TESTED GAMESThe Tony Hawk games aren’t
totally removed from real
skateboarding, but their
arcadey addictiveness still
lies in pulling off ridiculous
combos to build your high
score – with one mistimed
button press sometimes
resulting in thousands of
lost points. It’s a risk/reward
setup that can be just as
pad-breakingly infuriating
now as it ever was, but you’ll
keep hammering that retry
button well into the night.
Game-changing mechanics
like manuals, reverts and acid
drops, crucial to maintaining
combos for the big scores, are
all available from the beginning,
though purists can turn them
off. Given we’ve been known
to forget which cupboard the
pans live in, it’s amazing how
much we could remember from
the originals.
A final word on the music.
It’s always been almost as
important as the skating, and
most of the first two games’
classic tracks are back. A mix
of hip-hop, rock and pop-punk,
it’s a delight to revisit even
the naff tunes (of which there
are several), and Activision
has also secured a number
of more contemporary songs
to complete the soundtrack.
Chances are you’ve never
heard Less Than Jake and
Skepta on the same playlist.Mics and the
mechanics“How lucky we were to find
this unlocked concrete
ramp storage facility.”
Riley Hawk, son of Tony. His
first name is really Hudson.
Yes, like the film. Poor lad.PS4, XB1, PC / stuff.tv/Hawk12