Skateboard fans get ready to do a kickflip all over again when the critically acclaimed Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 makes its way to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 26th March 2021 and lands on Nintendo Switch for the first time in 2021.

The upcoming, next-gen versions of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 will give players a variety of upgrades, such as super crisp 120 FPS at 1080P, native 4K at 60 FPS1, spatial audio and more, while the game on Nintendo Switch will give fans the chance to ollie with Tony Hawk and the line-up of pro-skaters on-the-go.

As the fastest Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater game to sell 1 million units, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 is a faithful remaster of the first two iconic games in the franchise, blending all the original levels, pro-skaters, old-school tricks and more that gamers remember from the ‘90s and 2000s with new, beautifully recreated levels.

High-fidelity atmospherics will be added to the next-gen upgrade for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2.

This unique graphical feature will allow players to enjoy the experience of sharper dynamic shadows, reflections and lens flares, as well as enhanced skater textures and more on next-gen consoles.

Digital players can upgrade to the Cross-Gen Deluxe Bundle with all the added features for an additional $15 AUD.

The upgrade includes access to the secret skater Ripper (a.k.a. the infamous Powell-Peralta mascot), retro gear for Create-A-Skater mode, and retro skins for Tony Hawk, Steve Caballero and Rodney Mullen.

Additionally, Activision Blizzard is giving fans who already own the digital deluxe version of the game on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox One a next-gen upgrade at no cost (except in Japan) on 26th March 2021 and Xbox Series X versions of the game will run native 4K at 60FPS, while Xbox Series S versions will render at 1440P and upscale to 4K.

Getting to this milestone was no skate in the park. Skateboard icon Tony Hawk requested the help of videogame icon Crash Bandicoot to bring the remaster to new platforms, following the announcement that Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time would be coming to next-gen platforms and Nintendo Switch on 12th March 2021. Crash, whose Bandicoot-branded swag appeared in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 this past November, leveraged his clout in exchange for a personal skating lesson from the original birdman himself, resulting in playful Twitter banter between the two videogame icons.

Pre-orders for Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and Nintendo Switch start today in select territories.

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After a lackluster 5th entry, Activision have gone back to basics, reinvigorating the original Tony Hawk Pro Stater 1 and 2 in the hope of capturing past glories. Have they succeeded?

I never had a skateboard as a kid.

Growing up as the son of a nurse, they were seen as too dangerous. In saying that, as a 70s kid, they were a brand-new thing and had not yet entered the cultural zeitgeist of south-east England. The only time we would really see skateboarders was in news reports from the US. I remember one news report featuring a kid about the same age as me who was bloody good on a skateboard. The kid’s name was Tony Hawk.

Just as the ’70s and ‘80s were skateboarding’s halcyon years. The 1999 release of Tony Hawk Pro Skater was the same for video games. The hobby had survived a difficult decade and with the PlayStation had finally come of age.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater and its original PlayStation sequels represented unparalleled control of your skateboard, offering an immediate adrenalin rush and enough of a challenge to keep you engaged. Simple, easy to pick up gameplay, interesting locations and a really sense of achievement made these games legendary.

2015’s Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5 rather tarnished the series’ legacy with an entry that was not very well received by critics and fans, alike. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 seeks to redress the balance with a complete overhaul of the first two games.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 not only allows players to revisit both the games in their entirety, complete with updated visuals, but they also sample each of the 19 skate locations in free skate. This gives the package an archival museum feel for anyone just keen to see what all the fuss was about.

As well as the parks from THPS1 and THPS2, there’s an editor for players with the patience of a saint to create their own skate parks. For those of us that just want to get stuck in, there are hundreds of player-create parks to try and even mod for yourself.

The developers have really outdone themselves. They have preserved everything that made the original games so much fun but reinvigorated the graphics to bring them up to modern standards.

On PC the game looks amazing. With ambient occlusion and anti-aliasing, two technologies that weren’t mainstream in the late ‘90s, you’d be forgiven for thinking that this was the latest iteration of the Tony Hawk franchise. I was running the game on a top end PC: Intel Core i9 10900K with an Nvidia RTX 2080 Ti GPU, but expect similar visual fidelity from the Xbox and PlayStation version.

If you’ve not played a Tony Hawk game before, the game is easy to get into. After creating your skater, you start in an area with a number of challenges of different difficulties. These range from knocking over barrels to carrying out almost impossible tricks. There is a timer so some of the more complex collectable challenges need to be achieved quickly. Each successful challenge goes towards opening up the next skate park.

Your skater, clothes and board are all customisable. Money earnt in-game allows for better looking gear to really create a unique skater.

The controls are easy to figure out, but less easy to master. The game does give players some instant gratification which the likes of EA’s Skate games really made you work for. The result is an extremely addictive game that overs success that just in reach.

