The game starts out with some sweet tricks by professional skaters and its great to see Tony Hawk still making the sweet jumps that he is known for. Once the game menu comes up, players have the option to scroll through some of the Pro Skater Bios and run through some of the tutorials before jumping into the game. In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 players have the opportunity to customize their own skater from 12 different styles (including King from King's Quest and Lil Wayne) and creating their very own park (5 to choose from) before they start practicing their moves in-game.
After you have added some sweet modifications to your skate park with ramps, rails and so forth then you can test out your creation with your Pro Skater. Based on this test run, players can return to the creator screen to tweak and adjust their park as needed. Creating your own custom park and testing it out was the finest part of the entire game. It is here that you can test out your creative limits while adding a wide array of powerups and obstacles to increase the replay value of your custom skate park.
Once you get tired of playing around in your own custom park then you can jump into the game's main campaign through THPS5 levels, your own or player created levels. The game's soundtrack is fantastic and sets the mood perfectly for completing tricks and grinding your way to that perfect high score. If you were a fan of the original Tony Hawk on PlayStation in 1999 then you will be likely love the new release on Xbox One and PS4. The game contains some of the same mechanics and elements of the original version but with way better visuals! My siblings and myself were huge fans of Tony Hawk games in the 90's and I have to admit I haven't played any of the games in the series since that original release until now with Tony Hawk Pro Skater 5. So with the new release, I gathered up my siblings and we set down to re-experience the Tony Hawk series one more time.
For every level, players have missions to achieve, free skate objectives to complete and the global play count that they can beat with their highest combo score. Some of the things that always made Tony Hawk enjoyable and entertaining to our family was some of the same things that many players today will gripe profusely about. One of those was the insane glitches that would turn a simple trick into a hilarious one with the rag doll movements of your characters into walls and floors. For example, you tap the wrong button when trying to pull of a series of combos and before the frustration can build--you watch your character's limpless body be slammed into a wall to only be swallowed up with only their foot being visible. For a game costing $59.99, players today expect a perfect masterpiece and that just isn't something you will get from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 or any Tony Hawk game for that matter. The game is a sloppy, hot mess and today's spoilt gamer will quickly chew the title up and spit it out before even giving it a chance.
However, I relived some of the best moments of my youth with my siblings while playing Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 and was able to enjoy it with a sort of child-like innocence that most gamers don't allow themselves to experience in today's modern age. While the multiplayer portion of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 doesn't offer up much in regards to gameplay--it was fun to skate around with my friends and family on the same map while comparing our triumphs and funny moments in real time.
In the end, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 is a decently fun title and was everything fans of the original release would expect. The game does contain quite a few glitches, but we found it very enjoyable all the same. Players can often get caught up in comparing a title to other releases on the market and what they should be based on that. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 delivered a unique experience that fans of the series can appreciate. To learn more, visit the official Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 website.
Reviewed for Xbox One