Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Review – A Revival The G.O.A.T Can Be Proud Of

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 Review

When I purchased my copy of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD on the PS3, I was pleased with the gameplay but otherwise unhappy with that HD Remake. It was a hollow shell of what it should have been, but it gave gamers on last-gen consoles the ability to try the Tony Hawk games that started it all. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 doesn’t suffer from this issue, at all. It’s everything I wanted from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD and more, with graphics you’d expect from current-gen hardware. The gameplay of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles has almost always been on point, and this collection of the first two titles maintains the massive combo, time crunching goodness that Tony Hawk fans have been waiting years for.

Right off the bat, a lot of the characters in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 are already available. One of the countless tricks to the game is to collect new appearances, decks, wheels, and far more by playing the game to unlock them and spending in-game currency to customize your board to your liking. Each skater will have their own set, but I found created skaters the optimal choice if you want full freedom in customization. My personal favorite outfit from the familiar skaters on the roster was Rodney Mullen’s 70s gear. Unlockables are earned through playing the game, as well as playing through the game as each skater and people who like collecting things will have a hay day with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2.

Tons of Customization Options

There’s potential for further monetization for this reimagining of the original two Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, but it wouldn’t impede my appreciation for the game due to the fact that the package comes with a lot off the bat. There are even animated decks that you can unlock by playing the game and using in-game currency to purchase. Personally, I went with decks and wheels I was familiar with from my days of skating. In-game cash is pretty easy to accumulate through playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, with each two minutes of gameplay offering a base reward of $5, even if you fail to do anything else by playing and completing challenges. There are plenty of challenges to complete for both your profile and each skater, rewarding cosmetics, cash, and experience. Challenges are a great way to learn new tricks in the game, but can easily be accomplished by successful runs of each map. If you want every skater to have optimal stats, you’ll have to play through each map with each skater. If you want to have all of the cosmetics, you’ll have to master the game, but the base game comes with so much that if microtransactions ever come up in the skate shop, it wouldn’t diminish my appreciation for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2.

For my first playthrough of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1, I played as Tony Hawk. Because you level a skater up through gaining skill points along the campaign of nine classic maps, including the competitive Skate Park in Chicago, Burnside in Portland, and the infamous Roswell, New Mexico. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 has eight of the best maps in Tony Hawk Pro Skater history, with Venice Beach being a personal favorite. Each map has a familiar layout and design and it’s almost exactly how you remember it, but there is far more detail and that makes the maps feel familiar, yet different. That’s a theme across game mode in single-player and multiplayer, and it makes Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 stand far above the HD Pro Skater from the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Nostalgia won’t be the only factor in if you enjoy Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, but it definitely helps if you have a reference point from the original titles that you can compare to. Fans of the originals will remember a least favorite map, such as Downhill Jam, or a favorite map such as Skatestreet, but new fans will be able to discover all of the maps and will gravitate to other maps. This diversity of gamers can take the competition online with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 with classic game modes such as Graffiti, Trick Attack, Horse, and tag. My multidimensional appreciation for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 extends to the soundtrack as well. For example, lots of the songs from the original games such as “New Girl” by The Suicide Machines, “Superman” by Goldfinger, and “No Cigar” by Millencolin. But the soundtrack includes plenty of new songs that fit the Pro Skater series like a glove such as “Guerilla Radio” by Rage Against the Machine, “Can I Kick It” by A Tribe Called Quest, and “Same in the End” by Sublime. On top of the original tracks, there are 37 new tracks on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 and each of them is a welcome addition. Knowing the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles definitely added to my appreciation to the current-gen versions, but the gameplay is sure to appeal to a broad spectrum of gamers just as the original games did way back in the day and it’s a great package for veterans and new fans alike.

This Puts the Last-Gen Remake to Shame

Create-A-Park is as fleshed out as ever with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2, allowing you to morph pieces into skate park architectural marvels. Pro Skater fans will also be happy to know that they can share their created skate parks online, and download their friends’ parks to rip around a potentially endless stream of creative skate parks. So far I’ve seen a park with three tall pyramids and a hidden park inside of one to discover. There are also parks with endless rails or the ability to gain tremendous speed, but I’m looking forward to seeing Pro Skater fans replicate skate parks from their area so these games could potentially have every single skate park from around the world. It would be a great way to create insane lines by simulating it on Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 before testing the real deal. The potential for Create-A-Park seems endless when previously it had clear limitations.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater Fans Rejoice

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is the package fans have been waiting years for. They missed the mark with the HD remake, and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, but I’m happy to report Vicarious Visions and Activision have perfectly rebuilt the original two Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles from the ground up. There are plenty of new things added to the reimagining of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, and they’re all welcome additions. Nothing feels out of place and includes a lot more content than expected. Time has flown by through my first playthrough of the two campaigns, and I know I’m just getting started with all of the online and local multiplayer potential. This great package leaves me wanting more.

***Xbox One code provided by the publisher***