8 replies to this topic

[TwinChargers]

I really enjoy the Tony Hawk games, especially the "Pro Skater" series. Never played one past THPS4, and perhaps thats for the best, or maybe I'm really missing out. I know the series has taken quite the tumble over the years, but I was curious for those of you who played the series what were the high and low points? Are there any games in the series that shouldn't be missed? Any that are particularly better for one system than the others?

Lately I've played quite a bit of the original on both the PlayStation and Dreamcast and both are pretty timeless and still enjoyable to this day. I've also liked the exclusive THPS 2x for the Xbox. My favorite and most played has to be THPS3 for the PS2. At the time it seemed so much more advanced than its PlayStation and N64 counterparts, and it was still before it gotten to its more open level design like what happened in THPS4 and to the best of my knowledge the rest of the series after that.

What do you guys think about the Tony Hawk franchise?

Edited by TwinChargers, Tue Mar 1, 2011 1:33 PM.

[Rex Dart]

On the plus side, it had Spider-Man, but on the negative side, my mind always auto-completes the series' title to Tony Hawk Pro Figure Skater.

[S1500]

4 was the absolute hardest. So hard, you don't want to bother. 3 was the first one I played. Only downside is the 2-minute limit to enjoy it. Later ones got rid of that stupid constraint. I think I had the one after 4, and then realized they are just releasing the same dang game over & over & over again. Then I never played it again.

[Jibbajaba]

I loved the first 3 games, and played the crap out of them.

Chris

[Video]

I like all the old ones, haven't played past Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 though (good grief, could they have a longer name, please? ) Anyhow, liked them all, as I said, but especially the THPS2X for the Xbox, man, that game was amazing, with it's effects, 3-4 actually seemed a little dissappointing due to lacking of those effects.

Actually, I did get Tony Hawk Downhill Jam or some such, kinda cool, but a different type of game.

I think 3 was the one that had the skeleton in it, one of his tricks was to pull his heart out and squeeze it, which for some reason made me giggle The cool stuff in it, like randome people o9n the sidelines that would throw stuff at you to try to trip you up, or the guy in the treehouse peeing into the lake, ok, that was dumb, but at the time I thought it was cool. Being able to skate in a part and cause a structure to collapse so you could go to another level, either higher or lower, that was always cool.

I think they just ran the game into the ground though, kind of like some properties now days which I won't name, but will say most are FPS or music games. Anyhow, their still a blast to play, but somewhere along the line, I just said "why bother" and stopped getting any new ones.

[Chuplayer]

I have THPS1 and 2 for the Dreamcast. They're both excellent versions of the games. THPS1 doesn't have a very Dreamcast-ish look, though. It's mostly just the PS1 version with a higher resolution and much smoother framerates. THPS2 has a moderately better graphical uplift, though.

THPS2X is my favorite game in the series. It combines all the areas from the first two games, throws in a handful of new areas, and lets you play THPS1 levels with THPS2 rules like manuals. The graphics also got a lot of bump mapping upgrades. It's not exactly a graphical powerhouse, but it did serve as a unique showpiece for the early XBOX set of titles. It also runs extremely well on the 360.

I stopped with THPS3. They completely ruined the feel of the game to me. They made it way too fast, and it didn't make sense.

[Itchy Koala]

THPS 2 is by far the best (IMO of course). There were tons of secrets and it had plenty of replay value. My second favorite (very VERY close to being the best) is Tony Hawks Underground. The story line was fantastic and it was nice to do something other than timed runs.

[Austin]

Chuplayer, on Tue Mar 1, 2011 6:55 PM, said:

I have THPS1 and 2 for the Dreamcast. They're both excellent versions of the games. THPS1 doesn't have a very Dreamcast-ish look, though. It's mostly just the PS1 version with a higher resolution and much smoother framerates. THPS2 has a moderately better graphical uplift, though.

THPS2X is my favorite game in the series. It combines all the areas from the first two games, throws in a handful of new areas, and lets you play THPS1 levels with THPS2 rules like manuals. The graphics also got a lot of bump mapping upgrades. It's not exactly a graphical powerhouse, but it did serve as a unique showpiece for the early XBOX set of titles. It also runs extremely well on the 360.

I stopped with THPS3. They completely ruined the feel of the game to me. They made it way too fast, and it didn't make sense.

I pretty much share these sentiments. I played the hell out of parts 1 and 2 on the Dreamcast, and 2X was my second original XBOX game a few weeks after the system's launch. They are great arcade-style titles that are primarily all about score, wrapped up in a fun package.

I agree that THPS3 was way too fast compared to the first two games, and since I was into all sorts of other games at the time I never took the time to try and get into it. The first two games still feel great today though (My brother and I were playing part 2 on the DC last night! Fun times!).

The only one I played after part 3 was the fourth game on the Zodiac. It features free-roaming aspects and requires you to talk to people and be an errand-boy here and there. Eh.. if the console versions are anything like this, then no thanks.. I'll pass.

[MagitekAngel]

Yep, gotta go with THPS2. I've never played the Xbox remake, but once the game put in reverts, "story", and various gimmicks I lost interest.

On a side note, the GBA port of THPS3 was pretty fun.