gotten me excited about a new release for the first time in a couple of years. Long live Tony Hawks Pro Skater in HD!
Following some dates for Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD
PUBLISHER: Activision
DEVELOPER: Robomodo
MULTIPLAYER: TBD
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