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THE MOST ORIGINAL AND TECHNICALLY SUPERIOR HAWK, YET? I'D HAVE TO DISAGREE |  Arend D. Hart from Michigan says (20/Nov/2002): | Personally, I've loved the THPS series since day one, but I think I'm a bit burned out by it now.
Ok for the good - it's a THPS game. We know how fun they are, we know the graphics, new goals system, etc...it's a great game.
Now, the Bad:
I've been playing THPS4, but it hasn't been as exciting as I would have hoped.
First, Neversoft is getting kudos for the new goals system (meeting people and receiving goals). Um...the same system Acclaim has been using in Dave Mirra (and perfected in the recent Aggressive Inline) for a couple of years. Sure, it makes THPS better, but they aren't doing anything new.
And, some of the new goals seem kinda pasted in without having much debugging. For instance, in San Francisco, you get a goal of getting a medal in a competition. The competition's ramps and rails magically appear overtop of the existing scenery. The problem is, it's like they messed up in the coding, and the programming gets confused by this graphical overlay. Go try a lip trick on 90% of the newly appeared ramps and one of two things will happen: Either you'll just not do a lip trick at all (no matter how hard or often you press triangle), or you'll suddenly be planting in the center of the transition with your hand passing through the decking (I surmise you are planting off the original scenery). This sucks when you're a grinder/planter like I am and you can't pull off the easiest of the combo builders, making it had to medal any more than Bronze.
Finally, the spine transfer really is lame. I know the designer's intent, but it comes off as another aggravating addition which only serves to make the game easier, yet more difficult. It used to be that the R1 and L1 buttons were for quarter-spins, and the R2 and L2 were for half-turns. Do R1 and R2 together and you spin faster. We all know this. NOW, if you hit R2 or L2 accidentally(which happens often when you're used to the old control scheme), you end up automatically transitioning out of the ramp (mid trick) with no way to counteract. Then, to top it off, the spine transfer animation is so jerky, it almost makes you disoriented. Even the first Dave Mirra title made spine transfers more exciting, better looking and easier to manage than this. Hell, I seldom had a problem transitioning on the old THPS games, so why change it now...to make it even easier? Oh, and you can use this to save yourself if you accidentally launch off the side of a ramp. Hmmmm.... One less thing that always made the game more challenging. Now the only excitement is timing the spine transfer so it doesn't conflict with the revert you need to pull to keep the combo going.
All in all, I can't really complain about this game in the big picture. It still is the best boarder game out there. But to say it's a 10 for its originality and technical merit just isn't right.
I just picked up Aggressive Inline last week at EB for $20 (new), and saw it in the bargain bin at Target for $15 yesterday. I'd suggest you pick up Aggressive Inline and play that out while you wait for THPS4 to go to Greatest Hits. I mean, I like THPS4 quite a bit, but I can't help feeling depressed about spending $50 on it.
| Ok, but this isn't what i was waiting of THPS4. | | Brad Felizardo from Luanda, Angola says (16/Sep/2003): | One more disappointing version of a great PS2 game. Ok, it's PS2 again, and off course the graphics are great, but just talking about graphics i can say the first bad thing: What tha hell are those levels? I think that only the first 2 levels are great, and Kona, the rest completely sucks, a lot of old iron stages, they didn't know how to explore well the PS2 capacity of graphics, sincerly i prefer the THPS2 stages, you all remember those great stages like the beach (I think that a beach in THPS4 should fit, why they didn't made it? Something like Miami should go...). Also, this game will not give you fun for so much time, there isn't too much (i mean... real stuff!) to buy. In THPS2 the tricks where purchased and also it had great styles of boards and clothes, in this one they give you all the most important tricks at the beginnin', you'll be passing and winning trough the stages and you'll realise that new tricks aren't coming, and you'll say: "-Damn! I can't belive this is all that this game have to give us!" But belive it, it is all. The boards are the worst, even Tony's boards, and too much "humoristic like" boards, and others with no sense or good design at all. Talking about sense, Neversoft puts too much things of their own in the game, like their movies and things like that, is it right to get big money making the objectives and just to buy movies of them? Arght.
At last, there are some good points like the cool guys of the game like that drunk man, and 35 sound tracks, at the beginning the music appears to suck, but no, they're cool, and the objecives are fun and great too, just poor when it comes to objectives of competition.
