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THE BEST
YET?
TONY
HAWK'S UNDERGROUND
Written By Shaun McCracken
It's funny. In 2003, it seems like a lot of the major franchises have
gone "underground". I guess that's what you call an installment of a
long-running series that makes a pretty bold change in it's design.
Like the Need For Speed series, for example. In the past, the franchise
was about racing only the most exotic and priciest sports cars in the
world. Now, in NFS Underground, you drive more accessible sports sedans
with some heavy modifications. So, what does "underground" mean for the
Tony Hawk franchise? Opulent levels of bling? Ride as such billionaires
as Oprah Winfrey or Donald Trump? Modify your boards with side-skirts
and spoilers? Well all of that sounds asinine (well, except for riding
as Oprah, that would be funny). No, the THPS franchise sees a change
with a much more open-ended experience than previous games. The main
career mode is tied together by a story and sequence of events, and the
stages are more connected together rather than seen as individual
stages. There are quite a few changes in the game that actually finally
evolves the series without really destroying it. And we shall talk
about those changes now.
If you've ever played a THPS game, you're pretty familiar on how
things play out. You choose a pro-boarder (or one you've created) to
start a career, you complete objectives stage by stage, and encounter
some pro-events along the way. It's not that way anymore. This time,
you start your career from scratch, right down to the character you
play as. You'll first have to start things of by creating your own
skater. No more using professional skaters off the bat. Why? Because
the game actually has a storyline in the career mode. It's pretty much
all about how you go from an amateur street skater to a professional
one, and encounter various challenges and competitions along the way.
To some, that may sound like a bad thing, because it sounds like the
story would just get in the way of skating. It actually doesn't,
because the addition of a plot of you clawing up the ranks helps the
game flow better, and get you a little more involved with the game.
The game design is almost similar to THPS 4, as far as the "stages" are
concerned. You're given an area to skate around, and you'll have to
find people in certain places to play certain challenges and
objectives. But the objectives seem to be more varied than before.
Sure, you have the score, trick, combo line challenges, but there's
also ones that you may have to get into a car, or collect items, or be
tossed into select locations and accomplish a goal. It's a lot more
varied than before. And the way you progress through stages is better.
Rather than competing a handful of challenges to move on to the next
stage, the game is broken into chapters. You may be in the same place
for a few chapters, but it will be in different times of day, and the
challenges will change. You will move on to new locations, but you will
also be going back into previously played areas later in the game. The
stages feel more connected to each other than before, rather than a
"list" of places you have to go to.
This installment gets even better with the trick system, which has seen
some big improvements. One of the biggest and newest additions is that
you can now walk. Now, it may not seem like much, but walking actually
opens the game up a whole lot more. You're able to climb ladders,
engage in some platform-like elements, and pretty much reach places
that you couldn't by just skating. But walking just doesn't help your
overall manuverabillity, it can really save combos. You may have had
moments in the past where you're pulling a trick in mid air, and
suddenly your alignment is off. You know you're going to hit the ground
sideways, and lose what you've made. But now many air tricks can be
saved by quickly pressing the Z-button, which enables the walking mode.
On top of that, walking can link combos together (the trick is called a
"caveman"), which is an added bonus to saving some lost points.
But the tricks get even better with something that I have waited for
quite some time. You can now actually CREATE your own tricks. Granted,
creating a trick is made up of moves already made, but the sequence you
put them together in really does create something new. It's a great
addition, because you can now create and name your own tricks, which is
much better than picking pre-made moves off a list. The only downside
of this option is that you can only create air-tricks, you can't create
your own flatland or grind tricks. That may happen in the next game, so
we'll have to wait and see. But still, having the ability to create
your own trick, even if it's just an air one, is something I (and
others) have been waiting for.
If you think that this game is just made up of a career mode, you're
wrong. You can still play in "single sessions" for high scores, and
even play as the professional skaters in that mode. Also, the park
creator mode returns, and is actually more fun to use with the new
additions made to the game. I have a great time creating just
platforming like stages that involve walking and collecting letters,
like an old-school platformer. You can even make a stunt course for
collecting the letters with a vehicle. New possibillites really open up
that's beyond skating in this installment. A lot of what's offered here
opens up replay value.
The visuals are about on par with THPS 4. Textures look a bit sharper,
but the stage designs seem a little messier. The frame rate is also a
little better than last year's version. The character model that is
created for the career mode looks horribly bruised on the face. I'm not
sure why, perhaps Neversoft really needs to work on facial mapping a
little better than they usually do. The rest of the characters kind of
have that beaten-up look in some cases as well. It's like someone came
into the game and smacked everyone in the face with a 2x4. The overall
look isn't bad, but it really doesn't look terribly different from last
year's game.
The audio is also kind of the same story. The sound effects are good,
and the character voices are good (and even funny), but the soundtrack
is still a miss. The only song I recognize is the one Kiss song, which
still doesn't make the soundtrack any better. It's not terrible, I just
really can't find anything I like. When you compare this soundtrack, to
say, SSX3's, SSX3 wins hands down, because the majority of songs are
likable and even recognizable. Here, it's the same story. But, there
is a big plus this year in the audio. Activision and Neversoft FINALLY
ditched the crappy Bink Video format, which made the audio sound tinny,
in favor for the new DiVX format by Factor 5. While the video quality
is decent, the audio is preserved, and it doesn't sound like crap. I
really hope more developers use the DiVX format in Gamecube titles,
because it really does save the audio quality.
Final Thought
Tony Hawk's Underground finally brings and gives some much needed
changes to the series. The game feels a lot more open in the career
mode than it used to, and the addition of a story (as by-the-numbers as
it may be) really hold the game together. Plus, the addition of walking
and creating your own tricks is something whose time has finally come.
The create-a-trick option alone is worth checking out, and just adds to
a very solid and well put together game. It still has it's flaws, like
some dodgy collision detection while walking, the lack of rail or
flatland tricks that can be created, a better soundtrack and character
models that look like they just came from an UFC tournament, but as far
as extreme sports titles go, the only thing better is SSX3. This is
pretty much the best THPS game yet, and really opens up some new
possibillites in future installments.
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Published
By :
ACTIVISION
Developed
By:
NEVERSOFT
Year Published :
2003
Players :
1-2
ESRB Rating:
TEEN
OVERALL
SCORE
9.2
VISUALS |
8.7 |
AUDIO |
8.6 |
GAMEPLAY |
9.4 |
REPLAY
VALUE |
9.0 |
INNOVATION |
8.7 |
Much-needed changes and improvements make this the best skater to date.
Evolution
Skateboarding
Go! Go! Hypergrind!
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Tony Hawk's Underground 2
SSX
3
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