I watched Jeff's playthrough of the game. My god, this is one of the most embarrassing games to come out this year. This should fetch plenty of dubious awards from all the gaming websites this Christmas. It's like ten steps backwards from THPS1.
Bobby Kotick, you are terrible for letting this happen.
Omeks on
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Tony Hawks 2-4 incredible, whichever is best seems to be a personal matter (for me it's 3).
But yeah, very little love from anyone for THUG onwards. THUG lost with all the "jackass" crap they shoehorned in.
I thought Project 8 was a pretty decent entry. Not spectacular, but it kept me entertained for weeks and it's one of the few games I've managed to 1000/1000 on Gamerscore points.
Most everything else around it was terrible.
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Gamespot's review is out, and all I can say is ouch.
Tony Hawk Ride is the ultimate triumph of gimmick over game. The concept: Build a skateboard peripheral that lets players simulate skateboarding in their living rooms. The result: half-functioning hardware that fails to function with consistency and a shallow game devoid of excitement. Vert skating and free skating are the only sources of mild enjoyment here, but the fun is too short lived to justify the whopping $120 price tag. The Birdman was once associated with video game greatness, but this is the worst game yet in a declining franchise, and the result is a massive train wreck.
...
But getting the game to recognize your motions properly is futile. Tilt tricks register as flick tricks more often than not, which in turn leads to constant failure when the game demands any kind of precision.
Tricks that involve the infrared sensors on the front, back, and sides of the peripheral are just as arbitrary, working only some of the time. You swipe or hover your hand over these sensors when you want to perform finger flips and grabs. But these moves aren't consistent. Even when the icon at the bottom of the screen indicates that you have activated the sensor, you will often still fail to perform the trick properly. This baffling issue is compounded by the half-second or so delay between the movement you perform on the board and the action that occurs onscreen. If you fail the trick, you're never sure whether you swiped your hand across the sensor too early, held it there too long, or your movement wasn't recognized at all. Eventually, challenges will require you to flip the board 90 degrees for board slides, and perform advanced tricks after setting one up by hovering a hand (or a foot) over a sensor before your ollie. Stringing tricks together can be a nightmare no matter how agile you are because you absolutely cannot depend on the board to communicate your wishes to the game.
You see Tony Hawk Ride's shallowness everywhere. You see it in its bare-bones online modes, which very few people are playing. You see it in the visuals, which get the job done without a lick of energy or personality. And you see it every time you have to endure the rest of the challenge, even if you're bound to replay it because you failed the first trick. Tony Hawk Ride is a waste of money.
I'm a bit ashamed to know this, but THUG1 only used Bam as one character in a Skate-focused game. THUG 2 was when the series went full on Jackass. In other words....
Pro Skater 1 = the original recipe, no manuals, no reverts, no far-too-large-for-their-own-good combos. Just you, some kickass music, and your virtual avatar doing his thing.
Pro Skater 2 = Bigger, longer, and now with 100% more manuals. Probably the best selection of hidden levels (Skate Heaven!) and characters (Spider-Man!).
Pro Skater 3 = Upgraded to the PS2 and introduced the revert. Fucking awesome and probably the apex of the series.
Pro Skater 4 = Should be notable for scrapping the two minute room and introducing free roaming. Mostly remembered for being ridiculously difficult and demanding a level of precision that the series should've never asked for.
THUG = The first game with an actual storyline that went beyond "grind that rail". Although it introduced the ability to hop off the skateboard this feature wasn't implemented well or used all that much until later in the series.
THUG 2 = The first blatant cash-in, and sadly not the last. Pushed Bam and his Jackass style to the forefront at the expense of actual skating.
American Wasteland = Marketed as the first Tony Hawk game to offer a coherent world instead of individual levels. While the levels were actually duct-taped together by low polygonal tunnels, the story-driven game is pretty damn fun. Familiar and far too comfortable, but enjoyable. Like late night pizza.
Project 8 - The first Tony Hawk game to ACTUALLY offer a coherent world. Also innovated with occasional analog controls to pull off special tricks that sadly just showed how out-dated the series was when EA's Skate arrived.
