The Tony hawk series of games is one the best things to happen to gaming in a long time. It managed to get the balance of gameplay and feel just right. Fans of the popular trilogy, and owners of Microsoft’s first console will feel right at home with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2X. This game is a super-enhanced, culmination of both Tony Hawk one and two on disk.
Don’t let the fact that you’re not a skater yourself put you off from trying this game. It’s design is so good that will be lost in the beauty of it. Once you get to grips with the basic gameplay mechanics, of what you can do and how you can do it, and where, things lock nicely into place. Not only do you have a large arsenal of tricks and specials available, but every edge is grindable, and tricks can be performed on vert ramps and on the flat.
To score big you’re going to have to develop and perfect your combos, combos are simply a series of tricks performed in succession, similar to pulling of combos in a fighting game. Tricks can be linked together, and repeating the same tricks results in lower scores being awarded. Trick, grind, spin, different grind, trick land into a manual, roll, trick. While constantly trying to maintain your balance, which becomes harder the longer the combo continues. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is too addictive for its own good.
Don’t think this is a quick and easy port, just to get the game out like Tony Hawk 2 on Dreamcast. Neversoft have done a lot more than upping than the texture and overall game resolution. Texures have been completing redone, the polygon count of environmental objects and the skaters has increased ten fold. Most importantly new lighting effects create atmosphere and add a little realism to a completely unrealistic game.
In addition to the extremely solid gameplay, and enhanced graphics, Tony Hawk 2X adds several new secret levels and bonuses. Do yourself a favour and give this game a few hours of your time, you’ll be glad you did.