TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER 1+2

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 spins our way in September

BRINGING THE FEEL OF THE CLASSIC GAMES TO A NEW GENERATION.

06Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is back yet again, and this time it promises to be for the better.

The iconic series has had a few sketchy entries in the last couple of gaming generations, but Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 looks like landing its jumps. With Vicarious Visions helming the skate decks, it’s on track to hit a big 900 spin into a smooth landing.

Not only is Vicarious Visions responsible for Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy, which stayed lovingly true to its PS1 source games, the studio’s been collaborating with with the Hawkster for a considerable time, working on impressive handheld ports of the original THPS games since the early 2000s. And if that doesn’t reassure you, let us add the studio was not responsible for the lacklustre efforts to modernise classic Pro Skater (we’re looking at 2012’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD and 2015’s Pro Skater 5 here). Vicarious Visions has the series in its DNA, and is committed not just to giving the classic first two games a fresh coat of paint, but to bringing the feel of those games to a new generation.

It’s been important to Tony Hawk and the dev team to stay true to what made those first two games special while also making them faithful to players’ experiences of the series as a whole. “I dont wanna remember a time before we had the revert,” shared Tony Hawk during the game’s online announcement stream. Despite that trick being introduced in Pro Skater 3, it was core to creating the endless combos that made the later games so memorable. Some of the core mechanics from later in the series are included in the remade games. After all, that’s where the muscle memory for playing the series leads. The look and physics of the games, missing in previous revivals, remain intact in these two remakes.

PARK LIFE

Of course, there’s more to bringing these classics back to life than teaching old Hawk’s slightly newer tricks. The stage design and licensed soundtrack (Dead Kennedys, Papa Roach, Rage Against The Machine,

Play online or in local split-screen for the genuine Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater feel.

Though it’s a remake of TH1 and TH2, this duo will have the combo-friendly revert move of TH3.

Editor team talk “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was as iconic as Crash and Lara back on the original PlayStation, and to have the series making a comeback from a dev that gets the games is crucial. I can’t wait to relearn every combo all over again.” Ian Dean