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.
Started Classic Mode (well, it’s called Arcade Mode, but I know better) this morning, and completed it this afternoon – getting all the goals and racking my stats all up to 100%. It was certainly easier than Story Mode, with only a couple of COMBO lines having any real difficulty. At least it didn’t have the stupid “restrict your skating to a portion of the level until you unlock more” thing going on that Story Mode did. Onward to GBA …
Hit a terrible sticking point on San Diego. I had to participate in a competition, but the scores I had to achieve were in the region of 600,000 points, with a load of trick variation. And I had to hit that kind of score without bailing, and do it two out of three times. It took almost an HOUR to do. But I did. Then it was onto the Slam City Jam level, which turned out to just be another …
Still in San Diego, and the difficulty of the game seems to have ramped up somewhat now. Things like “get 250,000 in one combo” are the way to go at the moment, and one particulat “do these three tricks in one combo” goal was more than a little difficult. Still, not much more left to do and then I’m on to the final level.
Ran though quite a few more levels, goals and competitons this afternoon. Battery Park came and went, as did the Bronx, Santa Monica and Hollywood. I also opened up the hangar level from THPS2, which only had three goals on it and was pretty small anyway. Things I found difficult included Ollie the Magic Bum’s “Collect 10 Cans” goal in Hollywood, mainly as I was blind and couldn’t see one of them, the huuuuuuggggggge gap (also in Hollywood) as it …
Completed the Mall level, and unlocked the Warehouse (yes – the SAME Warehouse again), completed all of that, won two Competition Vouchers, which let me enter a competition in Noo Joyzee, so I did. And came first, with 198 points (the maximum you can get). Nice. That opened up Battery Park, which I haven’t done much in yet. Also added a few more stats to my list. I think I only have one notch left on Rail now, with everything …
Spent a while racking my stats up even higher. Everything is now full bar one ‘notch’ each on Rail and Flip. Finished a few tasks, including collecting SKATE and COMBO, collecting some doll parts, playing HORSE, and impressing Bucky Lasek with a sick combo. Or something. I’m able to leave Noo Joyzee now, and it’s off to The Mall. Hurrah!
With Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 on the GBA out of the way, it was time to start on the next game in the series: THUG. Spent about half an hour playing it, but haven’t actually done a great deal yet – only built up my stats. Like the console version of THUG (and unlike THPS4), you build up stats by doing certain tricks and combos. So, to build up your Grind stats, you have to do a long grind, …