Tony Hawk Shreds His Way Onto XBLA

Posted June 11, 2012 by TheAgentLoki in Arcade

Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Return/update Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD for the modern consoles via XBLA’s Summer of Arcade with the best of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 in glorious HD. Most gamers over the age of 20 will remember playing these games on older generations both solo and against friends and absolutely loving every second of it.

Personally, I always seemed to find the perfect groove in THPS1 with Superman by Goldfinger and Bring the Noise by Anthrax featuring Chuck D. of Public Enemy in THPS2. Soundtrack is always crucial in games with extreme elements and, as the previous titles have set a high bar, we should not expect to be let down in this department.

Naturally, we are due for an update graphically. We have come a long way from the days of the first PlayStation, N64, and other consoles/hand-held systems that these games were originally available on. From what we’ve seen from screens released thus far, we’re in for a treat visually (especially with memories of the first games in mind).

Any of these gamers can appreciate the memory of holding and switching tricks after the round timer has expired for as long as possible because the score would continue to ramp up as long as the player didn’t end up landing or falling. These same people and new players will not be disappointed as the ability to snap together a series of tricks into a combo that can rack up insanely high scores is assured to be there.

Activision Publishing Inc and Robomodo team up to bring a fresh carve of these classics by using the power of current generation consoles to bring back what made the THPS series so popular as well as expanding upon them to offer a whole new experience. Online capabilities expand upon the range of opponents over the classic multiplayer modes as well as added characters selection for more variety as well as updating the control scheme to be “the best controls ever in a Tony Hawk game.”

The roster is impressive as it has been updated. Anyone who knows even one of these names knows they are serious business in the modern scene of skateboarding. Tony Hawk, Riley Hawk, Andrew Reynolds, Eric Koston, Nyjah Huston, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins (Pastrana), Chris Cole, and Rodney Mullen are among the group of pros you’ll be able to control and face down.

This Summer of Arcade, get ready to rip it up for approximately 1200MSP ($15). As a long-time fan of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, I can attest to this being a great value for the title already.