Proving Ground - Hell if I know. Anyone ever play this?
----
Thoughts: Wow. Sort of sad how quickly the series went downhill. I'm gonna go pull out my copy of THPS 3 to cheer myself up.
Project 8 was 'okay'. But it cemented in my mind what I began to dislike about the TH series: Crazy Button Combo Requirements. There's one challenge I still haven't completed (it's against those two kid skaters at the school) because I have no idea what the game expects of me. I consider it a victory that I was even able to get into the Top 8.
skate. might have fiddly controls and the occasional 'Tony Hawk' moment, but it's much more satisfying to know I don't usually have to go crazy with the combos to accomplish anything.
...Now that I think about it, the more these games add, the more they seem to try and force it all to be useful. So the game design gets more and more crazy to encompass the new features. The skate.2 demo felt a bit frantic... Now I'm wary about 3.
Project 8 was 'okay'. But it cemented in my mind what I began to dislike about the TH series: Crazy Button Combo Requirements. There's one challenge I still haven't completed (it's against those two kid skaters at the school) because I have no idea what the game expects of me. I consider it a victory that I was even able to get into the Top 8.
skate. might have fiddly controls and the occasional 'Tony Hawk' moment, but it's much more satisfying to know I don't usually have to go crazy with the combos to accomplish anything.
...Now that I think about it, the more these games add, the more they seem to try and force it all to be useful. So the game design gets more and more crazy to encompass the new features. The skate.2 demo felt a bit frantic... Now I'm wary about 3.
The one reason I wish the THPS series would eventually get back on track is that I like having a skating game that's blatantly unrealistic. I can see the appeal of Skate but sometimes I don't want a simulation, I want to grind the entire length of the Brooklyn Bridge while Godzilla attacks.
I'd assume the skateboard game genre is big enough to encompass the skating versions of both Crazy Taxi and Gran Turismo.
HalfmexI mock your value systemYou also appear foolish in the eyes of othersRegistered Userregular
edited November 2009
The story in the first THUG was actually pretty solid given the subject matter. The 'no-name guy trying to make a name for himself' was done quite well, and while it still contained the wacky series trademarks (grind those electrical wires for 100 feet or whatever), it was mixed with enough realism that the game didn't go full retard.
THUG 2 went full retard.
I didn't really care for American Wasteland at all, and I really wanted to. It seemed to try to recapture the simplicity of THUG's appeal and it never really got there for me. Leagues better than THUG 2, though.
Project 8 was, for me, the pinnacle of the series. Had Skate never been released, it would stand in my mind as the best skating game, hands down. The slow-mo analog controls for flip tricks felt really nice and I must admit I felt a bit bad when Skate sort of took that concept and wrapped the entire trick system around it. Poor THPS' one moment of innovation got immediately squashed by a much more solid implementation of it.
Proving Ground, for what I played of it (the demo) was godawful and took the series, once again, in the exact wrong direction. All I remember of it was this "pumping to get speed" system so you could launch over obstacles and that it felt both clunky and horrendously unrealistic. That, along with the release of Skate, pretty much destroyed any hope Neversoft (or whoever has the series now. Treyarch?) had of recapturing the skating game crown.
Yeah, Project 8 was really good, and it looked like it was setting the franchise up for a good direction. Then Skate came out, pretty much outdid was Project 8 was attempting to do, so Neversoft did a 180 and took it to the super wacky past. And it was so bad.
I couldn't hear you over the BIRDHOUSE logo on my skateboard.
But didn't we already discuss this and someone showed how Skate uses TMobile ads too? It's not new, just super poorly executed in THR.
This is why it's an issue. I don't mind real-world products showing up naturally in places you'd expect, but shoehorning the menu in a Sidekick screen is just stupid.
Wordherder on
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
...Now that I think about it, the more these games add, the more they seem to try and force it all to be useful. So the game design gets more and more crazy to encompass the new features. The skate.2 demo felt a bit frantic... Now I'm wary about 3.
Totally agree. Skate was one of my favorite game in the year that it came out, but I dunno, I tried the demo for the second one and I was all meh.