The A button (yes, I’m playing on PC, but with a controller- this is 2020) prepared the skater for a jump, which if next to an object, with a quick press of the Y becomes a grind. Other combinations trigger grabs and kickflips which can be combine with spins to create moves like a pro. There are hundreds of moves. Some easy, some, for me, impossible. The game has a full training mode with Tony Hawk, himself taking you through the many tricks and moves available in the game.

As well as the campaign and free skating, there’s a multiplayer game that allows players to pit their skills against others in a series of competitions. On PC I did have to wait a while, but I could find multiplayer games to join.

The game also features most of the tracks from the original games’ soundtracks. Further cementing the game as a faithfully recreation of the originals. One thing that I wish that they had done, which may have been dismissed in order to preserve the original feel of the games, is to have the skater kick off once in a while. The skateboard behaves more like an electric scooter. The board is happy to climb slopes without and help from the player and just looks a bit odd these days. The absence of a photo mode and video replay system is also a glaring omission.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 perfectly captures what made these games so good back in the day, but suitably retooled for modern PCs, consoles and 4K TVs. It’s an absolute joy to play and one that you’ll likely find yourself returning to just chill out.

The post Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

After months of hype and anticipation, the wait is finally over — Tony Hawk’s  Pro Skater 1
and 2, the videogame that lets players pull off insane skateboard combos from the comforts of
their living room, is now.

“I’m thankful for the quality and care that Activision and Vicarious Visions have put into the remaster to revive the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series in the best way possible,” said Tony Hawk. “For years, fans have asked me about bringing these games back, and I’m proud to say that we finally have a game that delivers on the expectations that nostalgic fans want, while inspiring a new generation to pick up a controller, and perhaps even a real skateboard.”

To celebrate launch, Activision recreated the game’s iconic Warehouse level for Tony to skate in
real life. Check out the epic scene as Tony shreds in the nostalgic setting for the first time. Vans was also on hand to capture the entire process. They’ll release a special behind-the-scenes look at the real-life recreation of the Warehouse on 6th of September 2020 at 2 a.m. AEST / 4 a.m. NZST.

The faithful remaster of the first two legendary games in the franchise returns in one glorious package, combining all the original levels, OG pro-skaters and tricks, including revert, lip tricks, wall plant with new ways to play, new pro-skaters, new music and more, all in beautiful 4K on supporting systems. And yes, Create-A-Park and Create-A-Skater modes are back! New to Create-A-Park this time around is a robust editor enabling new ways of customisation. Players will be able to share parks online with friends and outfit skaters with customisation options. New features to the remaster also include even more goals than before, added challenges to amp up gameplay and more.

“Our number one priority with the remaster was to honour the legacy, handling and quality of the original games,” said Jen Oneal, Studio Head at Vicarious Visions. “Seeing and hearing fans around the world share their excitement and love for the Warehouse demo only confirms that we accomplished what we set out to do. At Vicarious Visions, we’re huge fans of the franchise and we can’t wait to play with fans. We hope they have as much fun playing the remaster as much as we did making it.”

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 is available now.

Now fans can be the G.O.A.T with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 4 Pro, Xbox One X and on PC through the Epic platform.. A digital deluxe version that includes unique content and in-game gear is available. For the ultimate fan, there is a collector’s edition, complete with the digital deluxe content and a limited-run Birdhouse deck.

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The Tony Hawk Pro Skater series is one that most of us old-time gamers hold dear to our hearts.

For it was the first game to really capture the rush of an extreme sport in a video game. As time went on, and up against the likes of EA’s SSX snowboarding games, poor old Tony and his skateboard became yesterday’s news.

The franchise’s decline can also be attributed to Neversoft’s departure to work on the Guitar Hero games leaving Robomodo, responsible for the awful Tony Hawk’s Ride and the so-so Pro Skater HD remake, at the helm.

It’s been thirteen years since the last game in the main Pro Skater franchise. In that time, EA stole some of the series’ thunder with their excellent Skate games.

Activision has teamed up, once again,with the now 47 year old skateboarding pioneer, to bring us Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5.

The gameplay feels identical to the last Tony Hawk game that I played, which is at once comforting, but at the same time a bit disappointing. It’s exactly the same way I felt playing Pro Skater HD, which isn’t that surprising as they were both developed by Robomodo.

THPS5 dumps you into a generic-looking skate park with internal and external areas featuring pool areas, ramps and rails. There are a number of other maps that unlock as you progress.

The missions are the type that you would have seen before; achieving trick scores within time limits, performing combos. A few more novel challenges like picking up ice cream cones added interest, but still didn’t really cream anything different than that which has gone before.

THPS5 is, by default an online game, the free-skate mode being an on-line lobby which you share with a number of other players. It’s a good idea, giving the game a proper skate park feel. In truth though, you don’t really interact with anyone and, when you go to do mission, unless you are in a party, you are on your own.

