Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

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Retro STrife
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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby Retro STrife » September 11th, 2020, 4:04 pm

What a great remake. Lights out job by Vicarious Visions, who also did the Crash Bandicoot remake. This is more impressive than the Crash remake, and I've been having a good time with it.

This game came out last Friday and I made it a day-one purchase. Very rare that I buy a game this early, but I made an exception for THPS. It was one of my favorite series back on the PS1 and I have a lot of good memories playing it with my much younger brother. (Pro tip: THPS is one of the best games for very young kids, 6 years old and younger, because they can steer the skater around and feel like they're actually playing without any real skill needed.)

Anyway, the decision to buy at $40 did not disappoint. Graphically and mechanically the game is a huge upgrade from the PS1, yet it retains every ounce of the spirit and feels like you're play those old games. It's not a landmark game like the original, but it goes above and beyond as a remake. Long time fans will immediately recognize the levels and you'll have 20-year flashbacks to where a secret tape is located or a hidden gap. For skilled players, the game adds the revert chains that came along in THPS3, allowing for huge combo scores. One problem with the original games was that I'd beat the whole game in just a weekend. Well, I've already done that with this game too.. but the developers alleviate that a bit, with over 700 extra side bonuses to pursue, the ability to level up to Level 100, and a steady drip of unlockable boards, apparel, etc. If only the original games were included as unlockables too.

The online multiplayer is one weakness of the game. Multiplayer pits 8 players together competing in a variety of short modes, but it needs more options to customize the experience. Plus, there's always one or two super-skilled players that crush everyone, so the developers need to implement a way to level the playing field. My brother also bought the game and we tried the online multiplayer together. We wish there was a way to just free skate together or compete directly against a friend or two, but you can only do that in local multiplayer. Still, I've already played 100+ of the quick online matches and it's nice to finally have a way to face real competition in a THPS game.

Overall this is a great game, with a current metascore of 89 on Metacritic. Anyone else try it out or planning to?

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OzGamer
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby OzGamer » September 11th, 2020, 6:00 pm

I bought it last week, but I'm yet to play it. I've heard nothing but good things about it. After reading your post, I've decided to install it, and play later today.

CharlieR
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby CharlieR » October 20th, 2020, 3:09 pm

I didn't realize there was a thread on this. I am excited to play this, although I don't have a ps4 or xbox. I have the ps1 games, Tony Hawk 2x for xbox, Tony Hawk HD (the downloadable game for ps3, which was good, but not great,) and many of the old levels were remade in the Underground games and American Wasteland. Even with all those, I'd still be excited to play. Being able to do spine transfers, reverts, and manuals in places you originally couldn't would be awesome.

The only thing, the shadows in the outdoor levels look to be a bit much.

CharlieR
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby CharlieR » July 15th, 2021, 7:30 am

This game is on Switch now! Portable Tony Hawk!

One thing I find hard to do in this game is revert into a manual. It was the easiest thing to do in THPS 4 and the underground games, but I just find it tricky to do here for some reason. I can revert just fine, and manual just fine, but linking them together is tricky for some reason

ThePixelatedGenocide
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby ThePixelatedGenocide » July 15th, 2021, 10:12 am

CharlieR wrote:This game is on Switch now! Portable Tony Hawk!


Switch owners should know there's a massive graphical downgrade attached. Background shadows are frequently missing or reduced to 2600 levels of detail, before a blur filter is added. And you're not getting the highest resolution, either.

It's not what you'd expect from hardware that can run Bioshock.

There may also be frame drops below 30fps, though this wasn't a problem I experienced personally. (I lowered my character's speed until it was more faithful to the originals.)

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Retro STrife
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby Retro STrife » July 18th, 2021, 12:37 am

CharlieR wrote:This game is on Switch now! Portable Tony Hawk!

One thing I find hard to do in this game is revert into a manual. It was the easiest thing to do in THPS 4 and the underground games, but I just find it tricky to do here for some reason. I can revert just fine, and manual just fine, but linking them together is tricky for some reason


Good to hear you're playing it! I remember you're a big fan of the series too. What have you thought of the remake so far? You may be on to something with the revert to manual chain. I could chain massive combos with it in THPS 3 & 4 too-- I'd hop on a vert ramp and my whole vert routine would be one big trick by linking the vert jumps together with revert/manuals in between. Just one big string of tricks.

I wasn't quite as smooth with it in this game. I got better with practice, and eventually I could chain several vert jumps together, but not quite as good as I remembered. I chalked it up to two things: (1) my fingers and reaction time just aren't quite as fast as 20 years ago, and (2) possibly the game is not as forgiving in that area as it once was. I guess it's possible that the Switch port is even less forgiving than the PS4 version too. But on the Switch, you're also fighting a 3rd battle- the Playstation controller is the perfect Tony Hawk controller, and the Switch isn't going to provide the same level of d-pad and shoulder buttons that you need for a revert-to-manual. Especially the Joy-Cons.

Herschie
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Re: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & 2 (PS4 remake)

Postby Herschie » August 14th, 2021, 10:45 pm

It seemed like every time I'd go to someone's house to grab a bag of weed in the late 90s they'd have a group of people gathered around playing this. They gave me the controller a few times but I was never any good at it.


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