Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is a high-definition remake with a problem: it never quite finishes. The game takes the best levels from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Pro Skater 2, adds a handful of levels from Pro Skater 3 as paid DLC, and wraps them in a fresh coat of paint. That sounds like a solid plan. The execution falls short in ways that leave the whole package feeling unfinished.
Trailer, via IGN.
The Core Game
The core of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is familiar to anyone who played the original games. You ride, grind, flip, and rotate to build combos, and landing a full chain rewards you with a score multiplier that grows with each trick. The game’s central trick system is simple: land a trick, keep moving, and the combo count rises. Break the chain, lose everything. It is a fair system, though it punishes hesitation more than it rewards patience.
The game is built around completing objectives in each level. Find all the letters that spell SKATE, collect the secret DVD, and hit a high score threshold to earn points that unlock upgrades for your character’s attributes. These upgrades are the closest the game comes to new content, letting you push your stats higher as you play. It is a small comfort, since the base trick set never changes.
The DLC Problem
The DLC for Pro Skater 3 is where things start to fall apart. The revert trick, which lets you change the direction of the board while keeping forward momentum, was originally locked to only the levels that came with the DLC. Instead of releasing it as promised, Robomodo pushed back the release schedule and added the revert to every level in an update. It is a fix, but it is a fix that arrived late, and the delay shows in the game’s overall feel.
The DLC itself is a mixed bag. Some of the levels are genuinely fun, but others feel thin compared to the originals. The revert trick, once it finally appeared, is a welcome addition, but it arrives too late to justify the wait.
The Modes
Big Head Survival is a new mode where your character’s head inflates as you skate, making control harder the longer you stay alive. It is a clever idea, but it is also a minor one. It does not add much to the core experience beyond a novelty factor.
The multiplayer modes are standard fare for the genre. They work, but they do not stand out. None of the modes here are essential, and none of them make up for the game’s central weakness: there is no new content.
The Presentation
The presentation is the strongest part of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD. The graphics are sharp, the levels are bright, and the music is energetic. It looks like a modern version of the original games, and that is mostly a compliment. The game’s handling of the original levels is respectful, and the new coat of paint does not cover up the flaws underneath.
The sound design is similarly competent. The grinding, the flips, the landings all have distinct audio cues that help sell the action. It is a solid package, even if the package itself is not entirely complete.
The Flaws
The biggest flaw is the lack of new content. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is an amalgam of the first two games, and it never adds anything beyond the revert trick in the DLC. There are no new tricks, no new levels, no new modes, and no new goals. The game is a remaster, not an expansion, and it plays like one.
The second flaw is the DLC release. The revert trick was promised early and delivered late. The game shipped without it, and players had to wait for an update that added it to every level. That is a broken promise, and it leaves a sour taste that the rest of the game cannot fully erase.
The Verdict
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD is a solid, if incomplete, remaster. It respects the original games, looks great, and plays well. But it is missing the new content that would have made it a standout release. As a remake, it works. As a game in its own right, it falls short.
The game’s strengths are real. The core gameplay is strong, the presentation is polished, and the objectives give you something to chase. But the weaknesses are also real, and they are the kind of weaknesses that stick with you after you put the controller down.
This is a game that was good enough to be fun, but not good enough to be essential. It is a decent way to revisit the classics, but it is not the definitive way to play them.
Key Facts
- Developer: Robomodo
- Publisher: Activision
- Platforms: PlayStation 3, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox 360
- Release dates: Xbox Live Arcade — July 18, 2012; PlayStation Network — August 28, 2012; Steam — September 18, 2012
- DLC: Pro Skater 3 content added via download
- Score: 5.8 of 10
The game was delisted from Steam and all other digital marketplaces on July 17, 2017. That is a shame, because the game deserves a better fate than obscurity. It is a competent, if flawed, entry in a long-running series, and it is worth playing if you have the time and the interest. Just do not expect it to be the game that defines the series.
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