I can't be the only one that kinda hates the whole complexity right? I'm lazy-I don't want to have to get off my board and move stuff around to create fun. Isn't that the game designer's job?
Tony Hawk was starting to get pretty top heavy too. the Giant Bomb video playthrough notes this, as they talk about how the THPS games were just getting too complicated, but Ride takes a little bit too far back, even below THPS1 complexity.
It's far too tempting to start adding more controls, though.
It's a fine line to walk between simulation and game. It's probably true that skate. could've used a bit more in the features department, I mean, I'd like to see better flatland stuff, but I'd rather not have it in the game if it cuts down on what would be generally necessary to the actual gameplay.
Not every pro skater can do every trick. Maybe it'd be interesting if you had to create a specific style of a skater and you could maybe learn a couple of tricks to add some variety. Instead of a skater who can do every trick (so long as the inputs are exactly correct) whether or not the ability to do so is needed.
I couldn't hear you over the BIRDHOUSE logo on my skateboard.
But didn't we already discuss this and someone showed how Skate uses TMobile ads too? It's not new, just super poorly executed in THR.
This is why it's an issue. I don't mind real-world products showing up naturally in places you'd expect, but shoehorning the menu in a Sidekick screen is just stupid.
this is not the first game that's done this by a long shot
I couldn't hear you over the BIRDHOUSE logo on my skateboard.
But didn't we already discuss this and someone showed how Skate uses TMobile ads too? It's not new, just super poorly executed in THR.
This is why it's an issue. I don't mind real-world products showing up naturally in places you'd expect, but shoehorning the menu in a Sidekick screen is just stupid.
this is not the first game that's done this by a long shot
Okay, which other games have done this?
Wordherder on
Why the crap did I ever make my original name "cloudeagle?"
Posts
I watched Jeff's playthrough of the game. My god, this is one of the most embarrassing games to come out this year. This should fetch plenty of dubious awards from all the gaming websites this Christmas. It's like ten steps backwards from THPS1.
Bobby Kotick, you are terrible for letting this happen.
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Switch - SW-3699-5063-5018
Or maybe just stale.
But yeah, very little love from anyone for THUG onwards. THUG lost with all the "jackass" crap they shoehorned in.
PSN: Hellcore- Steam MWO: Hellcore
I thought Project 8 was a pretty decent entry. Not spectacular, but it kept me entertained for weeks and it's one of the few games I've managed to 1000/1000 on Gamerscore points.
Most everything else around it was terrible.
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Only THUG2 had the Jackass crap.
Basically THUG2 had nothing to do with THUG. It should have just been called Tony Hawk's MTV Funclub.
To be fair, wasn't Bam Margera in THUG1 to shill his crappy skateboard line?
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And the story mode (story mode, why?) was short as fuck.
THUG is where the series lost me. I tried American Wasteland and it was okay, but 3 & 4 were the best.
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/sports/tonyhawkride/review.html
So since this one sucks what other Skating game should I try? Thug? Skate 2? Proving Ground?
Edit: In the Game Trailers review did I just see the middle of the guy's body pass through a concret O? Hello clipping issues.
Edit 2: yes. I did.
Tony Hawk tends to roll with the jackass crew on a regular basis ever since the CKY vids.
Pro Skater 1 = the original recipe, no manuals, no reverts, no far-too-large-for-their-own-good combos. Just you, some kickass music, and your virtual avatar doing his thing.
Pro Skater 2 = Bigger, longer, and now with 100% more manuals. Probably the best selection of hidden levels (Skate Heaven!) and characters (Spider-Man!).
Pro Skater 3 = Upgraded to the PS2 and introduced the revert. Fucking awesome and probably the apex of the series.
Pro Skater 4 = Should be notable for scrapping the two minute room and introducing free roaming. Mostly remembered for being ridiculously difficult and demanding a level of precision that the series should've never asked for.
THUG = The first game with an actual storyline that went beyond "grind that rail". Although it introduced the ability to hop off the skateboard this feature wasn't implemented well or used all that much until later in the series.
