Tony goes for another famous 9'er
Now in its ninth year, you'd expect the Tony Hawk's series to be low on new ideas. So it's a bit of a surprise to see Tony Hawk's Proving Ground carry a list of features nearly longer than Hawk's own career.
On paper, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground appears a huge leap forwards. Proving Ground delivers a skater's paradise that mixes Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C, linked by bridges and free to skate between with zero load times; plus a diverse campaign, enhanced tricks, increased customisation, online play and video editing for a fantastic Hawk package.
In reality, however, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground feels far more familiar than it does revolutionary. Returning fans will perhaps have wanted more, but Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is still an entirely playable skate game with its own unique approach.
Breakdown
Unlike past Tony Hawk's games, Proving Ground breaks its singleplayer down into three different styles. You'll still create and outfit your character as you choose, but from there you'll be taken through different types of gameplay by Proving Ground's pro cast.
Playing as a Career Athlete, different pros will help you unlock many of Proving Ground's trick modes, first the returning slow-mo mid-air Nail the Trick, then the evolution of these, Nail the Grab, and the less accomplished Nail the Manual mode. And, of course, in Pro Skater fashion, you'll be earning sponsorship, making videos and ultimately aspiring to form your own skate team.
In Pro Skater fashion, you'll be earning sponsorship, making videos and ultimately aspiring to form your own skate team.
As a hardcore skater, Proving Ground sees you hitting the streets hard and knocking over anyone who gets in your way. It's here you'll learn to check non-player characters, and pull some of the sicker tricks in order to ply the path of a skating rebel in the more pure boarding focused of the three approaches.
Rigging, however, is the ambitious one – and sadly it falls a little flat. Laying down your own ramps, rails and modding existing terrain with Proving Ground's level editor is a nice idea, but this can be particularly fiddly, and detracts from Proving Ground's otherwise fun skateboard fare.
Rig and ride
And when you do finally get to skate around your creation, you'll be hampered by Proving Ground's photograph objectives. These ask you to capture your moves by tricking at the same time as pressing the right analogue to snap the pic – which just leads to all sorts of uncomfortable pad gymnastics.
Tony Hawks Proving Ground, then, tries to do something new, but doesn't wholeheartedly succeed. It's by no means a spectacular failure, either, however – it's still got great skating gameplay, and the visuals are the best yet in the series – though somewhat of an acquired, darker, grimier taste.
Footage can be chopped, edited and thrown together with a soundtrack in robust, montage-making fashion.
The Skating Lounge and Video Editor are also indicative of Proving Ground's tendancy to deliver a great idea in a haphazard way. They both add to the package, but Proving Ground's Skate Lounge ends up as more of a glorified skate park, and shooting videos doesn't work in the same way as, say, Halo 3's Theatre mode.
Proving Ground doesn't automatically record your footage as you play; you have to manually start a recording, so many of the crazy combos you pull off as you go through the game won't be immortalised. Having said that, the footage you do take can be chopped, edited and thrown together with a soundtrack in a robust, montage-making fashion.
Mixed bag
Music itself is standard Tony Hawk's fare, while Proving Ground's seamless online eight-person multiplayer will appeal to the previous Hawk hardcore. However, the enormity of the game space actually makes playing Proving Ground online a less compelling experience; you'll spend plenty of time skating around without even seeing your competition.
Nice ideas, odd execution, but still brilliant skateboard action and some fancy new features underneath it all, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is a bit of a mixed bag, but will still offer hours of casual skating fun for more laid back players, while sating followers of the franchise eagerly awaiting their next Hawk hit.
GAME's Verdict
- New trick moves are, on the whole, welcome additions
- Still that same fast, fluid Tony Hawk's gameplay
- The best looking Hawk yet with still-accomplished online play
- Rigging gameplay and photograph objectives bring the singleplayer down
- Some of the new tricks could be smoother
- Skate Lounge and videos are more novelties than stunning essentials
Review by: Mark Scott
Version Tested: Xbox360
Review Published: 09.11.07