Need some help with the game? Check out this mini-guide, courtesy of Activision.
Just like any usual sports franchise, what more could the Tony Hawk series bring to fans of the games? I suppose it’s up to me to tell you, so stick around, read the rest!
Beginning a new story takes you to the Edit Skater screen, where you can customize your character. From pre-made faces to facial modifiers, you can edit the size of the mouth, shape of the nose, even turn a smile into a frown if you choose so. Clothing, hair, shoes, hats, tattoos are there for the picking, with some locked items that can be purchased later in the game. You can also customize your skateboard with patterned wheels, deck graphics and grip tape.
If you really don’t care what your skater looks like, you can pick the randomizer feature and skip ahead.
Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground has a different approach compared to previous games of the series. It’s more open-ended and you have more choices in what to do with your skating career by pursuing different Skater Styles.
There are three styles, Hardcore, Career and Rigger. Hardcore is the most aggressive, with over-the-top challenges; Career is the path of sponsorships, money and getting attention; Rigger is the skater who can do cool tricks out of using everyday props. You can pick either style or go for a mix of all three, since all offer a diverse range of goals and challenges.
The action takes place in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington DC, with unique areas being unlocked within the cities depending on your career choices. Here are there you will find challenge markers, with a few new ones appearing for the first time. Nail the Trick has been replaced with Nail the Manual and Nail the Grab. There are also a couple of moves that add a boost to your speed, Aggro Kick and Aggro Push.
There are also a series of arcade machines spread all over the cities, each offering a type of challenge. Pick a skater, pick your challenge and try to complete all the goals in the list. An interesting one was the Pac-Man inspired challenge, which will have you skating around performing tricks to collect pellets.
Gone is the familiar manual meter, replaced with a new bar that spans across the screen and changes color according to your balance. It takes a while to get used to, that’s for sure. And there is always Focus Mode, which lets you zoom in to view your trick up close in a slow-motion view. The longer you keep your combo going, the longer you stay in focused.
An interesting feature is the addition of a video editor, which can be activated at any time during gameplay. You can record and edit your own video clips, add effects to the footage, such as music, lenses and filters, and then share it via Xbox Live. Video is actually an active part of the Career Style, where you have to do tricks on camera for photo or film goals.
While Create-a-Park is gone, there are other ways to create your skating haven. Rig-a-Kit let you transform any locale into your own personal skate park. And then there is a Skater Lounge that you can enter at any time and customize to your liking. There are several themes to purchase (temple, graffiti, theater, gothic and more) and you can swap objects and decorations whenever you want. In addition to the usual half-pipes, ramps, railings and such, there are other decorations such as appliances, cars and furniture that you can use. Some of them will only be available when you complete certain goals though. You can even purchase and have music videos playing in your widescreen TVs. You can share your Lounge with others online and invite friends to skate in it. How cool is that?
Multiplayer is well integrated in the game, placing you in Free Skate Mode when you first enter. You can join any game or host your own in any of the areas you have unlocked with your custom skater, maintaining all the stats you have raised and any upgrades you have gained.
Graphically, the game looks good and everything runs smoothly. A lot of detail has been put into textures, and the extreme ragdoll physics have been toned down. However, a couple of things caught my attention… virtual Tony Hawk’s skin and face looked a little “off”, and my skater wouldn’t do any sound when falling or hurting himself.
Proving Ground is the most difficult of Tony Hawk games yet. My husband is an amazing virtual skater and even he feels there is a lot more challenge this time around. And that is a good thing. With huge environments to explore, plenty of unlockable features, a few new additions and a good deal of customization and choices, Proving Ground comes to show that the Tony Hawk franchise is still going strong.
Special thanks to Wiebke Hesse and Activision for providing a copy of this title.