Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

Game Info

Start small…then the world is your oyster!

It’s time to get skating again!  Tony Hawk and his friends are revisiting some of their favorite places and raising all kind of hell.  Whether whipping through a mall, tearing up a school, or competing in a tournament, the best and most daring skaters are here.  Grab your board and get rolling!

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a skateboarding simulation sports game developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision.  The game is a remastered version of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater from 1999 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 from 2000.  The game was met with positive reviews and had positive sales.

I didn’t play the original Tony Hawk games, and my aspirations of being a skater died young when I lived in the country with barely any pavement and unable to recreate things like Thrashin’ or Gleaming the Cube.  I might have played a bit at a kiosk display or a demo, but I never had one of the full games.  I however loved the stunts and challenges of games like Grand Theft Auto maybe more so than the actual game…so when I found a cheap copy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, I thought I’d give it a try.  For the review, a Nintendo Switch version was reviewed.

Visit beautiful, exotic locations…like Venice Beach?

The game is quite fun and playable.  It is the type of game you can sit down for a short session and enjoy a short session…but it will likely turn into a long session of “just one more run”.  The extent of a “plot” is simply getting better and opening more locations as you do.  You can speed this up by upgrading your player and finding points to modify the stats…and it can be noticeable after a while.  The game incorporates features that came in following games and new challenges for the release.

The game control is also very slick.  Some of it is intuitive (you just feel that a jump is going to work/fail when you do it), but a lot of the controls despite the tutorial are acquired through experimentation.  That is the fun of the game is trying to find the combos that work well and score high.  Sometimes you think you did the right move to pull something off, and it does not work…the next time it does.  You might think you’re doing well but you score low or vice versa you can be tanking and score high.  The puzzle is putting it together.

Uncover what is hidden in Roswell!

The game also visually finessed the look.  With cleaned up graphics and design, it plays like an older game, but looks new and fresh…it can seem really painful when Tony gets run down by a mad golf cart or slam into the ground (fortunately, he still pops up quickly).  Despite being able to play other characters and design your own levels and players, sometimes it is easier just to follow the creators’ plans.

I will never be a great Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 player, but it is fun trying to be.  Each achievement or level unlocked, it is like more fun opens up and with two games in one, if you get stuck on one level, hopefully the other game will have a level you can pass.  Fans of the series probably will enjoy the nostalgia of this collection and new players can play a game that doesn’t require you to commit hours and hours to one sitting to get anywhere…just keep doing your ollies, grinds, and wall plants and you’ll get there.