Sk8r Boi. (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2))

Member Name: dcoare

Product:	Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (PS2)
Date:	14/11/03 (202 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Skate like a true professional, Good soundtrack, Lots of variety

Disadvantages: Too many cheats

Tony Hawk is one of the most famous trick skaters in the world. His talents have led to a series of fantastic games, which have been released on all formats known to man(and possibly more than that!)

The game is set in various parks, with a wide variety of tasks to perform in each. As you progress, so do your skills and your abilities.

You can perform as Tony himself, or choose from a "dream team" of 12 other pro skaters. Each of these skaters have their own styles and tricks which help you complete the goals for each level.

You can also customise your own skater and use him/her for these same levels. This is really fun as you can make them look alike to yourself, your friends, or just do what everybody else does and make them the most ridiculous looking skater on the face of the planet.

There is a small tutorial which should be played if you are a novice at the THPS series. Play this until you master the basic trick controls (ie Ollie, Nollie, Wallrides and Manuals)

----Career Mode----

This is the best way to play Tony Hawk's on your first attempt. You need to score some points to start unlocking the various levels. When you begin a level you will be shown a selection of goals you need to achieve to complete the level. Don't worry, you don't need to complete them all to unlock the next level.

Level 1 is the foundry. It is an easy level to get used to and allows you to find some of the tricks that you will need to familiarise yourself with so as to progress throughout the game. It is very daunting initially to imagine pulling off some of the joystick moves required for the "special" tricks, but once you have learnt a few you will be craving to learn more spectacular and intricate trick combinations. Practice really does make (semi)perfect.

The goals you will encounter range from picking up a pro-score(each trick scores points), to soaking the foreman(for this you
need to locate the foreman and grind the railing next to him, causing him to topple over into a vat of water)

Level 2 is Canada. A larger skate park with snow, lots of ramps, and switches which alter the playing area.

Level 3 is a contest in Rio. This is a small skate park where you have to impress the judges. It is around about now that you should be learning to link your tricks together using Manuals. These are tricks that are performed on the ground whilst travelling. Your balancing skills are required. Earn a Gold, Silver or Bronze award and the next level is opened for you.

Level 4 is Suburbia. Dodge the ice-cream van(or try to grind it), enter the spooky house or pull a lip-trick on the side of the houses under construction.

Level 5 is the airport. You begin at the check-in desk and can work your way down through passport control to the terminal.

Level 6 is a contest at Skater Island. An indoor skating arena which opens out to a small island with a pirates ship if you activate the collapsing wall. Again, score Bronze, Silver or Gold to proceed to the next level.

Level 7 is Los Angeles. With a major road bridge running right through this town, you need to cause an earthquake to open up the full potential of this level.

Level 8 is another contest, this time in Tokyo. It all looks very futuristic, but there is still plenty to do. Completing this will open up the "secret level".

The secret level is a cruise ship. You have to do some pretty spectacular stunts here as you go about impressing the bikini clad ladies, and releasing the life boats.

Completion rewards you with movies about the real characters you've been pretending to be.

----Single Skate----

Once you've opened up the levels, you can use this to improve your high scores and set new records. You have 2 minutes, as you do in the career mode to pull off the most amazing stunts to set you up
there with the legends.

----Free Skate----

Use this to learn levels, once they have been unlocked. This will give you as long as you like to find all the best trick-lines, all the obstacles and bring you up to speed for the real deal.

----Two Player----

This is when the game really comes alive. You play against a friend in split-screen action. There are various ways of playing two player.

Graffiti.

You can set a time limit and then your off. Compete against your opponent by using all the areas for tricking. Each time you complete a trick on an obstacle you will "tag" that obstacle. If your opponent does a higher scoring trick off the same obstacle, they will steal the "tag" from you. The player with the most tags wins.

Trick Attack.

See who can get the highest score over a set time. High score wins(obviously)

Horse.

My favourite. You takes it in turns to complete the best stunt from various set positions on each level. If you go first and score 100, your opponent must beat this score. If they fail to do so, they will be awarded with each letter of the word "horse" until they have spelt it out. When this happens the player who hasn't spelt "horse" is the winner.

Slap!.

When two skaters collide, the faster of the two knocks the other down. You need to get your "special meter" up by pulling tricks to increase your speed and slap your opponent down. Most knock-downs wins.

King of the hill.

A crown is placed somewhere in the playing area and you need to get it. Once you've got it, you slow down. The opponent must then find you and slap you down to steal the crown from you, which then slows them down. The player who has held the crown for the longest is the winner.

Free skate.

Similar to single free-skate, but with two players(surprisingly!)


On top of all this
, there is also an option for network play but as my ps2 doesn't have the capability just yet, I cannot comment on how well this works.


----Overall----

The THPS series is a real winner with all gaming fans and is not particularily a game just for skaters. It is very fast, and fun based. It is rewarding when you finally start to see your efforts come off and is really easy to get into. Although this is the 3rd game and there has been a newer release, and another one imminant, the gameplay in each is sufficient enough to merit owning the entire range. I would recommend this game to all people who think that it is probably a game they won't like, because it is a real grower.

With a skatepark editor that I have never bothered with, you can create your own levels and skate them to hearts content.

A brilliant soundtrack with tracks from Alien Ant Farm, Red Hot Chilis, and more give you a real skater boy sense of occasion.

I bought my copy second hand not long after release for £16.99 but I believe that if you searched around you could possibly get it cheaper now.

Summary: