Five Reasons to Play: Tony Hawk's Project 8

Personally, I was originally THPS (Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater) fan when the game was first released for the PS1 (Play Station one) and the Xbox gaming consoles. However, as the game has become more intense, they have faltered away from the classic arcade style of controls, in favor of a more realistic approach to the game. Some people were turned away from this. I myself, must admit, that after they started changing the way that the game was laid out, I was also a little perturbed and peeved, but upon finally giving Tony Hawk's Project 8 a real chance at might and muster on my Xbox 360, I must say, that I was dubitably impressed. And if that wasn’t enough, I feel the need to present five candid and viable reasons as to why you should play Tony Hawk's Project 8.

Most Realistic THPS To-Date
Reason number one is simple. This is by far the best Tony Hawk game to-date when it was released. Better tricks and lots of them. More intense graphics. Much more to do. A far better and more invigorating plot and story theme; or narrative, and it just plain rocks the socks off other THPS games that preceded it.

Best Controls of Any THPS Game
The controls are the best of any THPS game that I had ever played prior to Tony Hawk's Project 8. They involve using the analog sticks to bust tricks, and when you want to complicate tricks with flips and turns, you had better ambidextrously turn the analog sticks in the right motions simultaneously or you will fall on your face and eat dirt.

Best Graphics of any THPS Game To-Date
The graphics on this game are simply put: amazing. They are highly detailed, and the roads and benches, stairwells and rails look as real as can be. They used a brand new graphics engine, which you can plainly see, takes full advantage of the sixteen pipelines availability in the Xbox 360 console.

More Tricks than Ever Before
Now you can buy more tricks than ever before. You can create your own custom tricks and specials. And you can even learn tricks that you didn’t know from other skaters in the free-world that contrives this game.

Free-World Boards
The world that Tony rides around in comes to life, literally in this game. Cross the street too soon and a bus will take you out. Jump too late over a passing car and you smash the windshield in. You have to ride around to your challenge points and explore the vast and highly detailed free-world.

While the game veers greatly from the classic notion of Tony Hawk skateboarding games, it offers an uncanny and breathtaking approach. Allowing you to create your own customized characters and train them to eventually becoming a skateboarding icon. Skating games do not get a whole lot better than this.

My Score: 9 out of 10 – only better game out there is Skate, and Skate II