About the Custom Skaters and Skaters, man, when do they learn that most of people love to do "really custom" skaters? Look, the cool shoes are all of the real 12 skaters, and it's impossible to at last change their color! Also, there isn't even one beautiful woman custom face, just check them well, they're all not cute (well, the glasses should do...).
Hey guys, and just check out Elissa Steamer's face in 3D that Neversoft did, arggghttt! Is that Elissa Steamer? Hahaha, if they really want to make the game look great, they have to be more serious when making them, that's for sure. I'm waiting for MTV Skateboarding on PS2.
| Not a huge leap up from 3 | | Fashun Messiya from Bedford, NH says (29/Dec/2002): | First off, I like the spine transfer feature, not necessarily for getting over the spines (though, if your major problem with this is that you keep hitting L2 or R2 "accidentally", here's a tip STOP DOING THAT), but for the fact that if you launch out of a pipe you can save yourself. Yes, this makes the game easier...and somewhat more realistic. I don't know about anyone else in here, but I have NEVER seen a skater launch out of the side of a pipe and just land on his side. It was a stupid overlooked feature in previous releases that made the game harder in a very irritating way.
Graphically, 4 is similar to 3. The levels are different, the skaters look a little different, but If you had only ever played 3 once, and then played 4, you might not notice a difference. Not that this is a bad thing. In my mind, 3 was excellent graphically. The create-a-skater in 4 is tweaked slightly - you adjust the scale of the skater, instead of just height and weight. Otherwise, that's the same also.
The biggest change, as has been mentioned here, is the goal system - you don't just get a list of goals and two minutes to complete as many as possible. This is probably the best feature of the game, though not entirely innovative (check out Aggressive Bootskater...I mean, Aggressive Inline). It is great to be able to cruise the level and retry tricks over and over without having to reload the level.
As far as I can tell, the park editor is the same as 3, which is kind of a shame, as I always found the park size to be too small.
The music has been mentioned earlier, and it doesn't suck, but I liked THPS3's music much, much more. That playlist had about three songs that I got sick of. This playlist has about three songs that I enjoy. It's not that it's bad music (or that I'm not a skater, and thus I don't understand "skater music" which is a complete crock), it just doesn't do anything for me.
So basically, if you have 3, stick with it, and wait for the price of 4 to drop.
| By far the best of the THPS series. | | Adam Romero from Fresno, California, USA says (6/Jan/2003): | First of let me respond to the most common complaint I seem to have run across in reviews. The music sucks. You know what...if you are too stupid to figure out how to go into the options menu and turn the music level down and flip on a stereo, you deserve to sit there for endless hours and listen to grating, force fed main stream music. I myself happen to be a country music fan but you know what...I didn't buy the game for the music. If you want good music, go to a music store. The re-configuration of the flat land tricks is awesome and I have mixed feelings on the spine transer capabilities. I know there are some people that don't like it...but don't you think that if these people can sit in front of a TV for 13 hours a day to play one game they should be able figure out two new buttons. I'm sure it's nothing that an hour or so of game play couldn't fix. The largers levels are nice but somtimes it takes a while to find the next goal. Some of the goals are just plain hard (i.e. the escape from alcatraz one) I do like the fact that each level as adequate street and vert areas as well as original lines to link the two together. The online play is awesome and within two days I went from scoring 200,000 or so in a two minute run to well over 4,000,000 in one 30 second combo. Just being able to play with people other than your friends definately opens up the game to new possiblities and allowing for different style. All in all the innovative game play when teamed with online capabilities did for the video game industry what the modern alphabet has done for communication.
| Tony Hawk 4 Challenges and Music | | Brett from Ohio, USA says (22/Nov/2002): | Tony Hawk 4 is a great game and is put together pretty good but some of the things in there like the challenges are a little to easy to do but some are also fun. Some of the challenges where you have to score a certain amount of points are a little too easy. The easiest challenge I think is where you have to score 50,000 points. I got that challenge in under 15 seconds. The producers should of made some of the challenges a lot harder. The other point challenges can be really hard, like when you have to score 1,000,000 points. That challenge took me a little bit longer to do. Another hard challenge is manualing the switch backs in Alcatraz. One of my favorite challenges is cart-racing in Alcatraz with Bam Margera. That challenge is so fun especially when your just messing around. I think the producers made that a fun challenge. Now to the music. I think thps 3 had some better music than thps 4. Some of thps 4 songs are good but other songs are just bad and shouldn't be on there. I think the graphics were good. I don't like the new spine transfer it just makes things easier especially when your doing point challenges. One other thing I like is that instead of the challenges just being their, you have to go to people and they'll give you challenges. This Tony Hawk is a lot more real like now you can just ollie and do a double kickflip and things like that. I wish they had some codes out because sometimes I'll just like to play around and enjoy it more and I know other people are the same way. Thats what I think of thps 4.
