Review
Tony Hawk's Project 8 (Xbox 360)
Keeps You Interested for Longer than Others in the Franchise
by Coop
Name: Tony Hawk’s Project 8
Genre: Skating
System: PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, PS2, XBOX (Reviewed on Xbox 360)
It may not seem like it but Tony Hawk has been doing kick-flips over our consoles for nearly 10 years now. Because if its complete monopoly over the genre no one attempted to stand toe to toe with the absurdly popular franchise.
Which reminds us all of the reason that monopolies are illegal. With the exception of new skaters, maps, and graphical changes, the Tony Hawk franchise remained relatively unchanged. Each sequel was slightly better than the last and the creators (Neversoft) didn’t bother taking risks in their games.
Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is the first game in the franchise to use a different build. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, released in 2005, used the very same engine that the very first Tony Hawk game released in 1999 used. Was it a success?
Yes. I was a big fan of the original Tony Hawk game for the Playstation and N64. After that it all went downhill and, with the exception of a level creation mode, I was disappointed.
Project 8 is an amazing game. Its graphics are some of the best on next-gen systems and has finally given the genre a new feel. It brings a more realistic experience while keeping over the top tricks that the game was most known for. The best new addition to the game was a “nail the trick” mode where you would go into extreme slow motion. When in this mode you move each foot individually and make grabs just the same. It is hard, and the tricks you do may not be as grand as those just hit with luck, but the feeling is amazingly rewarding.
Good voice work by Tony Hawk, Jason Lee, and other famous skateboard stars also lend to the games overall cinematic experience. The multiplayer is fun too, adding fun mini-games like the skateboarding equivalent to TRON to its lineup. This game will keep you interested for much longer than other Tony Hawk games.
As of now, Tony Hawk is still THE franchise for skateboarding. However it looks like it might finally have a competitor with EA’s Skate coming out in the fall. In the mean time if you were a fan of other Tony Hawk games or even just enjoyed the original I have to advise you to
Comments
It's time for a revolution! Send us ur strongest machines! Or... third party tony hawk rip-offs... either way we will have war! "We" as in me.
I'm so alone in this.
EA is doing a game called Skate that loosk like it could reinvent the genre. Or suck badly. One of them...
I was never a big Tony Hawk or skateboarding guy, but you're making me want to at least try this out sometime. The vid and screencaps say it all. Should be great for fans of the genre.
Yes, I own THP8 and I agree that it is worth buying. The graphics for the ps3 version are very slick and smooth and the gameplay is real. About what Vigo said; I also hope that Skate will also be as sucessful as THP8.