There are multiplayer games such as Trick Attack, which is get as many trick points in two minutes, King of the Hill / take out the King to earn trick points, Big Head (perform tricks to stop your head from exploding),  Deathmatch, which has you tossing balls at your opponents with every trick and combo mambo and perform the highest scoring combo to win.

The visuals are a strange meld of pretty average graphics and a jarring mild cell-shaded cartoon look for the boarders. It looks OK and almost passable, were it not for the odd way that the textures take a few moments to load at the beginning of each session.

The controls are pretty much identical to the previous games and thus pretty easy to pick up, unlike EA’s Skate. The game will have you performing some pretty exhilarating tricks in no time, but after a while they all roll into one as you frantically press buttons to add a quick heel flip to your 180 indy.

The soundtrack is pretty awesome and not just the usual thrash metal stuff that usually grace this sort of game. It’s not going to be for everyone, but I’m in my forties and I went hunting for a few of the tracks after hearing them in the game.

There’s no doubt in my mind that this is Tony Hawk Pro Skater, but the gameplay and, to some extent, the visual style belong in the last decade.

Is it fun? Why yes, of course, and very much in the flavour of the original games, but that’s it. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 adds nothing new to the mix and as a result feels a bit tired.

With Activision’s licencing contract with Tony Hawk expiring this year, I don’t think that that it is too cynical to believe THPS5 is a bit of a cash-grab, a last-ditch attempt at coaxing funds from nostalgic fans wanting some Pro Skater magic for one last time.

With Tony Hawk likely to be on the lookout for a new video game partner next year, here’s hoping that he and EA Games work something out to give us a new-gen Tony Hawk’s Skate… before he puts his hip out.

The post Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Tony Hawk franchise has sold over 40 million units to date and is the Number 3 best-selling sports game series of all time.

The first four Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater titles are often listed among the best games ever made. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 brings the classic combo-driven skateboarding that built the series to a whole new generation of gamers with objective-based single-player and seamless online multiplayer action.

Compete head-to-head with your friends on signature Pro Skater Levels, take on challengers from around the world, or build and share your own skateparks for endless shredding.

The Newly revamped Classic Skate Mode will see you pull off signature Pro Skater moves – including manuals and reverts for extended trick combinations with incredible control and cutting-edge accuracy across signature levels, objectives, and challenges.

Added into it is of course, Multiplayer, where for PS4 and Xbox One exclusively, and for the first time drop in and out of online skate sessions with your friends or other players from around the world to complete Pro Skater missions and objectives, unlock new content, and level up your character.

Or challenge them to see who reigns supreme in competitive play. With dedicated server support, up to 20 people will be able to play online together in a single session.

Jump in and out of over 80 missions across nine environments, pulling off continuous tricks and combos for high-score dominance.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 will also have the feature where you can create and share skateparks from 250 unique objects to earn rewards, or let loose on the most twisted designs from the community. The pros in the game will be giving their stamps of approval to the best parks players craft over time.

Choosing from 10 of the top skaters in the sport today, each with their own distinctive styles, including Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Riley Hawk, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Lizzie Armanto, Leticia Bufoni, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Andrew Reynolds, and Ishod Wair.

Be your own legend, play the game you want to play, create your own character through the streamlined “customize a skater” system, making it fast and easy to jump into online skate sessions with a personalized flair.

The post Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 Details Revealed appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The Birdman is back with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, coming to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, expected to release later this year (2015).

The game retains the timeless, combo-driven energy and tightly designed levels of the Pro Skater games while expanding the experience with online play.

“Skateboarding has always been about the freedom of ripping with your friends, and creating a game that captures that feeling has been a vision of mine since the Pro Skater series began over 15 years ago,” said Tony Hawk. “I’m beyond excited to see that dream finally come true with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, which takes the old-school attitude of the original games online in a big way.”

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 rekindles the signature style of classic Pro Skater games in a brand-new set of Levels with the same infamous focus on daring objectives, fine-tuned controls and high-score tricks – including manuals and reverts – for endless shredding.

New items like power-ups and projectiles change up the core skating experience in a variety of fresh and entertaining ways. Tear up the pavement as one of today’s top pros, including Tony Hawk, Nyjah Huston, Riley Hawk, Aaron “Jaws” Homoki, Ishod Wair, Leticia Bufoni, Chris Cole, David Gonzalez, Andrew Reynolds, and Lizzie Armanto – or customise your own character.

Online multiplayer is where Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 truly takes off, letting players drop in and out of online skate sessions with friends and challengers from around the world for the first time. Complete missions, unlock new content and level up online or offline, or go head-to-head on the fly against all takers in competitive matches.

Players can also build their own imaginative skateparks to share with the community.

Robomodo and Disruptive Games are developing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 for the next gen consoles, but also will be releasing on Xbox 360 games and the PlayStation 3 .

The release dates for all console versions has not been confirmed yet.

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