Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 (Gamecube)
Developed by: Neversoft
Published by: Activision

Well what really can be said about this game that hasn’t already been said? The Tony Hawk series has given us three of the most popular video games in recent years, and with good reason. The 3rd installment has been a system seller for both the PS2 and the Gamecube, and could very well end up selling a few X-Boxes when it is finally released on that system too. Myself, I just recently bought a Gamecube, and as you might suspect, this is the game I brought home with it.

I was a fan of the original game (and yeah, I played it on the N64), but for the most part I missed out on Tony Hawk 2. I don’t own a Playstation, and although I played part 2 for a little bit on the PC, I had to forfeit my ability to play it when I upgraded my computer to Windows 2000. Despite skipping a step in the progression of the series, I found THPS3 picks up pretty close to where part 1 left off.

There are two important new moves that I had to master: the manual, and the revert. The manual was introduced in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2; it is the equivalent of “popping a wheelie” on your board, and it is used to connect grinds between objects that are too far apart to olly between. The revert, on the other hand, is new to THPS3, and it is used to combine ramp tricks into a combination of grinds and manuals. I guess the general consensus is that people weren’t doing many vert tricks in THPS2 because there was no way to connect the tail end of one with another series of tricks. This is why they invented the revert. However, it’s a little complicated because in order to continue your trick combo you have to do a revert as you land, and then also pull a manual directly afterward. Thankfully, with the new tutorial feature in THPS3, you can interactively learn each of these fundamental moves from Tony Hawk himself! Although the tutorial is kind of cheesy, it did help me learn the revert maneuver, and I can see it being very helpful for people who are complete Tony Hawk rookies.

There are tons of other new tricks and detailed animations for them, but the controls and the basic gameplay haven’t changed at all, which is good, because Neversoft had those nailed down tight the first time around. One cool new feature allows you to customize the controls for your special tricks (you know, the superhuman moves that yield big points and can only be executed when the special meter is flashing). You start off with 4 available slots for special tricks, and you can earn more as you continue through the game. In the original THPS, most of these special moves were vert tricks, but now there are special grinds and special manuals, which are actually more useful in building up high scores.

Of course, this wouldn’t really be a new game without all new levels, and there was obviously a lot of hard work put into the 8+ levels found in THPS3.They have continued to add more interactive objects in the levels, and more creative goals, which greatly enhances the overall enjoyment of the game. Each level feels very realistic because of the various people that inhabit the areas through which you are skating. For example, in the Foundry level there are workers tending to their controls, and in the Suburbia level there are hostile construction workers and a couple guys having a barbecue in their backyard. Often the goals require you to interact with some of the characters, and just skating near different characters in the game will invariably result in them delivering some sort of amusing quip in one of many odd voices. In the Canada level, one of the required goals is to impress five fellow skaters who are hanging around some of the ramps. If you pull off some impressive moves in front of them, they shout encouragement, but if you “bail” they will jeer and scoff at you (in stereotypical “Canadian” accents). Details like these are what make Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 a considerable improvement on a game that was nearly perfect to begin with.

The soundtrack for part 3 is not quite as classic as the original’s, and although I expected to hate it, I must admit it’s pretty tolerable even after hearing each song for the umpteenth time. There is a wide variety of music, from “skate punk” to garage rock n roll to hip hop to rap-metal. Having Motorhead as the main theme to the game kicks ass, and the inclusion of A.F.I., Bodyjar and The Reverend Horton Heat was also a bonus. Some of the hip hop didn’t seem all that conducive to skateboarding, but I suppose there are some who would disagree with me there. The cool thing is, you have the option of turning on and off certain songs in the playlist to suit your tastes if you so desire. A couple of observations: the chorus of the song “Amoeba” by The Adolescents sounds as if they are chanting “Tony Hawk”, which makes me wonder if that’s precisely why they chose it for the soundtrack. Another thing I noticed is that the Ramones song, “Blitzkrieg Bop” is censored, believe it or not. In THPS1, the Dead Kennedys song “Police Truck” was understandably censored on the Playstation, and completely instrumental on the N64. But you have to wonder what could possibly be wrong with a Ramones song? It’s not that noticeable, but if you listen closely to the line, “Hey ho, let’s go/ Shoot him in the back now”, you’ll notice that it sort of skips over the phrase “shoot him”. Does this mean that Nintendo believes The Ramones are at least partly to blame for the Columbine high school shoot-out? You know, I thought the Big N was taking strides to improve their “goody two-shoes” image, and there’s certainly plenty of blood in THPS3 on the Cube, but stupid little things like this are just lame.

Anyways, let’s look at some of the other features in THPS3.

The create-a-skater option is a lot of fun. It’s completely unnecessary, but the flexibility makes for hours of fun in my book. It’s ridiculous the amount of detail you can build into a character.. everything right down to adding logos on shirts and tattoos on arms. The wide range of hats and glasses can generate some really bizarre looking people. You can even give your skater an afro or a mullet. What more could you possibly want? They also finally corrected a sexist oversight in THPS2, in that you can now create female skaters as well.

The create-a-park feature is cool, but it makes a little more sense for a game on a PC or a game system with network capabilities. As it stands right now, the Gamecube has no forum through which people can exchange their custom-made levels, except to bring your memory card directly over to your friend Jim’s house. I haven’t really had time to sit down and try putting together a full blown skatepark yet, but I like knowing that the option will be there once I have exhausted all of the game’s built-in levels.

The Gamecube version of this game plays extremely well, and from what I’ve heard, the graphics are a little crisper and smoother than on the PS2. The Gamecube controller has a really nice design to it, and although the button placement is slightly different from the Playstation, I think even the most seasoned Playstation gamers would only need a few runs to get used to the configuration. On the Gamecube, you get all of the reward videos that are found on the Playstation game, although they are of a slightly lesser quality. (Unlike the Nintendo 64 version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, where there was simply not enough storage space for the videos to appear at all.) The only real drawback to the Gamecube version of the game is that it is limited to a 2 person multiplayer option, and possesses no on-line capabilities, unlike the PS2 game.

This game can be pretty challenging for the average game player. It requires a fair amount of timing and co-ordination in order to rack up some seriously “sick” scores in the game, and you will definitely need to practice a lot. But the open-endedness and replayability of the game makes it a pleasure to try for the same objective over and over again, and when you finally achieve that objective, the sense of accomplishment makes you wet your pants. Not to mention the fact that you will want to try and finish all the levels with each of the different skaters because of the unique reward videos. This isn’t as repetitive as it sounds though. They have managed to change up some of the goals on each course depending on what skater you use. Sometimes the S-K-A-T-E letters and hidden tapes are moved around, and other times a required trick will alternate based on the style of the skater you are using (ie. street vs. vert). Then of course there are some hidden characters to be unlocked (hint: think Sith) and hidden levels too (apparently some of the levels from the original game).

Basically, it all adds up to a game that really is, as the saying goes, more addictive than crack-cocaine. You know that this is a game that really gets inside your head when you are walking down the street and you start to notice rails and other grindable objects and absent-mindedly look for ways to connect them to one another. It’s sort of like when you play Tetris for an extended period of time and then when you go to bed, you still see shapes floating in front of your eyes and furiously try to fit these phantom shapes together in your mind. (Or am I just a freak? Wait.. don’t answer that question…)

Needless to say, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is a worthy investment, and a damn fine reason to own a Gamecube (or a PS2). In the near future I envision the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series becoming a franchise in the vein of EA’s sports games. Soon it will not be Tony Hawk 3 or 4, it will be Tony Hawk 2003, 2004, etc, with a new version coming every year, and each game featuring new levels and a few minor improvements, while still keeping true to the gameplay of the original. That’s exactly what THPS3 does, it expands and enhances a classic game without taking anything away. To put it in terms the kids will understand: THPS3 is like a noseblunt fakie to indy kickflip boneless… and then some. — Sean