People have called Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2, a remake of the original two games in the series, a perfect remake. As we are living in the age of remakes, it has got players fever dreaming about what could be remade next. But one of the reasons why people consider THPS 1+2 a perfect remake is because it really doesn’t change many things about the original game.
For the most part, the development team has just spruced things up a little, and made the look of the game aesthetically pleasing. However, for better or worse, Vicarious Visions have changed minor things here and there, and it is mostly pulled off immaculately. But there are certain parts of the game that should have been left alone.
11 Best: Load Screens
Load screens might not mean much to a gaming experience on the face of it, but they can actually be really important, as it’s the one part of a game where the player isn’t interacting with what is going on. The load screens of the remake is one of the first things that reveals to players that the developer has put so much care and effort in to the game. There are several different pieces of art, some of them are extremely detailed murals, and others are ones that could be seen sprayed on a skate ramp. It embodies the coolness of the original games and creates such a pleasing aesthetic.
10 Worst: Can’t Replay Career With Each Character
One of the best things about the original two games is that once the player completed the game as Tony Hawk, they could restart the career mode with all of the other skaters, which came with different challenges as all the characters had different stats. In the remake, once players have completed the game, that’s it. There is no option to replay the career as a new character within the game.
9 Best: Music
Ever since the inception of THPS, the game has influenced four full console generations, encouraging other developers to add amazing video game soundtracks. The music in THPS was almost as much of a staple of the game as skateboarding was, mixing hip hop and punk music onto one angsty playlist.
And thankfully enough, the developer has managed to license almost the entire soundtrack from the original two games (all except for three tracks). Not only that, but there are About thirty extra modern songs too, all that fit the vibe of the game.
8 Worst: Create A Park
Though the new create a park mode is fun, it is really limited, and after having created a park, the novelty quickly wears off.
In Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, the story mode was based on the player creating the most epic skate park made out of the craziest areas of LA. Though that game wasn’t as beloved as the Pro Skaters, it was a great and imaginative part of the game that the Create A Park mode could have adopted.
7 Best: Manuals
Just like they did by adding time trials to the original Crash Bandicoot game when they faithfully restored it (because fans had been begging for it for years), one inspired choice that Vicaroius Visions made to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 was to add gameplay mechanics from the series that wouldn’t be added until future games.
The best of these additions is the manual, which allows players to string mental tricks together to create never-ending combos that lap the maps several times over. It adds whole new dimensions to the decades old levels and it introduces an almost brand new way of playing.
6 Worst: The Points System
Though it’s very arcade-y and is a style of gameplay that many developers have abandoned in recent years, THPS1+2 has thankfully kept the idea of increasing the player’s stats by collecting stat points throughout the game. But as the two games are connected, the idea fundamentally does not work. When advancing on to Pro Skater 2 after completing the first game, the player keeps all of their stat points, which makes the whole of the second game way too easy.
5 Best: Skaters’ Real Ages
Though it might not be immediately revealing to players who aren’t the most observant, this subtle tweak to the game is one of the most genius changes there is. Tony Hawk and his merry band of skaters that gamers can play as are all rendered as their current ages, not as the youngsters they were 20 years ago. Most of the original skaters are now in their fifties and it is one of the game’s most interesting features.
4 Worst: Online Game Modes
Though this could be added at a later date, one of the fundamentals of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series is the two player split-screen modes, with the best being HORSE and Tag. And that feature is available in this remake, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun, but those two modes are missing from the online mode. There is no ability to invite a friend and play one on one, instead there’s the same repetitive modes that require online gamers to reach a specific high score before anyone else.
3 Best: Graphics
It may go without saying that the game has amazing graphics, as we’re at the end of a generation that made leaps and bounds in gaming technology, but of all the games, THPS1+2 might show off the capabilities of the current consoles better than any other.
The graphics are also great because, as our memories deceive us and play tricks on us, this is how we all always remembered how the original two Pro Skater games looked. But in reality, buildings were unrendered grey blocks and the skaters didn’t even have separate fingers, with hands that looked like mittens.
2 Worst: Custom Skaters
Another great addition to these games is the ability to create a custom skater, something that was added in the later Pro Skater games. However, they aren’t very custom as the ability to edit them is extremely limited. When it comes to the character’s face and hair, there is a choice of only handful of presets, and no ability to build your own. And when it comes to kitting out the character with threads from all the skate brands, there is almost no choice, which has led players to believe that in-game purchases might be on their way, offering new outfits.
1 Best: Easter Eggs
With so many hidden details in the game, THPS 1+2 carries on the long tradition of filling each level to the brim with eater eggs, whether it’s secret unlockable characters or references to the older games. The thing the THPS 1+2 does best is that it doesn’t just include the hidden details of the original two games, but it also adds many of its own.
Players can find secret hidden alien plushies around the world (which unlocks a special character when they’ve all been found), and there’s even a subtle nod to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 killing the franchise.
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