I’ve been growing older all the time but it feels like Tony Hawk hasn’t really aged. It’s still got some wicked courses set to awesome music and it makes you feel great when you successfully pull off a sweet combo of grinds and grabs. The courses included in Tony Haw’s Pro Skater HD are pulled from both the original Tony Hawk and Tony Hawk 2 games. You’ll get a chance to re-visit the Warehouse, Hangar, the mall and the school, and more. The courses from Tony Hawk 2 are most welcome as we haven’t seen any of them during the PS2 era that I can remember. There are a total of seven courses in the HD version, which sounds low, but if you’re into obtaining 100% completion, it’ll take some time to clear all goals in each level.
The Tony Hawk series has been widely considered a total failure in recent years. Personally I thought the series truly started going downhill with Underground 2, not to mention Downhill Jam. This definitely isn’t the case with Tony Hawk HD as this game goes back to the series’ roots. The game brings back the classic goals of collecting S-K-A-T-E, finding well hidden cash throughout levels and of other level specific goals such as finding tiny grinds or clearing hang time gaps.
So here I am doing everything I can to pull off the huge combos right from the start. It’s not going to happen. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD will take some work and you’re going to suck without at least $5,000 in stat upgrades. As you complete goals and of course find the in-game cash, you can visit the stat upgrades screen from the main screen and spend that money to increase stats such as air, hangtime, Ollie, and much more. I’d recommend upping your rail balance early on as grinding is a huge part of scoring big points in combos. Scoring 250,000 points and higher in two minutes is really easy once you’ve got a few upgrades under your feet.
Visually, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is an impressive effort. It’s not stunning by comparison to many other digital download titles nowadays, but when you think back to the pixelated mess on the PS1, this is a huge upgrade – and the levels are identical to their original releases. New textures, deeper colors, more definition – that’s the only differences in this sweet upgrade.
The soundtrack is comprised of some tunes from both Tony Hawk 1 & Tony Hawk 2, including my personal favorites: Goldfinger – Superman & Bad Religion – You. Unfortunately you can’t access any soundtrack options to choose the songs you want to have played, and there appears to be no way to switch tunes either. There are a couple new songs included too, but I’d honestly love to play with just my two favorite tracks playing over and over.
There are a few small additions for multiplayer capability including some time-limited collection modes, Graffiti mode, and a Score Attack. There is no local multiplayer but Robomodo has included Xbox LIVE multiplayer including a free skate mode you can play with three friends. Career mode remains a single player experience, and that’s probably what you’ll put most (if not all) of your time into.
Seven levels, 14 music tracks, and the promise of future DLC including some Tony Hawk 3 maps make Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD a worthy addition for your collection. Robomodo has done a fantastic job on bringing back the past!
| Rating | Description |
| 8.0 | Gameplay Most of the classic tricks and some great courses to trick out on. It's missing revert and some other helpful moves but there's enough to work with. |
| 8.0 | Graphics Upgraded textures and colors, but all the courses look the same in terms of design. It's retro, but newcomers will love it too. |
| 8.5 | Sound It's got some great tunes from the original games, but there's no way to select specific tunes or skip ones you don't care for. |
| 8.0 | Final Score |
