Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 Review

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The long pleaded and awaited sequel in the Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise is here, but at what cost. There is no denying that any fan of the series will want to try this game out and give it the benefit of the doubt, but all I can say is that it will break your little heart.

tony hawkSince this game is laden with too many problems to count, allow me to ease into it with a couple good points. A big part of these games has been the atmosphere and personality, and that was headed by the punk/skater rock soundtrack that was present in each of the games. It was an opportunity to discover new bands and propel you with adrenaline as you launched yourself up steep ramps and over lengthy gaps, nervously chaining together tons of tricks for a major score, and taunting the security guards or other authority figures. This game brings you some of that goodness with another great soundtrack featuring bands like Ratatat, New Politics, and Anti-Flag.

In previous games you are given the chance to skate using crazy characters like Darth Maul or Satan and Pro Skater 5 gives you customization options to havetony hawk that kind of fun again. There are a bunch of fun characters and customization options with the ability to play as Lil Wayne and that allow you to switch out your head for some weird and funny visual alternatives like an Octodad head. These moments of humor and fleeting feelings of nostalgia are inconsistent and disrupted by the overwhelming faults.

tony hawkTo hopefully not destroy all hopes and dreams too mercilessly, I’ll keep the negatives brief but blunt. Most of the missions you’ll engage in are boring and repetitive, like simply achieving high scores, and even jumping through literal hoops to progress through the levels. But once you do start to get into a groove and things are looking up it all comes crashing down. First of all, the physics are absolutely abominable at times. For instance, you may be grinding and attempt to hop off the rail and your character suddenly and unknowingly has his bones removed before your very eyes as he plummets to the ground like a rag doll. It’s as if you pressing the jump button alerts your character, like the toys from Toy Story, that Andy is coming and they just drop. The characters just don’t interact with the world around them in a way that maintains the fast paced nature of the game and thus your enjoyment. Beyond that there are some major technical problems and glitches that some players have experienced, even causing saves to be destroyed after hours of play.

The game itself just doesn’t seem to be built to be enjoyed – from the ridiculous physics to the boring tasks and laborious efforts in exiting missions that require tony hawkeither waiting out the timer or returning to the main menu to reset.

To put it lightly, this game just doesn’t recapture that feeling of being in a Tony Hawk Pro Skater game despite the rare moments of nostalgia. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is a technical mess that offers very little that can compete with other skateboarding games that have cropped up in the franchise’s absence and seem to have taken the video game skating throne.

 

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