Well, Arcade (or “Classic” as it should really be called) was a bit of a let down. Not only did I manage to walk (or, er, skate) through it in about an hour, but it posed no challenge whatsoever. Worse, was the “selection” of goals – every level was almost the same. Basically, you have the High/Pro/Sick scores, Pro/Sick Combo scores, SKATE, COMBO, and Find the Hidden Tape. That’s fine. That’s what Tony Hawk games are for. However, you’d then …
Went back to Story Mode to see what (if anything) I’d missed. It seems there were three more challenges I’d not seen in Skatopia (including a very hard Tony Hawk Indy 900 one – why can’t you bump up the pro skater’s stats? That’s rubbish), so completed them. Not that it did anything. Still no game credits or “Game Over” or anything. Pah.
At least, I think so. I completed Australia, Suburbia, New Orleans and then made it onto Skatopia – the final level. Completed the usual “starter” goals, then the “tag team” irritating goals, and then moved on to the Pro goals (or, since I only had the one pro, the “Tony Hawk Goals”. After doing a few of them, I got a “text message” from Tony to say “Well done! We won the tour!” or something to that effect, and that …
Oh. I see. Basically, you have to do the tricks right in front of them to get “ped props”. And then I had to do it again with a pro skater. Tch. After that, and some Segway and shopping trolley “action”, it was Flame On for a 100,000 point on-fire combo, and a few other bits. Now it’s off to Australia!
Barcelona came and went without any problems. One annoying niggle with the game did become apparent though: some of the challenges have to be done twice – once by “you”, and then again by a “pro” chosen by you. This just seems like some cheap way of lengthening the game without offering variety. Luckily, there aren’t many challenges like this that you have to do. After Barcelona was Berlin, and I conpleted ten or so challenges there before becoming stuck. …
I’ve now completed enough goals to take me on to Barcelona. They are very easy so far, but I expect that’ll change nearer the end of the game. Something else I’ve noticed over the previous GBA Tony Hawk games, is that proper actual real songs (with singing and everything) are played rather than just chip tunes. OK, so they’re tinny, distorted and about 15 seconds long each, but still. Quite impressed. I’ve also maxed out my stats too, after a …
Haven’t yet got into it “proper”, much like with the previous game, as there are too many training goals to achieve first. “Do a kickflip!”, “Do a manual!”, “Do a tailgrab!”, etc. Do me a lemon! Anyway, finished a load of them, and bumped my stats up a bit more. I only have Air, Ollie and Rail to max out now, I think – the three hardest too. Did a few other goals as well – simple stuff like skitch …
Yes! Yet another Tony Hawk game! Hurrah! And, once again, I’m surprised at how close to the “grown up” console version the GBA version actually is. I started Story Mode, in Boston, and like Underground before it, I built up most of my stats to full by doing a few tricks and stuff as required. Haven’t actually done any goals yet, but have explored the level a fair bit.
Yes, well. I went back to Classic Mode, and finished it off. The rest of the game was pretty easy – even getting 1,500,000 points on the final “The Triangle” level wasn’t too hard. Nothing as hard as Downhill Jam, anyway. Levels along the way included Los Angeles and Canada (from THPS3) and Boston. It was a bit bizarre playing through all the old levels again.
It seems I wasn’t quite as close to the end of the game as I’d thought. There was actually more to do in Skatopia. Bam had to trigger five sets of giant fireworks by doing assorted tricks on them (the giant roman candle and the stacked boxes being the hardest), and after that I had to skate Tony from the top of the level to the bottom, collecting dogs on the way. Yes, really. And that STILL wasn’t all – …
Skatopia done! Almost! Nearly! Probably. I managed to find two more characters, and complete a few more goals that I previously couldn’t do. That gave me enough points to move on to the next bit – fireworks with Bam. Didn’t get time to do that though, but hopefully that is all that is left.
Finished off N’orlins, witch involved waking the dead again, and breaking some signs and jumping over rubish and mowing down zombies. And stuff. I then had to do a mini-challenge thing, with acid dropping from a helicopter and transferring over it again later. Luckily, it wasn’t too hard. After that, it was on to “Skatopia” (which is “skate-opia”, before you suggest something else). It’s not easy at all. After an hour, I’d managed 50/1000 points, and I can’t even see …
After Berlin was Australia (note it doesn’t tell you where in Australia), and amongst other things I got to ride a go-kart, set fire to some builders, scares some seagulls, and skate around as a guy with a barbeque stuck to his front and a parasol on his head. Then it was over to New Orleans (pre-flood, it seems) where I had to wake the dead, skate in Hell, and then scoot around as a Papa Lazarou-type character on a …
Gah. It seems that you can jump up and grab the top of the billboard, by holding down the R button, and then you can tag it while you hang there. Tch. I now have enough points to move on to the next city, but I might just try and get a few more here before doing so – I only have one more fag machine to destroy (them evil smoking Germans, eh?) and I’ve just found the “tourist trail” …
Moved on to Barcelona, and completed enough goals there to move on. Some were pretty rubbish, and Steve-O on his Rodeo Bull was just ridiculous. Not really liking it as much as THUG at the moment. Perhaps I should have played Classic Mode and not Story Mode. Ah well. Then it was off to Berlin, and despite the racial stereotypes grating after about five seconds (and the worst faux-German accents ever), I’ve only got a couple more goals to do. …