GameLight Review - Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD

Steam Page: http://store.steampowered.com/app/207210/
Source: Youtube Channel IGN

Developer: Robomodo
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: Playstation 3, Xbox 360, [PC]
Release Date: Sep 18, 2012 (PC release date)
Genre: Sports

Pros:
+ Nice upgrade to graphics to a classic game
+ A respectable tribute to the original game with level designs unchanged
+ Incredible sense of nostalgia with some classic songs from the originals
+ A decent amount of content considering its price

Cons:
- Missing custom skater/level design which made the series really great
- Keybinds can't be remapped and controls on gamepad is awful
- Lots of bugs and hit-box detection problems in all levels
- Wishing there were certain levels and songs added to the game from the original

Recommended: For the $5 I paid, it was a good nostalgia trip.  I'd recommend it to THPS fans of the original.

It's been 13 years since its first release into the world.  Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD takes certain levels from the first and second original games as well as a few songs that were featured in them and put them together in a reboot using the Unreal Development Kit making it look modern and aesthetically pleasing.  The game has not changed.  The player still takes the role of famous skaters and perform inhuman chains of tricks for the highest score while grabbing cash and letters to spell SKATE.  It has the core concept of the original games including all the special gaps, same level designs with updated graphics, familiar objectives, some classic songs and some new ones that fit in perfectly, and all the crazy tricks.  The game has a lot of flaws that weren't present in the originals though.  From the in-game menu, a player can't look at their tricks list, they can't skip a track (which is okay for me since I like all the songs), all cheat codes must be activated by going into options from the main menu, and keybinds can't be changed.  I love Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, so I was excited to hear the HD remake was going to release on PC.  It's a great nostalgia trip and reminded me of how fun the series was, but there are definitely a lot of problems in design choices and missing content that long time fans would be disappointed to see lacking in this remake.

Aesthetics
Art Style: Somewhat realistic with arcade-like features
+ Graphic make over with high-res textures
+ Simple and easy navigation of user-interface
+ Recreated models with both original characters and new ones
+ The use of UDK makes for nicer physics
+ Music from the originals is what really made the nostalgia trip experience
+ The new songs not from any of the original games fit in perfectly
+ Animations of all tricks are smoother while still maintaining that arcade feel

- The audio control for music is quiet, even at the highest settings
- Faces for the characters in-game are kind of weird
- Some collisions don't react accordingly to their direction
Aesthetics: 9/10

Buttons
Controller: Keyboard; Gamepad
+ Familiar control mapping for gamepad
+ Tricks are still the same, so veteran players will be familiar with them

- Keys can't be remapped, keyboard controls are atrocious
- Up is stop and down is go on the analog stick and can't be changed
- Playing with the digital pad made it really hard to make tight turns
Buttons: 4/10

Concept & Content
Core Concept: Perform tricks, fulfill objectives, and get the highest score
+ Level designs are untouched and unchanged, just better graphics
+ Provides about 5 different modes to play
+ Quick retry button is the best thing ever
+ Familiar skaters and new ones with upgradeable stats
+ Cheat codes are earned and can be activated from the options menu
+ The game feels very familiar, but the improvements are noticeable

- No splitscreen or online multiplayer for PC version (Console version has online)
- No tricks command list in-game, can't switch cheat codes, and can't skip songs
- Missing custom skater/level, a major part of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series
- Revert DLC should have been in the main game to begin with
Concept and Content: 7/10

Duration
+ A decent amount of time for one play through for $5
+ Two minutes each run can accumulate quite a bit of time spent playing
+ Each character has different skill sets and stat differences for replay value
+ Different modes provide different ways of playing the same level
+ Lots of unlockables for the completionist type players

- A lot of the extra modes are boring for PC
- Multiplayer modes would have been nice such as Horse or graffiti
- Despite the differences in skaters, the play through is essentially the same
Duration: 7/10

Fun
+ Nostalgia took over with the levels, music, graphics, and gameplay
+ I still got it, so much fun chaining tricks together
+ I really liked the modernization of the graphics
+ The music is what really made the experience whole and entertaining

- The controls were just awful and really affected my experience with the game
- I would've liked custom skater at the very least
Fun: 7/10

Overall
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD does try to bring the best of the originals into the remake, but it also takes out a lot of what made the series great.  It also create new problems that weren't there before such as not being able to remap key bindings and having all the options such as music, cheat codes, and tricks list outside of the in-game menu.  Still, the game is still pretty entertaining for anyone new to the series.  THPS is one of the most influential sports game to bring extreme sports into videogames and made them popular.  The game is recommended for fans of the series as the game is geared towards pleasing our nostalgia to the game as long as expectations aren't too high.  As a whole, the game isn't that solid, but it's still pretty fun.  Overall: 6.8/10