Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Review

'It's basically extreme skating pushed to the limits'

Tony Hawk's Underground. You either love it or hate it. Some people thought the story mode was cool. Some people thought it was crap. But Activision is clearly trying to please everyone as they've managed to squeeze everything into this game.

As with every new Tony Hawk's game, this comes complete with pointless new gimmicks to make you buy the game. The ones in this game include, slowing down time which is great when trying to land a combo, but rubbish everywhere else. Then there's the ability to 'Freak Out' (throw a tantrum). This provides some humour the first time, then the novelty wears off. It's stupid, pointless and slows down the game. To make the game even more 'gangsta', they've added a new graffiti tag move. It's better then the other gimmicks, but it's obvious that it's there to cram in as much as possible.

There are loads of modes to keep you interested. First up is the story mode. This is alright, but it's really boring at times. All you do is walk around doing stuff to get points, and when you have enough points you (gasp), get to go to the next level. Wow! The real satisfaction comes from playing as different characters. Unlike the first game, different characters have different goals. There are four characters to use in each level. You (the custom skater), a Pro (the person on your team) and 2 secret characters. One of them is normal with a special gimmick. Another is a guy (or creature, in one case) riding a crazy vehicle. The vehicles control better than in THUG, but they feel more like chunky skateboards then vehicles. The idea of story mode is to compete against the opposing team in the world destruction tour. It's hilarious, but dull. A typical level sees you spray graffiti in 5 different places, do a spine transfer somewhere or hit some people with tomatoes. It gets repetitive and feels more like the world boredom tour at times.

But the action isn't at story mode. This game marks the brilliant return of classic mode. It takes you through levels of classic two minute challenges. Collect the secret tape, collect skate, it's brilliant. They didn't screw it up by putting people to talk to or making you spray graffiti. All of the goals remain as close to the original as can be. It even has the classic kerchung! sound effect when the goals are being displayed. The feeling of satisfaction you get when you get a new level or feeling of frustration when you just lost COMBO at the last second. It's the kind of feeling you can't get in story mode because of it's open-ended approach. In classic, you have a real sense of satisfaction when you get a new level. In story mode, or you feel is 'oh no, more goals'. The only reason you can actually stand story mode's tedium is because of the movie scenes and the sense of wanting to see the next one.

Other modes, Create-a-Skater, create the skater of your dreams. Create-a-Move, make a new move. Create-a-Graphic, create a graffiti tag. Create-a-Deck, create the ultimate deck and the best one that puts the others to shame. Create- a-Park. Creating a park is like a thrill ride. However, it feels like more could have been added and there are few new pieces, if not, less then before.

The two-player is as good as ever and the multiplayer action is what keeps you addicted to this game. As usual, a pointless new gameplay mode has been added, this time called Scavenger hunt. But who cares about crap like that when you can just ride around building up high scores and using custom made characters to challenge each other in addictive gameplay.

The graphics. Hardly a step up from THUG. The characters are practically the same as before and the scenery is as well. The levels aren't as bland, lifeless and similar as they were before, they incorporate more ways to play and are larger. The music is a real treat, it incorporates a good mix of songs and is pleasureable to listen to.

It's a the best skateboarding game there is at the moment and belongs in any skating fan's collection.

Best Bit:
The return of classic mode. The 2 minute bursts of gameplay are what people missed and now it's back to brighten our lives. You can still do the 'Freak Out' and 'Slow Down Time' thing so it doesn't feel 'that classic'. But's its great anyway.

Worst Bit:
A lot of the new stuff. None of the new stuff(except Classic Mode) has any impact on gameplay. Graffiti tagging is alright but the novelty wears off quick. The freak out trick interrupts the gameplay too much. The scavenger hunt is as boring as sitting in a waiting room. And slowing down time, get real Activision!

Graphics: 81% 'Skatoony'
The graphics aren't bad, but there's no real improvement over the last game. The characters are as cartoony as ever and the levels have some feeling.

Sound/Music: 95% 'Pleasing to all'
Sorry about the lame comment, but I can't think of anything witty or sarcastic to describe it. It basically combines different types of music, there's some rock in there and couple of raps. It basically suits anyone who plays the game.

Gameplay 96% 'Pro Skating Underground'
Story mode is alright but boring at times. The real mode that ACTUALLY adds a dimension to the gameplay is the Classic Mode. The 2 minutes and classic kerchung sound effects are enough to have any Tony Hawk's Pro Skater fan crying but to make it really classic, they've gone and added classic levels from the old game!

Value: 98% 'Flip(trick) for it'
This game lasts you forever, well at least until the next Hawk's game comes out. The story mode will take you a while (maybe that's because you can only play it for 10 minutes before getting bored). The classic mode you'll rush through the early levels quick and struggle with later ones. Then you'll go back to finish all the goals, then you'll change the difficulty to 'Sick'. It takes weeks! Then you'll be making parks, tricks and skaters and skating in two player mode for a long time. There's a lot of stuff in this game.

Overall Score: 92.5%

Verdict: It's cool, it's gangsta and it's a 16+ game. What more could you want? It's massive, it takes years and is really addictive to anyone. The problem comes when your memory card explodes with all the parks, tricks, skaters and tags you're saving. It suffers from slowdown in the cities as well, that's just unfair.

What the game lacks:
An interesting story mode. While classic mode makes a brilliant return, fans wanting an improved story mode will be disappointed. The scenery has improved but the quality hasn't. It's too open-ended and that's what makes it boring...

What could make it better:
They should have made the Create-a-Park better, it's gone nowhere since Pro Skater 3. Let's hope they improve this for the next game, it really is a disappointment. And they could try making Story Mode a little less... boring.

What it has:
- Skating.
- Tony Hawk.
- Slowdown.

What it doesn't have:
- A good enough story mode.
- Less than a year's value.
- Proper new tricks.

This review was added on 30th January 2005 by nGaming user ProReviewer.