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From IGN- Tony Hawks Project 8 R
From IGN- Tony Hawks Project 8 Review
Australia, November 16, 2006 - Tony Hawk - poster boy for a
generation of alternative sports enthusiasts and figurehead of Activision's
hugely successful skateboarding sim, is back for another round. Except,
something is a little off in the normally stable state of Neversoft and our
much-beloved franchise is seemingly distracted and floundering under the strain
of next-generational transition.
Tony Hawk's Project 8 shows moments of brilliance and then does
everything in its power to undermine itself. Despite this, and this is a major
point of inner conflict for us, Project 8 definitely isn't a bad game. It just
falls notably flat for a series marked by soaring highs and generally tight
gameplay.
The core of the game revolves around Hawk seeking out the top eight undiscovered
skaters from around the nation in order to form his Project 8 squad. Kind of
like, we presume, the ultimate street-cred and bragging rights. After making
your way through the character selection and creation process, you are set loose
into the world with the humbling world-ranking of 200 and a long journey to the
top.
A bit of shameless product placement, in the form of a Nokia N93 mobile phone,
becomes your link with the 'story' progression. Via the inherent video and
messaging capabilities of the handset, you'll receive updated missions to seek
out and regular unlockable videos of pro skaters hitting the tarmac. And
occasionally their family jewels.
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Performing manuals has been simplified
for those who need a helping hand.
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Perhaps the biggest change to the fundamental skate mechanics comes in the form
of Nail the Trick mode. By clicking in the left and right analogue sticks in,
the game zooms into a very cool board-focussed camera viewpoint. The idea, which
is amiable, is that the left stick controls the left leg of your skater, and the
right stick controls the right one. By shifting the leg in a direction, you can
spin or tweak the board at the height of the ollie and land safely by returning
the leg to the 'neutral' centre position when the deck is tape-side-up.
This is groundbreaking and brilliant - almost single-handedly lifting this game
out of the 'average' category. Not only does the engine handle the
depth-of-field effect with panache, but the slow-motion action highlights just
how much effort has gone into replicating the subtleties of truck movement,
wheel-spin and impact. It looks stellar and importantly, it works.
Plus, you can perform this action at any time, with certain points in the game
world featuring automatic Nail the Trick activation - just ollie off the start
point and the game will automatically kick in the slow motion.
This automatic activation, speaking of which, is a paramount gameplay feature
this time around. Certain environmental objects are tagged with coloured
indicators showing 'spot' events - just roll across the point or ollie into the
zone begin the challenge. This kind of challenge selection compliments the
continuous movement of skateboarding, and it works a lot better than the
standard mission selection process. That is, you have to roll over to a
character and hit X to activate the mission objectives. This is actually a much
harder proposition than it sounds, given that you're probably going to be moving
at some speed when you'll suddenly need to pull over and talk to the
mission-dealing character. Neversoft has gone some way towards rectifying this,
by allowing you to traverse the level on-foot, deck-in-hand.RokBottom Co. Home Site
Decks:
Element l
Zoo York l
RokBottom Co. l
Plan B l
BirdHouse l
Black Label
l Consolidated
l World
Industries l
City l
Popwar
Bueno l
Flip l
Dark Star
l Blank Decks
1 Complete
Skateboards 1
Wheels:
Hubba l
Autobahn l
Abec11 l
Pink l
Almost l
Element l
Spitfire l
Kryptonics
l Popwar l
Black Label
l Baker l
Ricta l
Enjoi l
Trucks:
Venture l
Independent
l Grind King
l Destructo
l Tensor l
Tracker l
Fury l
Element l
Assorted:
Headwear l
Video/DvD l
T-Shirts l
Wristbands l
Sweatshirts l
Shoes:
Etnies l
DC l
Adio l
Emerica l
Osiris l
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