| Better than ever!!! | | 3-D from Bitburg, Germany says (17/Dec/2002): | Tony Hawks' done it again! By far this is the best Hawk that I've played yet. I'm really gald that they go rid of the old way of everybody has got to do the same thing as the last person. When you complete a mission that's it. No more repeditive gameplay. The game also sets you up to do crazy stunts in crazy situations. The spine transfers allow for an easier more fluid run, and the flatland/oldskool tricks are great for when you're stuck in a stood-still manual. Overall the game is great, but... The first thing that I noticed right off the bat was that the game doesn't look as good graphically as Hawk 4. This probably has to do with how much game there is (and there is a lot). But, when you skate up and talk to someone the animation and rendering just looks a bit, well, cheesy. Another thing that bothers me is some of the music. Sorry but AC/DC may be the dogs #ollocks to some people, but in my eyes it's not exactly the best thing to skate to. Again, overall the game is hot. Having to stop and talk to people is a bit weird to get used to, but doesn't take away from the whole. I like the inovative step that the developers took to keep the franchise alive and well. The game stays fun and challenging from beginning to end. Some tasks you can complete first run, and some will take you an hour to figure out, but either way this game will consume all of your extra time so say bye-bye to the peole you love and skate your life away!!
| For Better and for Worse | | Manny from Osan AB, Korea says (1/Dec/2002): | ok, i'll admit that i'm not an "old skool" thps gamer, matter of fact i didn't get the whole thps fever until i saw 3 on the ps2. but i have found some things in the game to have improved, and some to now be lacking. the bigger leves are more fun to play around in, although they do not match up to the magnitude they were alleged to have in all the video gaming magazines, nor have i found any as intricate as tokyo was in the last one. the unlimited time has its advantages and disadvantages as well, nice for just fooling around, but the whole "how many challenges can i accomplish in 2 minutes?" is not missing which was something i loved about thps3. and will somebody please explain the money to me? whose idea was this? it feel like they needed a filler for what they knew they were lacking. i enjoyed the whole discovering through completion of every level, now we have one more thing to look for that i myself do not find very entertaing "ooh, look 100 more". this game is good don't get me wrong, i enjoy it better than aggressive inline for many reasons; though it is obvious that a lot was borrowed from acclaim's efforts; but i find it a different game than the other tony hawks. to end on a good note though, at least the static cling finally got removed from the skirts.
| Whine more please | | Jhurell from Cheney, USA says (9/Dec/2002): | You could like attempt to write cheats, but no you feel that, "hey look, if you push down the x button and then let go of the X button you jump into the air and they call it an ollie." And do you think you could whine a little bit more about some really stupid things. "Oh God they changed the button set up how will I ever play again, it so hard to learn how to push a new button even though I play they game for hours upon hours." All games change the button set up, even Mario did, get over it. As for the originality of the game, gee this game seems like a lot of others, i.e. Grind Session, Tony Hawk One, Tony Hawk Two, Tony Hawk Three, etc. I do not feel that this game has any originality skateboarding games have been done before and will be done again and again ad nauseum. The fun factor was quit high; I played this game for like four hours. The life span of the game is . . . what the do they mean by life span, my Tony Hawk Pro Skater Four has not died yet so I do not know, wait a few more years and ask again.
| Well.. | | Ty Beaudoin from Halifax, Canada says (14/Jan/2003): | First off, i think the game is great, but i wanted to shoot myself due to the repetitive collect skate and combo garbage. And to people who are saying they're real skaters and that the game should be more realistic, i think you're wrong. You can still have a great time and do realistic things, turn down the stats and don't hold x down. I feel the same way you do about it producing ignornat skaters that you call posers, but at least it's progressing the hobby(i don't consider it a sport). Skateboarding is more popular now then i ever remember it being, when i started it was just me and my friend hitting whatever was around, but now, skateparks are spreading like wildfire and if you know the right people and live in the right place, you can skate wherever you want, because of things like this, it's helping people get a focus that skateboarding isn't such a terrible thing and it can be fun. So just try and have some fun and if you want realism, go outside.
| The Best Game out | | Danny from Sheffield, England says (29/Dec/2002): | THPS 4 is exciting filled with good challenges and lots of fun sub games.
