Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

Rating Teen Genre sports Publisher Activision External Links Official Tony Hawks Website

Once again the ‘Birdman’ Tony Hawk and the gents at Neversoft have ushered another age of skate or die brand entertainment to a gaming system, hopefully, near you. Yes, the rise of another Hawk approved grind, bail, or nail festival means that Tony gets to show off his stuff in the new and improved Playstation 3 world, now with more blood, violence, and right nasty physics reactions to your poor landings. The sound of hard asphalt making serious impact with brittle bones and more-than-movable cartilage will once again ring true with the aid of the games Dolby Digital sounds. Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground turns more toward the character development aspect of skaterdom, as Underground 1 and 2 did before it, as apposed to the simple get points, do set trick, collect letters business of the old days. In THPG your character is given nearly free range to travel the areas surrounding your skate lounge and make a name for yourself by associating with various skating big wigs.

Starting out you dive into one of the more interesting features of THPG, the Edit-a-Skater mode. Here you will deck out your skater with all the latest swag, from Oakley glasses to SkullCandy Headphones to your Vans kicks. Nearly everything about the character can be customized and colored to your liking. What the system lacks is the more and more common facial shaping options rather than the ten or twelve similar faces available to you. Once the player finishes shopping, he or she is given a crash course in Skateology from your nearby buddies. This gives the player a glimpse of some of the challenges and story mode options that will await.

At nearly breakneck speeds, the character meets all the upper echelons of skating celebrities, each with their own tricks to teach and type of rep to gain. In the end the story unfolds at what ever pace the player proceeds, whether you choose to become the next great Career pro skater, or develop street cred as a Hardcore boarder, or build up your name as a street mod’ing Rigger. Each story allows the character to get different ad sponsors, but no one story line is exclusive. In time the player can be the best of the best on every level.

The streets that you’ll be shredding up are an interesting juxtaposition of hot skate spots from Washington DC, Downtown Baltimore, and the mad Cityscape of Philly. The pavement and walls of these massive areas are littered with various skating pros as well as hundreds of street challenges. Each mission you accept or challenge you complete will give your rep towards either Career, Hardcore, or Rigger, as well as a nice cash bonus. You can use the money to deck out your dude or further adorn you ‘Skate Lounge’. The skate lounge is THPG’s version of a sandbox tool kit. Starting off as a nearly barren room, as you progress in the story, more and more gear can fill it, everything from Widescreens to Grindrails to Helicopters can fill this immense abode.

One of the most impressive features of THPG is the Snapshot and Video Editor. Several times throughout the story, the character will be asked to shoot a trick or take some epic photo while clearing a huge gap. By the end of all this the player can accumulate a huge pile of short video clips and all sorts of snapshots. These can be edited together in-game. Scenes can be sorted, combined, sped up, slowed, and distorted for style. The popular fisheye lens and crazy lens flare special effects are available, just to name a few. The real fun comes when filming these shots. The character can place cameras anywhere and at nearly anytime. Manning the camera, the player sets up each shot for maximum effect. Tripods and additional cameras can be set up to get clips from different angles. Unfortunately, here we come across one of THPG’s more obvious set backs, the load times. In between each clip or photo, each screen and menu, there comes a loading screen. If your prepared for it, no problem. For the unwary gamer this completely rules out the Video Editing function.

A new feature of Proving Ground is the “Nail the Trick” mode. By jumping and pressing L3 and R3 you enter Nail the Trick mode. This need to know trick essentially boils down to ‘Bullet Time’ for boarders, wherein time slows and allows the player the control needed to pull off just the right trick. These new technology isn’t limited simply to air tricks or kicks, you can also initiate ‘Nail the Grab’ and ‘Nail the Manual’ modes. Each does approximately the same thing, only allowing for more precise, if not more confusing, controls. Another one of the best parts about this title being put on the PS3 is its easy transition to multiplayer modes. Players can now challenge others on the PS Network. Whether playing with a roomie or with seven accomplices, you can enjoy Horse, Graffiti, and the old school trick attack style competition.

Hands down, best Hawk game so far, but that’s simply because it builds upon everything a skating game has given us so far. For the full effect of Proving Ground, stick primarily to your niche at first, and don’t forget about the amazing film editor. For smooth graphics without a million years worth of product placement, and a more flowing control scheme, Tony and friends are going to receive a mighty three and a half out of four. That’s all folks so grab your hoodie, get your board, and don’t forget the first aid kit.


Info
 * Customize your skater to roll as yourself, a pirate, or a zombie
 * Progress through three distinct branching storylines to build your rep
 * Collect cash to buy everything from new hardware, clothes, or just swag to hang around your pad
 * Master the perfect sick score setters with Nail the trick mode
 * Meet pros like Tony Hawk, Mike Valley, and Daewon Song
 * Keep uping your skating skills to pull off faster, more challenging tricks