Why is it that certain people can get so amazingly good at something so difficult, whilst the rest of us can spend years trying and still remain monkey-like in comparison, unable to do more than simply ollie up a curb (which only works every so often). There's such a dramatic difference of ability - you're either complete cack, or able to do the most insane of stunts with relative ease.

Since the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games first came along, they've given hope to so many folk who are sick of scuffing their knees in the eternal struggle to 'beat' the skateboard. See, with relative ease you can not only perform the most basic of tricks efficiently every time, but with a small amount of practice, do things that even the real-life skaters could never hope to achieve.

This is either a good or a bad thing. To some, the over-the-top tricks and combinations are a little too far-fetched to be an accurate representation of what you can get up to on a skateboard, and the completely pointless and seemingly irrelevant tasks just seem like they're missing the point of skateboarding entirely. After all, you don't see Tony Hawk or Bob Burnquist collecting S-K-A-T-E letters from off someone's shed, or using their skating skills to help prisoners escape from Alcatraz.

Early on in the life of Tony, the tasks weren't as insane as they are now. Sure, you still had to collect letters and find videotapes, but it just felt like you were doing so to use your skills. Since then the series has expanded and has had to offer more to gamers, hence the wacky and ever-increasing-in-difficulty challenges and levels.

That said, other people love all this; the big open areas and heavy focus on grinding rather than ramping it up all the time, making far better use of the manual. For all you newbies, the manual is a trick that you perform whilst moving. Basically, you go up onto either your two front wheels or two back wheels and you're doing it. Because of the travelling nature, it's possible to use this between other tricks, like grinding. This enables the player to create an uninterrupted series of tricks ' otherwise known as combos ' allowing them to score big points.

When performing a manual or grind, you get a little balance meter come up. Keeping the needle central is key to staying on and not falling flat on your face, although this is easier said than done. To aid you in such trickery, are the power-up points you get after completing tasks. These allow you to raise your chosen skater's performance, gradually enabling them to perform a little better at certain things ' like grinding or staying in a manual.

Rather than entering a timed level straight away, you get to wander the level for as long as you want before entering into any challenges. Throughout the levels are people with large arrows above their heads ' these are the people you should be speaking to in order to start one of the challenges. It's at this point that the timer kicks in and you yourself around the levels trying to achieve whatever task it is you have to do. Luckily, you don't have to re-find the person who dished out the challenge should you mess it up - simply pause and select the option to retry the last challenge and you'll instantly be re-entered into the madness.

Compared to Tony Hawk's 3, the levels on offer here are quite large and tricky to master. Tony experts will quite possibly love the new challenge, but newcomers will find it tough going. It's easier to get to know your environment by playing in career mode, thanks to the way you can just bomb around for ages without actually entering into any challenges, which is handy. But that doesn't stop this from being extremely difficult at times, testing the temper of even the most patient gamers.

Many will be put off by the difficulty and many will be put off by all the unusual tasks you have to do. When some of the more tedious tasks take about fourteen-bazillion attempts, the game starts to lose its charm. For some people, constantly and frequently repeating the same thing over and over again isn't fun. However, many others will become quite addicted, and will possibly lose many, many hours of their life until eventually everything is finished and unlocked.

As for the differences between versions, it's pretty much the same as with any other game: Xbox is hindered by its unwieldy controller, but benefits from the best graphics and the ability to play you your own choice of music, whereas the PS2 version is much easier to play, but fairs ever-so-slightly less in the graphical department and forces you to listen to the inbuilt selection of tunes. As for GameCube, it's basically the same as the PS2 version, except with slightly different graphics (very slightly) and more awkward for players who like to use the d-pad instead of the analogue stick.

We like this game, but prefer Tony Hawk's 3 (and dare we say it, Aggressive Inline as well). It's easier and thus more satisfying to play and more accessible to beginners. So if you happen to be new to this world of tricks, then get that instead. However, all of you long-term Tony fans who've completed all the previous games more than two times over, will need to get this, as it offers a whole new challenge for those nimble fingers of yours. A challenge you simply shouldn't resist.

Jay Filmer

+ : Large, challenging levels.
+ : The gameplay itself is unchanged.
+ : Will last ages.

- : Immensely frustrating.
- : Levels may be slightly too large.
- : Can get repetitive.