Tony Hawk Underground or better known as THUG is now the fifth installment
into the family. The name Tony Hawk has become synonymous with great skate boarding
games since its earlier release and has only improved upon the name since. With
the team at Neversoft always attempting new things with this great license,
the Tony Hawk name has not only become a staple in skateboard competitions,
but also one in videogames.

Gameplay
THUG offers many new features to the already great series and new possibilities
for linking tricks together. In this latest installment you can hop off your
skateboard to link tricks together or to better explore the levels. The way
in which the new get off your board feature works is simple. At any time, if
you want you can get off your board by pressing the “black” button
on the controller. However, if you are in the middle of a trick a meter resembling
a speedometer will appear and begin to count down, if you manage to continue
into a new trick before it runs out then it is successfully linked and you receive
bonus points for doing so. Things you can do while your off your board is jump
around, run to new trick spots, get past locations inaccessible on your board
alone and climb onto buildings and other locations.

THUG not only allows you to get off of your board, but also to explore levels
for fun or simply drive around in a car. The first level in New Jersey gives
you a taste of the experience, you find yourself trying to get in good with
a gang and to do so must drive their tricked out car through the streets and
alleys of New Jersey. While the cars responses are not going to set no records
in realism, it is however a nice break from the skateboarding.

The levels in THUG are pretty large, especially when you get off the board
and begin exploring them on foot and climbing around the level, there are often
goods littered through out the level and hiding in hard to find locations. Your
missions often have you going on foot and doing just that, locating objects
for people or retrieving goods. Some of the locations you get to visit in the
latest version are Hawaii, New York, New Jersey, London, Moscow and Florida
as well as many more. Through out the level you take up missions or goals from
local skaters and pros alike, often to beat scores, successfully do a certain
trick or retrieve items. Each person has their own individual voice and look
that help to identify them and who they are, such as the pro’s.

The story mode is where this game begins to shine, as you complete goals your
character begins to move up in ranks and is allowed to gain sponsors and begins
to meet more and more of the famous skaters they themselves aspire to be. The
game gives you this sense of accomplishment even early on as a famous skater
gives you a helping hand in the right direction. I found the job of making you
grow as a skater was very well done and truly hammers in the rags to riches
point, you start as a nobody local skater and as you earn notoriety your fame
and skills grow and you move up the world ladder.

One of the best additions to the game is the new Create-A-Trick mode
where you can now design your own trick. This works through a timeline where
you add rotations, grabs, flip tricks, special maneuvers, sounds and even other
motions. The “other” category gives you the option of adding actions
such as cheering, riding with a flag out, spacewalking and many more. It appears
as though the great men at Neversoft have gone all out to include any possible
animation into the game for you to customize your tricks with, to an extent.
That extent of course is time, you are limited to 3 seconds worth of trick time,
but you can customize the length of any action you add to the time line. Other
things customizable are the total rotation of a flip, the time it takes to do
it, as well as how long a grab is held and if it is holdable by you or simply
built into the trick. After your trick is complete and any aspects you want
is chosen, you can then add that trick to your characters assortment later by
going to their edit tricks menu.

Two other added features are the new Create-A-Board mode and the newly revamped
Create-A-Park mode. While not accessible at first, Create-A-Board allows you
to trick out your skateboard with custom stickers and hardware to improve on
it or simply give it a genuine look of your own. You can add to the board different
layers of designs, letters or numbers, as well as simple print patterns, though
nothing is as impressive as the standard board designs.

The Create-A-Park mode has been given an overhaul and now seems to include
almost any item found in the game from buildings to cars, to the essential tools
such as rails, pools, and half pipes. Additional customizations can be done
by setting time of day for the park, where the park is such as Prison Yard,
Suburbia, City Roof and more. For multiplayer use you may even set the max number
of players that can participate on the skate park, allowing you to design them
for one on one competitions or large spots to simply hang out and skate and
show off your talents. If you simply want to challenge yourself, The Create-A-Park
mode features the ability to add goals. The goals that can be added range from
jumping gaps, completing a trick successfully, getting a high score or combo
and even the classic mode of spelling skate. Those of you who enjoyed the earlier
attempts at Create-A-Park will certainly enjoy this new version with much more
customizing available and many more objects to use when building your ultimate
skate park as well as it’s look and feel.

The people over at Neversoft went even one further, through the options menu
you can even change the look of the menu system in the game to best suit your
tastes. There are even menu designs that you can unlock through playing the
game, getting 100% in all the levels in the only way to guarantee that you have
truly seen everything this game has to offer.

Control
The controls in Tony Hawk are simple, requiring a small learning curve before
you yourself are skating like a professional. The standard button layout exists
and is almost entirely carried over from previous Tony Hawk games, with the
addition of buttons for the new abilities. I found the controls to be very responsive,
which is necessary for a game where you will be frantically pounding buttons
to pull off multiple combinations of tricks.

  • Y – Grind & Handplant
  • A – Jump
  • B – Grab Tricks
  • X – Kick Flips
  • L and R – Control Rotation
  • Left Analogue – Controls Movement
  • Right Analogue – Controls Camera &
    Grab (when off board)
  • Black and White – Get Off Skate Board

Graphics

This is the only place that THUG takes a hit; the graphics aren’t good
at all, the buildings and characters lack real definition to them and often
seem very boring. The models in the game are done nicely when they are skating,
but when you find yourself doing things like jumping to grab a ledge when off
the board, it looks silly and loses its touch. I would have preferred the environments
to have been better done but I am sure with all the features this game has,
there wasn’t much time to give the graphics an over haul.

Audio
Over 75 songs and the ability to customize your own soundtrack, this is the
feature in games that is used all too little and is starting to come into its
full potential with games like THUG and SSX3. Tony Hawk Underground features
music from real groups and the ability to pick and choose what you listen to
and even the order in which you do so. The soundtrack consists mainly of songs
from 3 genres, Hip-Hip, Punk and Rock, something for just about every skateboarder.
To give a sample of the listing, groups and artists by the likes of Jurassic
5, NOFX, NAS and Janes Addiction are all featured on the game. Not happy with
the current library of songs? Simply load a custom play list that you have saved
on your Xbox and skate to the soothing melodies you enjoy most.

Replay Value
THUG offers many modes of play from simple free riding, to multiplayer via split
screen and even system link capabilities to keep you busy for many days to come.
With such expansive customization in the game it’s almost impossible to
get bored. Tired of the standard tricks? Create new ones and attempt to pull
those off. The original game levels got you feeling unchallenged? Create new
ones with the Create-A-Park editor and set the most difficult goals only you
can imagine. The story mode has you globetrotting around is enough to keep many
Tony Hawk fans busy to find everything in a level and complete all the goals.
For that alone one can spend many hours just playing or challenging their friends.

Reviewer's Additional Comments
This game is loads of fun if you are playing Story Mode and moving up the world
circuit or playing against friends via split screen or system link in the many
modes it offers. The customization of everything from your board to character
design down to the ability to create custom levels is simply amazing and extend
the life of this game indefinitely. As if having to beat the game on 3 of the
4 difficulty modes weren’t enough to unlock everything. THUG has come
to be what is the best in the series of Tony Hawk games and can keep even the
non-skateboarder entertained for hours with its features, options, story mode
and unlockable content.

Overall Score
Overall Score: 9.2/10 [Not an Average]

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