Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
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''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD'' is a 2012
skateboarding Skateboarding is an extreme sport, action sport that involves riding and Skateboarding trick, performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry Profession, job, and a method of tr ...
video game in the ''
Tony Hawk's ''Tony Hawk's'' is a series of skateboarding video games published by Activision and endorsed by the Tony Hawk, American professional skateboarder of the same name. From 1999 to 2007, the series was primarily developed for Home video game conso ...
'' series. Developed by
Robomodo Robomodo was an American independent video game developer based in Chicago, Illinois. Robomodo was formed in early 2008 by former employees of Midway Games and EA Chicago. They are best known for being the developer of several post-Neversoft gam ...
and published by
Activision Activision Publishing, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in Santa Monica, California. It serves as the publishing business for its parent company, Activision Blizzard, and consists of several subsidiary studios. Activision is one o ...
, ''Pro Skater HD'' is a high-definition remake of classic levels from ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', released as ''Tony Hawk's Skateboarding'' in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and parts of Europe, is a 1999 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the first installment in ...
'', '' Pro Skater 2'', and, via download, '' Pro Skater 3''. It was released in 2012 for
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
through
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (or XBLA) was a video game Digital distribution in video games, digital distribution service that was available for the Xbox (console), Xbox and Xbox 360 consoles. It focused on smaller downloadable games from both major publisher ...
on July 18, for
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
through
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
on August 28 and
Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...
on September 18. The game was delisted from Steam and all other digital marketplaces on July 17, 2017.


Gameplay

''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD'' is a skateboarding video game, with an
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
-style emphasis with regard to realism. The objective is to score points by successfully completing various
skateboarding trick A skateboarding trick, or simply a trick, is a maneuver performed by manipulating a skateboard, usually with one's feet, in a specific way to achieve the desired outcome – the trick. History Though skateboards emerged in the 1900s, skateboardi ...
s such as
grinds In Ireland, grinds are a form of private tuition. The grinds industry in Ireland, particularly at secondary school level, acts as a supplement to other forms of schooling and is described in some sources as "shadow education". In 2012, the Reve ...
,
flip trick A flip trick is a type of skateboarding trick in which the skateboard rotates around its vertical axis, or its vertical axis and its horizontal axis simultaneously. The first flip trick, called a kickflip but originally known as a "magic flip", ...
s, and aerials. Performing several moves in succession without any pause results in a combo. The player's score is multiplied by the number of tricks in the combo. If the player successfully lands the final trick the score is then banked, otherwise all points in that combo are lost. ''Pro Skater HD'' is an amalgam of ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' and ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2'', and as such the game does not feature any additional tricks or moves added to later games in the series. ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' is a 2001 skateboarding video game and the third installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series. It was published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and ...
''
downloadable content content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can be added for no extra cost or as a form of video game monetization, enabling the publisher to gain ad ...
(DLC) was added. Included in the content is the ability to perform a revert, a trick which involves changing the direction of the board while keeping forward momentum. Originally this ability was only going to be limited for use in the levels that came with the DLC but due to the protracted release schedule, Robomodo released an update for the game that added the revert in all levels. Players are also tasked with completing objectives in each level. In exchange for completion of these objectives players are rewarded with points that can be spent to upgrade a character's attributes. These include achieving a set high score, collecting the letters S-K-A-T-E, and finding a hidden DVD (in the same vein of the "Secret Tapes" from the first three games) within each level. In addition to the main gameplay mode other single and multiplayer modes are included. Big Head Survival is a new game mode in which the player character skates with their head becoming gradually inflated. In the case of Xbox 360 avatars the head is represented by a balloon in tow. If the player's head or balloon becomes too large it pops, ending the game. To keep the size down players must complete combos. Higher scores have a greater impact on decreasing the player character's head or balloon size. Returning from ''
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ''Tony Hawk's Proving Ground'' is a 2007 skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Vicarious Visions for the Nintendo DS, and by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Wii. ''Proving Ground'' is the ...
'' is Hawkman, where the player must skate around the level collecting colored pellets with specific moves: yellow pellets must be collected during grinds, red during jumps, green during manuals, and blue while wallriding. When the player collects all pellets, or fails to collect them within the time limit for a high score, the game ends. Graffiti mode returns, and involves performing tricks on a series of objects. If a player successfully lands their trick(s), all objects the player touched will change to the player's designated color. If a second player achieves a higher score any objects that the second player touched, including any claimed by the first player, will change to the second player's color. The object is to claim the most objects by the end of the game. Online leaderboards are included for all modes, but online play is limited to the console versions. Seven levels were selected from the original ''Pro Skater'' and ''Pro Skater 2'', and include series staples such as Warehouse and School II. Mall, Hangar, Marseille, Downhill Jam, and Venice Beach are also included. The selection of skaters consist of classic skaters such as
Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...
and
Rodney Mullen John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is an American professional skateboarder who practices freestyle skateboarding and street skateboarding. He is considered the most influential skateboarder of all time. Mullen is credited for inventing ...
, as well as other professional skaters
Eric Koston Eric Koston (born April 29, 1975) is a Thai born American professional skateboarder and company owner. He has been featured in the ''Tony Hawk's'' video game series and the Electronic Arts (EA) video games ''Skate 2'' and ''Skate 3''. Koston c ...
,
Nyjah Huston Nyjah Imani Huston ( ; born November 30, 1994) is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS ...
, Andrew Reynolds, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins Pastrana, Chris Cole and Riley Hawk, son of Tony Hawk. The first update of the game also adds Jake Harrison and Emily Westlund to the initial roster. Two fictional bonus characters return, Officer Dick and Ollie the Magic Bum, who have appeared several times in the series. A new bonus character, a robot named Roberta, is also included. The Xbox 360 version also allows players to play with their avatars. Downloadable content has been released featuring three levels from ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' is a 2001 skateboarding video game and the third installment in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series. It was published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2001 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color and ...
'' (Airport, Canada, and Los Angeles) with extra playable characters including pros
Geoff Rowley Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Jr. (born 6 June 1976) is an English professional skateboarder, former co-owner of Flip Skateboards and owner of the Civilware Service Corporation. He received ''Thrasher Magazine'' "Skater of the Year" award in 2000. Ear ...
and
Steve Caballero Steve Caballero (born November 8, 1964) is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a ...
along with
James Hetfield James Alan Hetfield (born August 3, 1963) is an American musician. He is the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, co-founder, and a primary songwriter of heavy metal band Metallica. He is mainly known for his raspy voice and intricate rhythm playi ...
and
Robert Trujillo Roberto Agustín Miguel Santiago Samuel Trujillo Veracruz (; born October 23, 1964) is an American musician who has been the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica since 2003. He first rose to prominence as the bassist of crossover thrash band ...
from
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
. The pack also includes one new song from the band, "
All Nightmare Long "All Nightmare Long" is a song by American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band Metallica, released as the third single from their album ''Death Magnetic''. The single was released on December 15, 2008. The song is in drop D tuning. It was nomina ...
".


