| Neversoft, the guys who originated the best skateboarding on the planet with the first three Tony Hawk Pro Skater games, have expanded the series yet again. While it was never called an overhaul, Tony Hawk's Underground was indeed a re-thinking of the series that gave us a linear story plus an amazing amount of stuff to create, tinker with, and customize. Some fans felt it wasn't the end-all be-all, while a majority of players loved it. Or at least millions of them bought it. Tony Hawk's Underground 2: World Destruction Tour is the sixth game in the series, and it gives us a more humorous, more dense version of the game with highly interactive levels, dozens of new characters to skate with and unlock, and, as expected, a superlative 3D engine. IGN traveled to Neversoft's offices last week to play the game and speak with Production Director Scott Pease, Designer Alan Flores and Producer Kevin Mulhall. Neversoft likes to do everything in groups, so as to not single out a particular person, and so I got healthy insights into the game, and a healthy earful of comments from all areas, including healthy feedback about my review on THUG. Apparently, Neversoft distinctly remembered my less than positive comments about the off-the-board controls (Hey Neversoft! I got my eyes on you!). This year's model is once again an expansion, a tinkering and honing of existing ideas and an introduction of "new" ones. Appealing to Bam Margera's rowdy instincts and growing MTV fan-base, Margera joins Tony Hawk in the spotlight to lead a brand new story based on competition. You star once again as the newbie who's recently become a pro, and along with a throng of similar-level skaters, you're kidnapped by Bam and Tony to travel abroad in a world destruction tour. If last year's game was meant to be serious, this year's effort is going to be humorous and fun. The game is packed with personality and color. It's a competition in which the two teams, one led by Hawk, the other Margera, skate through the US, Spain, and several other locales to earn the most points. The winner gets respect and the loser pays the tab. Oh, and you'll destroy a healthy amount of property in the process (thus the World Destruction Tour). The Story mode follows a linear progression, starting in Boston and following up in Madrid, Spain. There are eight levels altogether. Following last year's alteration, players will once again get instant and automatic upgrades to the techniques they use the most, i.e. rails, air, etc. Again, you'll also be able to gain new objectives by skating around and speaking with NPCs. And once you've completed a majority of the goals, another level opens up. (And like last year, you can pick a difficulty level.) One of the bigger changes turns out to be playable skaters. In each level you'll start out by selecting a pro (one of four in each level) and skating as either him or yourself. Switching skaters is easy. Skate by say, Bob Burnquist, and press a button, and you'll instantly switch to him. Stop the game, check the menus, and you'll see a new set of objectives. The return of skating as a pro was no doubt a response to last year's game (which skipped that option for the first time), and it adds depth and variety back to gameplay. What doubles the fun is the introduction of third and fourth characters per level, a secret and a special skater. In each level these two "characters" must be searched out to skate, and each one has his own special moves, or he rides a very non-traditional vehicle. For instance, in Boston you'll unlock Ben Franklin who's got a Franklin Grind (something do with electricity, a key and a kite...I don't know) and Jesse James, who rides a flame-painted Seque-chopper. Thus for each level, you've got four characters worth of objectives. We got a look at Boston. At first, the Boston, MA. level doesn't appear much bigger in terms of square feet. Instead it's densely packed with more vertical lines, a score of indoor sections, and off-the-board areas. There are apartment rooms to sneak into, subways to explore, boats to skate on, and quiet libraries to sound off in. The new moves range across the board. There are those you can make in Create-a-Trick and then try out in your very own customized level (which PS2 owners can once again bring online), and there are those special to the characters themselves. One new move is Natas, a super quick 360 around the top of a fire hydrant that quickly racks up points. The Boston level is cool sh*t. There are tons of good lines all around, and the integration of the sticker slap, which, when done right, propels you backward, means you can retrace your line using a manual to easily double a potentially high score. When you open up Jesse James, you'll get to unlock a half-pipe pulled by a truck. You'd be suprised how tough it is to pull off a simple 15,000-point combo when the half-pipe is moving around corners. Another interesting addition to this level is the goal to "Skate to the Beat." Players must initiate a boom box and then pull off flip tricks to the beat under a time limit, with the screen showing new tricks after each is completed. There