This game is essential to any THPS fan, There are challenging and large environments, each with their own secret areas and mini games. The mini games are a good laugh especially the tennis one. And all of you people who posted those "well the graphics were a bit bad" reviews are out of your minds, oh and by the way X box sucks!
But anyway, the only thing that is questionable about this game is the soundtrack, that was kind of a downer with the THPS games 2 and 3 aswell, but pro skater 1's music was the best by far, thanks to THPS 1's music i got interested in alot of new bands. But the graphics on THPS 4 are unbeatable, mix that with a long life span, amazing new tricks like the switch foot pogo, colourful and deep environments and well planned challenges and you have the best game on all current platforms, buy it now!!!!
| ya gotta love it | | Matt from New Jersey says (8/Jan/2003): | Come on, lets be honest-the game is amazing! compare it to the original THPS 1 and you'll see it clear as day. The game has come a long way from the orignal which hooked me in!! It has alot more challenges to complete and more skateable area in the levels. Anyone the complains about the music...come on, you bsically are sayin you spent $50 on a music CD cuz yur not playin the game! and yeah the spine transfer being the R2 L2 buttons now, hard to do maybe the 1st 10 min's i played till i realized that that button did that in this game! having the spine transfer allows you more mobility in the levels of the game to continue a combo (if you can revert), and with the games flatland tricks, it makes scores and combos unbelievable. all and all, you have to appreciate the game for what it is- Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4... not a Tony Hawks Music Vol. 4
| Good...but not the best | | chris from baltimore, MD says (14/Feb/2003): | ok, i have a few things to say, number 1, to everyone who said that the music sucks, you have no musical taste..the music was chosen because they are skateboard related bands...but anyway onto the review, i thought that this game was alright, it is just like tony hawk 3 with a few extras, oh wow, you can skate around without a time limit?! gee, big whoop, when it comes right down to it, when you go to do a goal there is a time limit, some of them even have less time too, and i mean, collecting combo can get really old, really fast...same with skate, and all the other things they added in about 2 times in each level..also the sound is ok, most of the things about this game were ok, nothin too great. the only thing that i liked alot about this game were the movies, koston yet again shows why he is one of the best, along with all the others
| Good but not great... | | Raun from Chicago, IL says (2/Nov/2002): | So finally, the long awaited THPS 4. I wouldn't have minded waiting a little longer if the developers had done some more testing. It took me a whole 2 days to finish this game, 100%. This means all of the challenges, all of the cash, all of the gaps, everything!! part of the fun I got out of the first 3 games was that you had to learn and become accustomed to playing the game with EVERY single pro. You can simply create your own character, then finish everything in the game with him/her, well, other than the pro-specific challenges. The other thing I was sorely disappointed in was how few cheats and bonus options you could actually earn just by playing. In THPS 3, you had an insane amount of hidden characters and cheats. So like the subject says, "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is good but certainly not great!!"
| Whiny Bitches | | Drageto from Welland, Ontario, Canada. says (7/Dec/2002): | If you really think that this game isn't an improvement in the THPS series, then you all must be half retarded or somethin. I have been playing THPS4 on my XBOX for weeks now, and I can already tell that i aint never gone get tired of this game. I have only one thing to say to you ppl who played this game on PS2: Pawn It. Get an XBOX. The Online features are 10x as good as PS2, and the XBOX is getting better versions of your beloved GTA. XBOX is coming out with a game titled True Crime due on shelves in November 2003. XBOX also has a hard disk. allowing you to make games that can contain much more capacity than a PS2 game. But anyways, as for the THPS series, then go $#< remove me > at ! yourselves cuz it's great and you know it. So stop chuggin the Hatorade and pop THPS4 into your XBOX. It'll kill some time until Halo 2.
| Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4? I play every day! | | Steve from New york, USA says (8/Jan/2003): | I can't believe how good this game is. I've long been a fan of THPS and this game is by far the best yet. In fact, THPS4 and Mortal Kombat: Dadly Alliance are the only two games I have ever paid $50 for. I can't believe anyone could criticize theis game, ever, you weaklings. Every THPS game has been somewhat different from the one before it, so of course this one's got some new features, are they that hard to learn? The music is great and stays true to other THPS games, which have always had good music. Spine transfers are OK guys, for those of you without a board, it's a part of skateboarding, you computer freaks. That's why it's Pro Skater and not Pro Gramer ,you science nerds. The truth is that THPS4 is the biggest, baddest Pro Skater ever, and it's a game that won't be topped until Pro Skater 5.
| AWESOME but BUT NOT THE BEST! | | A gamer says (19/Jan/2003): | I gave THPS4 an 8 out of 10.I thought it was pretty good.It's fun playing the mini games and accomplishing a lot of unique and fun goals in career mode.Plus more characters,good levels,so much money to spend and so much to buy.That is what i wanted to see in Tony Hawk 4 but it did lack some and i thought some of it was annoying. I think that it was a bad idea to put the COMBO goal in the game because it was really annoying.Especially when you have to do it in EVERY level!It was VERY ANNOYING and it gave me a headache!Some of the goals are stupid and unrealistic as well.But the worst part of the game was the music!!The music in THPS4 was terrible!I only liked one song in the whole game.Another thing was that the characters were basically the same as THPS3.As I said...its good but not the best.
| the best of the best skate series | | Jordon Michaels from Carlisle, USA says (22/Jan/2003): | I think this is the best game in the tony hawk series. the life span is the game is very long since i got it the day it came out and i still can't put it down. The thing i like about the music is if there are any songs you don't like you can just turn the song off and never have to listen to it agian. the graphics are the best in the series. funfactor is atleast a 10 if not higher. I love the way you can choose to do a challenge in proquest or just skate around. The proquest is somewhat original but since other game have the same style i can't say it's tottaly original. it is probably the best value game in the entire series. the one thing i did run into trouble with is when I finnished the entire game and tride to save it the game froze and now I need to start all over again. :< but oh well!
| IF THIS GAME MEETS THE HIGH STANDARD ALREADY SET WE SHOULD BE IN FOR A TREAT! | | nick sedunow from vancouver canada says (3/Oct/2002): | if the new game is anything like its predecessors we should all be in for a great session! i played the next on kelly slaters pro surfer and already i cant wait for thps 4 to hit the shelves! i love the fact that to complete challenges you have to talk to people instead of checking a list of required goals. skitching behind cars as well as in level restart points that you can set yourself make me anticipate its release even more. there is also a tennis mini game in the demo level that lets you whack the balls with your board! every fan os thps should jump at the chance to own the next installement of a game that wirtually singlehandly revolutionized extreme sports gaming. i give it a nine having never even played but im sure once i have it be a ten for sure!
| Get Real! | | Angelo from Chicago, USA says (5/Jan/2003): | Ok, I addmit all the THPS games rock, but they keep on getting so darn fake! The only reason why I gave this game a 5 is because, free skate is awesome, so are the pro videos and the System of a Down and NWA songs. But really, the objectives just keep on getting dumber. Doing a 900 in a carnivial ride while the ride is actually going? Chasing down a rat? And collecting various junk for pedestrians? Sure the game is addictive and fun, but its taking away what real skateboarding is!!! There are kids out there who think its really possible to do a 900 to casper slide off a building. Come on!!! Make the objectives actually skateboard related!!! And one more thing - if theres gonna be a THPS5, make it more realistic, because its getting really stale!
| BEST GAME EVER | | Killer aka Tyler from West Virginia,United States says (6/Nov/2003): | The only problem is that the game is really easy to beat. Online play is the best on the planet...i use aol dial up and its compatable with it too...my network name is Killer if any of u have it online...theres a new tony hawk game that has came its called THUG (tony hawks underground) its not as good at THPS4 but i give it a 10 out of 10 on THUG u get old levels off of THPS2 (school 2,venice,and hangar). On THUG u can make your own levels (like THPS4), tricks, decks, skater (like THPS4) and alot more features. On THUG theres 14 skaters 4 secret ones. 12 levels.I give THPS4 if there was a 50/50 i would give it that but THUG i give about a 47/50 if possible. I recommend both games. If you get THUG don't bother buying THPS2 if you dont already have it
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