Development

The game was first announced at the 2011
Spike Spike, spikes, or spiking may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Books * ''The Spike'' (novel), a novel by Arnaud de Borchgrave * ''The Spike'' (Broderick book), a nonfiction book by Damien Broderick * ''The Spike'', a starship in Peter ...
Video Game Awards show (VGAs) with a trailer demonstrating
Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...
skating around the Woodland Hills Warehouse (the first stage of the original game). It is the first ''Tony Hawk's'' game on consoles that was offered exclusively as a downloadable game. It is a return to the gameplay of the original games in the series, predating '' Tony Hawk: Ride'', and as such could only be played using a standard controller. The game is not a high-definition port of the original ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', but rather an amalgamation of levels collected from the first two installments, remade using
Unreal Engine 3 Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) is the third version of Unreal Engine developed by Epic Games. Unreal Engine 3 was one of the first game engines to support multithreading. It used DirectX 9 as its baseline graphics API, simplifying its rendering code. The ...
for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Downloadable content from ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3'' was confirmed on July 3, prior to the game's release, featuring levels Airport, Los Angeles, and Canada, and ability to perform reverts on those levels. Professional skaters
Steve Caballero Steve Caballero (born November 8, 1964) is an American professional skateboarder. He is known for the difficult tricks and air variations he invented for vertical skating and for setting the long-standing record for the highest air achieved on a ...
and
Geoff Rowley Geoffrey Joseph Rowley Jr. (born 6 June 1976) is an English professional skateboarder, former co-owner of Flip Skateboards and owner of the Civilware Service Corporation. He received ''Thrasher Magazine'' "Skater of the Year" award in 2000. Ear ...
were added in the pack.


Soundtrack

The soundtrack contains the songs from the first two ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' games with the other half containing new songs. Seven are new ones, while other seven are taken from the first two ''Pro Skater'' games; one from ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', and six from ''Pro Skater 2''. Developer Robomodo was given charge of the soundtrack. In regards to the choice of new songs, lead designer Patrick Dwyer explained that choice: "We wanted to pick new songs that had that potential where, five years from now, people hear the songs and they think of this game".


Reception

''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD'' received mixed reviews upon release. It holds aggregates scores of 67.61% at
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and 66 out of 100 at
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
. Review scores range from a 40% approval ratio from Lucas Sullivan of
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to a 90% approval from Alex Rubens of
G4TV G4 (also known as G4TV) was an American pay television and digital network owned by NBCUniversal and later Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games. The network was originally owned by G4 Media, a joint venture between the NB ...
. The majority of scores at both GameRankings and Metacritic were at or above a 60% approval ratio.
IGN ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former e ...
's Nic Vargas gave the game a score of 8/10, praising its purist gameplay whilst lamenting the lack of certain modes such as park creator and split screen multiplayer. The reviewer from
GameTrailers ''GameTrailers'' (''GT'') was an American video gaming website created by Geoffrey R. Grotz and Brandon Jones in 2002. The website specialized in multimedia content, including trailers and gameplay footage of upcoming and recently released v ...
gave the game a score of 7.4 and said that ''Pro Skater HD'' "isn't flawless, but... it at least gets off on the right foot". Lucas Sullivan of
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites ''Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and ''Computer ...
felt that old-school fans of the franchise will be disappointed by what the game lacks, and gamers who never played the original games on PS1 will find the mechanics and level design sparse.
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017 and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. Histor ...
gave the game 4.5/10, stating that the execution isn't handled as well as the original titles, as well as some of the design choices the developer made.
G4TV G4 (also known as G4TV) was an American pay television and digital network owned by NBCUniversal and later Comcast Spectacor that primarily focused on video games. The network was originally owned by G4 Media, a joint venture between the NB ...
gave the game a 4.5/5 and praised the console versions' online multiplayer and soundtrack. ''
Official Xbox Magazine ''Official Xbox Magazine'' (''OXM'') was a British monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released at E3 2001, with another preview issue in November 2001. The maga ...
'' gave ''Pro Skater HD'' an 8/10. They praised the game's new big head mode.


References

{{Tony Hawk games 2012 video games Activision games Multiplayer and single-player video games PlayStation Network games Skateboarding video games Pro Skater HD Unreal Engine 3 games Video game remakes Windows games Xbox 360 Live Arcade games Video games set in Arizona Video games set in Los Angeles Video games set in California Video games set in Canada Video games set in France Video games set in Montana Video games set in Nevada Video games set in New York City Video games developed in the United States Robomodo games