Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD Review (360)

[xrobbyh14x]

The review had some good points, but I don't think it's a total piece of junk. You can watch me play through it at http://www.youtube.com/letsplaysallday and see for yourself if you like. I do enjoy THPS2x better though.

[Sublime12089]

I don't think he was expecting it to be comparable to a $60 dollar release. I believe the point being made is that it is inferior to the backward compatable THPS 2X which can be picked up for five to ten dollars.

I have not played the full XBLA release. However, the demo did not make me want to.

[jyoung]

The standards of comparison for this review were the existing Tony Hawk games that are backward-compatible the Xbox 360 as well as other $15 Xbox Live Arcade games.

When you compare the limited package that THPS HD offers to other $15 downloadable games like Trials Evolution, which features a track editor, local multiplayer, a downloadable level hub, 60+ stock levels, etc.), it's clear that THPS HD fails to offer the same amount of content as other similarly priced games on the XBLA marketplace.

Furthermore, most of the content in this game is already available on the Xbox 360 if you have a copy of THPS 2X and THPS3 for the Xbox 1. In fact, you could pickup both of those games together for less than the $15 this new HD remake is asking, and you would be getting a ton more content for your money since THPS HD is missing so many levels, modes, skaters and songs from the original games.

Add in a number of major technical issues with the framerate, screen tearing, stuttering, clipping, collision detection, physics, etc., plus a controller that simply wasn't built to handle this type of gameplay, and that is why this game scored as low as it did.

It had nothing to do with me sucking at the game.

Spoiler

[VDusen04]

I must say, while the review featured a number of legitimate gripes, I disagree with the overall tone and nearly apparent notion that Tony Hawk HD is a horrible game. I randomly discovered Tony Hawk HD after spending the previous two weeks playing through Tony Hawk 1 and 2 with my little brothers on their Nintendo 64 (yes, I understand this is 2012). All the fun we seemed to have with the 64 versions (we beat THPS2 with every character) seemed to carry over quite seamlessly to the HD 360 iteration.

For starters, we haven't experienced many issues with the controls. However, that doesn't mean we haven't experienced any issues. The primary problem we've come across is the frequent inability to make our skater turn around completely while skating in a straight line. This seems to be related to the D-Pad as you mentioned. Basically, sharp turns sometimes do not end up being as sharp as we're looking for. Past the D-Pad squaring-up issues (which can be largely rectified by using the analog for sudden reversals) we haven't had any problems with the face or shoulder buttons. Each of those setups have felt true to our 64 and PS2 Tony Hawk skating histories. Also, for whatever it's worth, we've had virtually no issues executing special tricks on demand and as we see fit.

Skaters falling into empty space is there on awkward falls that occur at unusual portions of each level (say, falling from Downhill Jam's Secret Tape area down into the water) and sometimes it occurs on regular portions of each level, but I haven't really found it to be a bother. I think as a reviewer it's a great thing to point out to prospective gamers, but I just did not feel it really negatively affected the experience. In fact, we all kind of get a kick out of those moments when they happen. I will say, we do have an issue with the brief white screen every time our skater falls. We'd much prefer the old fashion of showing the fall and the skater jumping back on (without cutting away).

With all that said, we haven't experienced any stuttering, screen tearing, or framerate drops. I'd be curious to hear what the explanation is behind that (why some folks are experiencing them, or why we aren't experiencing them). Also, aside from the "falling through floors" glitch that pops up on bails, we haven't really had any other issues with the collision detection. Well, actually, we noticed skaters will look as if they're grinding inside a certain pipe on Downhill Jam if their board is sideways. Beyond that though, we haven't had many, if any, random crashes.

Aesthetically, I am in sharp disagreement of the review. I felt every level looked wonderful and I did not even notice black outlines on items. One of my primary draws to the game itself was the ability to experience each level for how they now stand with their improved artistic updates. Everything seems so clean, detailed and full. Suddenly, the Hangar actually sort of feels like a hangar. Perhaps this aspect of the art had a bigger effect on my brothers and me because we'd literally been playing out THPS 1 and 2 in the two weeks leading up to this game's release. As such, we had fresh visuals upon which to compare the HD version and its predecessors. If I could change anything, I think I would have made the money green again. I still haven't quite figured out what I'm collecting now in that regard; I'm assuming it's credit or gift cards. Still, I certainly would not have ever considered this game's aesthetics to be a failure and I wouldn't have thought anyone else would say as such if I never came across this interview.

As a whole, I agree with the wish to include more original music. It would have been nice to hear at least one other track from the first game. However, coming into things, I just thought it was cool old songs were being used at all so really, any old track was a bonus for me. Plus, I definitely welcomed the addition of El-P and Trent Rezznor to the soundtrack. The other songs fit in quite seamlessly, providing a "new but old" feel from the game's musical angle. Again though, having recently played the original THPS's, the old music was beginning to wear on me (I was Powerman 5000'd out). This is why I'm glad when all else fails, I can play my own music during Tony Hawk HD and it actually works pretty seamlessly, complementing gameplay quite well.

I wish certain Tony Hawk staples were present in this HD download, such as create-a-skater, more levels, and local multiplayer. But to be real, I knew exactly what I was signing up for when I opted to pay $15 for this product. Had I paid $60 for Tony Hawk HD and ended up with just seven levels, my skater floating into nothingness from time to time, and the soundtrack having shrunk from the most recent TH offerings, would I have had an issue? Yeah, I may have been upset. However, my expectation for a $15 download was some updating and tinkering of old classic levels featuring new skaters that didn't look like they were once meant to be Minecraft characters and the same fun control system that made the original products so addicting. In that regard, I haven't regretted my purchase one bit. This game has been a great way to continue the fan we'd been having on the N64 versions over the past month.

[jayenomics]

It's not very expensive at $15, but this game is awesome to blow through and remember the good times we all had back in the day.