Tony Hawk's Massive Failure

Hey, all! Since Acs posted a new review, I thought I would too. The game is "Tony Hawk's Project 8" by Neversoft and published by the first independent game developer, Activision, for the PlayStation 2. While not exactly NEW, it is rather recent. The game is a departure from the past 3 games in the fact that, while there is a story ("Career") mode, it does not have cut scenes with your player and your skater has no voice. The game features one new feature, that being the "land the trick" function when in special mode, which is basically "Focus mode" from THUG 2 and THAW. The difference between "land the trick" and "focus" is that in "land the trick", your camera goes yellow and closes up on your board, and you can push different joystick directions to make your feet go a different way, doing a unique trick when you get the hang of it.

Other new things are new pros to skate as, such as "My Name Is Earl", "Underdog", and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" star Jason Lee, skating out of semi-retirement to help the player during the second level. Unfortunately, the game takes a major departure from previous Tony Hawk titles in the fact that you can only play as 2 characters in free play at the games beginning (Tony Hawk and the Custom Skater), as opposed to being able to play as every pro AND Custom Skater like all the others. Speaking of, the Customization is very small and you have to choose between 3 presets: Punk, Urban Youth/Thug, and an 8 year old kid...or a midget...
My sister had a major problem in THAW to where she couldn't play as a girl in Story Mode due to the kiss at the end. She was further infuriated by the fact that you couldn't even make a female skater PERIOD in the Create-A-Skater option in Project 8. Oh, sure, you could play as a female Realtor, but that was about it, and still you had to complete the second level to get her.

Many hallmarks of the series have been removed for no reason other than "realism", chiefly Create-A-Park, which was my second favourite thing after character creation. The create a trick function introduced in THUG has been taken out, as has the "FREAK OUT!/Board Throwing" moves from THUG 2 and THAW. As a teen with severe anger management problems, this really pissed me off. I did my own FREAK OUT! move and chucked the game case into the rubbish bin.

There are MANY worse games you can get than Project 8, but I find it to be severely disappointing. It has nothing in common from the past games other than being the second-latest in the Tony Hawk brand, the newest being Proving Ground for the Wii, 360, PlayStations 2 and 3. If I ever get my Wii and get to try Proving Ground, I'll let you know how it stacks up. My current favourite games in the brand are Tony Hawk's Undergrounds 1 and 2. As Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw said, "I could say it appeals to die hard (*dubbed over*) [TONY HAWK] fans only, but I can't really recommend it to them either". My advice to Neversoft is to not fix which isn't broken, I guess. The past 3 titles where HUGE successes, and fans clamored for more of the same, but you had to get all real like EA Games' "skate." and dumped your loyal (usually drunk) user base in favour of the die-hard skate enthusiasts who demand realism. Either return future games to form or axe the franchise and start a new one, perhaps with MTV's Rob Derdrek or Ryan Sheckler. Then you can ruin someone's gaming credibility OTHER than The Hawk's.

FINAL SCORE:

Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS2, 360, GameCube, PSP)
Neversoft/Activision
Pros: New skaters, good graphics, realistic physics engine.
Cons: Removal of all good content, bad customization, goofy characters, limited choice in character selection at beginning.
Score: 2.5 out of 5.