Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 Review (Epic Games Store/PC)

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Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 Review

Drop back in with the most iconic skateboarding games ever made. Play the fully-remastered Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater & Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 games in one epic collection, rebuilt from the ground up in incredible HD.

Pros:

  • Really good detailed graphics.
  • 19.49gb download size.
  • Controller support.
  • Skateboarding gameplay.
  • HDR support.
  • Graphics-fullscreen, resolution, v-sync, render resolution, fps cap, a field of view slider, fidelity fx sharpening, quality preset, anti-aliasing, texture/shadow/effects quality, texture anisotropy, and ambient occlusion.
  • Display settings-LDR calibration, safe area, and short FPS.
  • Game mods can be turned on and they are-perfect rail balance, perfect manual balance, perfect lip balance, always special, and no bails.
  • Hud can be customized on what it shows.
  • Invert axis and sensitivity sliders.
  • Can rebind controls for the controller.
  • Three modes-skate tours, multiplayer, and create a park.
  • Skate tours-Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, and ranked and free skate mode which is basically an arcade mode.
  • Player has an overall rank that increases by exp you earn from doing challenges. Level up to unlock new gear to customize your skater.
  • Skate shop is where you spend earned credits on gear like skateboards, and clothing.
  • Four custom skater slots.
  • Over 20 official skaters with their own stats, specials and customize item unlocks via their own challenges.
  • Can change songs whenever you want by clicking the right stick.
  • Splitscreen local play is supported.
  • Online multiplayer-quick launch with two-game modes-Jams and competitive.
  • Stat points-find in the levels and use to improve your skater stats.
  • Can customize skater special moves.
  • Create Park allows you to download and upload other player creations.
  • Lobby system where friends can join or you can lock it down.
  • Friends list integrated.
  • Songs have the swear words blanked out.
  • Fast loading times.
  • Nails the feel of the original games perfectly.
  • Bailing has a quick recovery model so it’s not as time-consuming as before.
  • Each level has a list of goals to do and you can do them in any order.
  • Pin any challenges to your menu.
  • Familiar easy to use controls.
  • Classic levels with a fresh lick of paint and slight tweaks to improve the flow.
  • Combo counter with moves performed showing on the bottom.
  • Moves-the more you do the same move the more the score for that move decreases.
  • Nostalgic yet new.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 Review

Cons:

  • No achievements. (obviously as its Epic but just saying)
  • Stat points are a one time earn for named skaters so if you get it with this skater then the other skater can’t get it.
  • Daunting screens of unlocks and challenges.
  • You don’t like Skateboarding.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 and 2 Review

  • 9/10
    Graphics - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Sound - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Accessibility - 9/10
  • 9/10
    Length - 9/10
  • 10/10
    Fun Factor - 10/10
9.2/10

Summary

With the memory of Tony Hawk 5 still ringing in our eyes, we can be forgiven for thinking the announcement of a remaster of 1 and 2 was not necessarily a good thing. Activision has a good record with remasters what with Spyro and Crash doing well, but As soon as Tony hawk games are in the mix it seems some sort of curse is on the series. Every game after 3 made a slow decline until 5 dam near broke gamers. To remedy this Activision got a demo out weeks before release and the feedback was positive so could we finally get a good next-gen Tony Hawk’s game and will the market still care about the genre? Well, it turns out that the remaster has had as much love and care put into it as the originals did and rivals all previous Activision remasters and in fact properly leapfrogs them to be the best. Why? Well not only have they made the game look all pretty and shiny but they managed to do something I fear would be lost to the nostalgic bank of memories, the handling of the character. They absolutely nailed it and your nostalgic self would say this is just how it played back on the PlayStation 1 but in truth, it’s probably even smoother and more responsive now. Moving on the music is there and is surprising how many you forgot about but as soon as it pops up you are bopping and grinding like it was launch day all over again! Being well remade is all well and good but to then add on an unlock system with challenges and exp, cash, and customisation options mean you have even more reason to keep playing the game long after finishing all the goals. You get handy little touches like a music player where clicking the stick changes the song at will, the loading is fast, the goal camera is handy and it all just comes together so well. All of this and then you get multiplayer which is every bit as good as solo play. Overall Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 proves you can get a good Tony Hawk game but more importantly shows gamers still want an arcade Skateboarding game.

Jim Smale

Gaming since the Atari 2600, I enjoy the weirdness in games counting Densha De Go and RC De Go as my favourite titles of all time. I prefer gaming of old where buying games from a shop was a thing, Being social in person was a thing. Join me as I attempt to adapt to this new digital age!