Still one of the best skateboarding games (Tony Hawks Pro Skater (DC))

Member Name: shaneo632

Product:	Tony Hawks Pro Skater (DC)
Date:	03/09/09 (2 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great gameplay and graphics

Disadvantages: None

Although Tony Hawk's Pro Skater is more popular on the PlayStation, the Dreamcast version actually boasted far better graphics, and was more refined in a lot of other areas, like pop-in reduction and framerate. Whilst one of the better selling games for the doomed console, it still never really found the audience that Sega hoped it would. Regardless, it's one of the very first skateboarding games, and set a precedent that would follow through with countless sequels, now totalling over half a dozen games.

The premise is very simple - you have to skate around a number of maps, performing as many tricks as possible, to rack up as high a score as possible. The factors contributing towards your score include how well you land the trick, the amount of "air" you get, and if you "chain" a trick into another one, you will also get a huge bonus. Moreover, these tricks, if successful, all contribute to a Special meter, which allows you to perform a huge, both in scale and points awarded, move, although any fumbles in the mean time will reset this bar to zero.

The career mode is by far the most fun component of the game, where numerous diverse challenges are set, getting progressively harder through each level. Your main goal is to collect at least 2/3 of all of the tapes in each level, which are hidden around, and present challenges, such as gaining a set number of trick points in 2 minutes, or collecting all the letters of the word SKATE that are hidden around the map. You will unlock each map as you beat it, also.

My favourite part of the game, though, is the excellent multiplayer mode, where you can compete to get the highest score, or also play a game called "Horse", where the person with the lowest score each time gains a letter of the word, and whoever ends up with the word "Horse" has lost, and of course, has been humiliatingly labelled a horse.

With a superb soundtrack of rock music, great visuals, and highly addictive gameplay, this is the most comprehensive skateboarding game of its time - fun both on your own and with friends, and also with plenty of depth, this is an extremely entertaining outing.

Summary: Excellent