are tons of NPCs around too. One of the funnier ones comments on your moves each time you skate by him. When you bite it, he'll give you classic Boston attitude, telling you "Hey slugger, heh, looks like you missed homeplate." When you connect, he'll compliment you. Though it seems a little familiar to those who played Jet Set Radio, Neversoft's seemingly natural evolution from destroying property to getting off your board now includes tagging features and sticker slaps. By pressing up a button while jumping, you'll slap a tag of your making onto any flat surface. In the Create a Tag menu, you can use 10 layers to create an impressive amount of detail, from specialized fonts (including a graffiti font), colors, text, logos, and more. When you're done, you can sticker slap and graffiti the entire town just for fun. Naturally, Neversoft has created missions that require you to reach special locations to tag, and in each locale you'll have to reach special out-of-reach area. Tags can grow in size, too. When you boost your special meter, the tag increases, so you can boost it by as much as four times its original size. As a noob, your off-the-board antics (introduced in THUG) are more integrated into the game's overall structure. (The control feels a little better than last year's efforts, too.) For example, in Boston you must nollie over a trash can fire, catch your board on fire, and then light two big cannons pointing at a construction site. A cutscene ensues, and boom! The building structure collapses to create something new. The building then creates a climbable section to reach a tag section previously unattainable. If you liked the Earthquake level in THUG, you'll like this. Everyone is trying their hand at Bullet Time, and Neversoft is giving the slow down trick its best effort. The thing that's worth mentioning about the slowdown trick (initiated by pressing down on an analog button) is that it's just cool to look at. It doesn't do anything better or different. It's pretty pure. The effect is simply to watch all of tricks in slow motion while playing. It actually us helpful to see what you're doing and to get a good idea of how many frickin' moves you're actually pulling off. Instead of looking at it like Bullet Time, look at it like a replay in Madden NFL 2005, only in realtime. I witnessed this while watching Neversoft's newest employee AndyTHPS, one of the best Tony Hawk players in the world, pull off a mind-bending amount of moves without stopping and without flinching for about 10 minutes. For me, watching him play in slow motion was the only way to really tell what the hell was going on. Online, PlayStation 2 players get the full Monty, while Xbox fans are once again, and I hate to say this, left in the cold. Neversoft was very earnest about not including online for Xbox players. "I know your readers (Xbox readers, that is) are going to think this is BS, but we're always pushing to make the best game each year, and because we pushed ahead on the PlayStation 2 early on [THPS3], we've already created specialized tools for that system," explained Pease. "We're not a big team, and we create a new game each year for three systems. And honestly, we also cannot find a good Xbox programmer who knows Xbox Live that can do it." So, Xbox owners can expect a rash of solid two-player mini-games including old time favorites. Neversoft was strangely quiet about its PS2 online plans, revealing very little. Expect to hear more on this front soon. Graphically, THUG2 is a departure. For the first time, the game has taken on a very cartoon-style design. Characters look slightly super-deformed, and the noobs themselves appear very kiddy, very punky in appearance. The game is more colorful in general with a brighter palette, and there is more graffiti and more breakable stuff than ever before. Perhaps the biggest renaissance in THUG2 is the re-introduction of Classic Mode. That is to say, for all those players weaned on the first three games, you'll be able to skate under the two-minute timer, and collect the letters SKATE, get high scores, et al. Classic mode is entirely separate from Story, and as you beat levels in Story, they'll be unlocked in Classic. Also, a select group of levels from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 will appear completely remodeled and renewed in THUG 2. These will provide completely different goals and time limits to beat than the originals games. With the brand new eight levels, plus several selected from the first three games in the series, and all the customization you can handle, Tony Hawk's Underground 2: World Destruction Tour really looks to give players everything they want. The same rock-solid skateboarding we've come to know and love is back full swing. Look for it to appear on Xbox, PS2 and GameCube in late October/early November. -- Douglass C. Perry |
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| Tony Hawk's Underground 2: Hands-on Back with Bam to cause serious property damage. Hands-on and new screens. wednsday, September 8, 2004 - 5:05 PM By: Vegeta Source: IGN.com |
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