THUG 2 = The first blatant cash-in, and sadly not the last. Pushed Bam and his Jackass style to the forefront at the expense of actual skating.
American Wasteland = Marketed as the first Tony Hawk game to offer a coherent world instead of individual levels. While the levels were actually duct-taped together by low polygonal tunnels, the story-driven game is pretty damn fun. Familiar and far too comfortable, but enjoyable. Like late night pizza.
Project 8 - The first Tony Hawk game to ACTUALLY offer a coherent world. Also innovated with occasional analog controls to pull off special tricks that sadly just showed how out-dated the series was when EA's Skate arrived.
Proving Ground - Hell if I know. Anyone ever play this?
----
Thoughts: Wow. Sort of sad how quickly the series went downhill. I'm gonna go pull out my copy of THPS 3 to cheer myself up.
skate. might have fiddly controls and the occasional 'Tony Hawk' moment, but it's much more satisfying to know I don't usually have to go crazy with the combos to accomplish anything.
...Now that I think about it, the more these games add, the more they seem to try and force it all to be useful. So the game design gets more and more crazy to encompass the new features. The skate.2 demo felt a bit frantic... Now I'm wary about 3.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
3DS Friend Code: 2165-6448-8348 www.Twitch.TV/cooljammer00
Battle.Net: JohnDarc#1203 Origin/UPlay: CoolJammer00
The one reason I wish the THPS series would eventually get back on track is that I like having a skating game that's blatantly unrealistic. I can see the appeal of Skate but sometimes I don't want a simulation, I want to grind the entire length of the Brooklyn Bridge while Godzilla attacks.
I'd assume the skateboard game genre is big enough to encompass the skating versions of both Crazy Taxi and Gran Turismo.
No bullshit, great visual style. Nothing to set the world on fire, but fairly solid games.
THUG 2 went full retard.
I didn't really care for American Wasteland at all, and I really wanted to. It seemed to try to recapture the simplicity of THUG's appeal and it never really got there for me. Leagues better than THUG 2, though.
Project 8 was, for me, the pinnacle of the series. Had Skate never been released, it would stand in my mind as the best skating game, hands down. The slow-mo analog controls for flip tricks felt really nice and I must admit I felt a bit bad when Skate sort of took that concept and wrapped the entire trick system around it. Poor THPS' one moment of innovation got immediately squashed by a much more solid implementation of it.
Proving Ground, for what I played of it (the demo) was godawful and took the series, once again, in the exact wrong direction. All I remember of it was this "pumping to get speed" system so you could launch over obstacles and that it felt both clunky and horrendously unrealistic. That, along with the release of Skate, pretty much destroyed any hope Neversoft (or whoever has the series now. Treyarch?) had of recapturing the skating game crown.
This is certainly true.
design of the board
(it was prototyped with the wiimote)
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But didn't we already discuss this and someone showed how Skate uses TMobile ads too? It's not new, just super poorly executed in THR.
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This is why it's an issue. I don't mind real-world products showing up naturally in places you'd expect, but shoehorning the menu in a Sidekick screen is just stupid.
Fixed.
If only beer and cigarette advertising wasn't so taboo. Racing games would be a tiny bit better for it...
Do not engage the Watermelons.
Totally agree. Skate was one of my favorite game in the year that it came out, but I dunno, I tried the demo for the second one and I was all meh.
I can't be the only one that kinda hates the whole complexity right? I'm lazy-I don't want to have to get off my board and move stuff around to create fun. Isn't that the game designer's job?
It's far too tempting to start adding more controls, though.
Not every pro skater can do every trick. Maybe it'd be interesting if you had to create a specific style of a skater and you could maybe learn a couple of tricks to add some variety. Instead of a skater who can do every trick (so long as the inputs are exactly correct) whether or not the ability to do so is needed.
Do not engage the Watermelons.
this is not the first game that's done this by a long shot
Okay, which other games have done this?
Need for Speed Underground 2 , Most Wanted
They put their system menus within giant representations of real-world cell phones?
NFSU2 and Most Wanted had a Cingular logo up on screen at all times
Well, that's fucking annoying.