Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was an instant hit when it arrived on the PSone in 1999, but after seven sequels, countless ports, and newfound competition from EA’s skate, Neversoft was always going to have to go all out with Proving Ground to keep the series from going stale. Did they pull it off?
Neversoft’s latest installment of their Tony Hawk franchise is out. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground has been promised to be the most customizable Tony Hawk game ever. The game will allow players to progress the story and their style based on the choices they make and where they choose to skate. Another touted feature is the games fully in-built video editor that allows players to make their own skate videos. Joel Jewett, Neversoft’s president, had this to say about the game:
“With Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, we are giving gamers the chance to express their personal style like never before. They can do everything from skating the way they want, and producing their own classic videos, all the way to pulling-off the newest Nail the Trick maneuvers and tricking out their skate lounge to hang-out with friends.”
The game is set in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. and will allow players to skate form single player mode into multiplayer mode. In addition to the usual major band soundtrack the 360’s version of the game will include a 5 song, Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock demo on the disc.
Prices are USD$59.99 for Xbox 360 and PS3, $49.99 for the Wii, $39.99 for the PS2 and $29.99 for DS.
via Press Release
Activision’s aptly timed demo of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground has just been released onto Xbox Live, in an attempt to convince you not to rush out and buy skate when it hits shelves across the US tomorrow.
After seeing both games in action at Leipzig, Proving Ground looked far more impressive (and dare I say, complete) - but with both games now having demos available on Xbox Live, I’d suggest you go try them out for yourselves, rather than listen to me prattle on.
I caught up with Chad Finley, project lead of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, today at GC07 for a quick chat, while another Neversoft employee showed off her insane (albeit virtual) skateboarding skills in the background.
Activision have released a new trailer for Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, featuring the abilities specific to a career skater - Nail the Trick, Nail the Manual and Nail the Grab. After mastering these three abilities, you’ll be able to chain together some truly amazing combos - not that you wouldn’t expect amazing combos from a Tony Hawk game. The fact they slow down the gameplay momentarily has the added advantage of giving you a bit more time to take in the far improved graphics and animation (…and framerate, by the looks of things.)
Given how the Nail the Trick feature alone made Tony Hawk’s Project 8 a breath of fresh air for the franchise, the added “nailing” abilities make Proving Ground well worth checking out, even for those who’ve lost interest in the series along the way.
