E3 2012 – Geekscape Previews Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD!
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater franchise is very near and dear to a lot of gamers hearts. Growing up, every kid and myself had a blast grinding around an abandoned hanger bay as Spider-Man. Should those memories be left in the past? Or should you pick up your virtual skateboard for another round this summer?
As I was playing, I had someone come up and ask me how the gameplay was. After a couple of failed attempts at reaching the top of the hanger bay, I calmly told him it was familiar and new at the same time. Now, knowing that answer may have sounded incredibly philosophical and provided no help at all, I quickly handed him the controller. It was after a long and “Sloppy” list of tricks when he agreed with my statement.
I’m not worried for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD, in fact, it may be even more fun with friends. There’s no question this HD treatment will cause some nostalgia. In fact, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD contains maps from both the first and second game from the 90’s. And if that wasn’t enough, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD will feature songs from the original two games.
Anyone who was good at any of the past installments should be able to pick up a controller and know what they’re doing. I had trouble my first go around due to having an extensive amount of hours logged in using a Playstation controller rather than an Xbox 360 controller. Still, you’ll find that you can adjust easily.
The full list of features is as follows:
– HD Upgrade: Game was rebuilt and polished by Robomodo using Neversoft’s original code.
– Classic levels: The style and feel of the best 7 levels from THPS and THPS2 (Warehouse, School 2, Mall, Phoenix, Hangar, Marseilles and Venice) refreshed for today. Tony Hawk himself put a call out to his fans on Twitter during the summer of 2011 to decide the final levels.
– The Top Pros: Today’s biggest skate pros round out the cast including: Nyjah Huston, Chris Cole, Eric Koston, Andrew Reynolds, Rodney Mullen, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins (Pastrana), Riley Hawk and, of course, Tony Hawk himself.
– Refined controls: The skaters’ animations, tricks and combos reflect the evolution of the THPS games. For example, you can do manuals in levels from the first THPS, a trick that didn’t enter the franchise until THPS2. However, reverts are not part of trick combos, as the scoring system is based on THPS2.
– Endlessly fun objectives: Players pursue the same global and level-specific goals as the original games, including S-K-A-T-E, Secret DVD (used to be VHS tape!), and many more.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is set to come out his summer as part of Xbox Live’s Summer of Arcade line-up.
