Iron Galaxy has combined two of my favorite games of all time in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4. This Day One Game Pass launch combines every level from both titles, adds in a few new ones, and dozens of skaters, and mostly nails every trick it attempts. I do miss the open-ended nature of 4’s career mode, though.
Tony Hawk games, skate tapes full of crazy tricks and bails, these are pure nostalgia for old bastards like me. Some of my fondest memories of playing games are going through Tony Hawk on my Dreamcast, the original “One More Run” game. The first three entries in the series were two-minute time trials full of ollies, grinds, grabs, and kickflips.
THPS 3+4 looks and feels like what I remember. Iron Galaxy has done an excellent job recreating these classic titles with a new graphics engine that harkens back to what my mind’s eye thinks it sees. As you start the game, a basic tutorial will greet you, helping both new and returning players either get back into the game or start to develop their Tony Hawk muscle memory.
This is a game all about stringing combos together for high scores, completing increasingly wacky objectives, and listening to great music. The music is one area of contention, as the soundtrack is brand new, with some returning tracks and many missing from the originals. Outside of a few duds, I found it to be stellar, carrying me through this whirlwind of a late review.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 was the classic 2-minute dash to complete as many objectives as possible. 4 saw the timer go away, instead giving you unlimited time to find and complete each level’s objective with a full story mode. While 3 remains largely the same, 4 has been converted by Iron Galaxy to match the faster structure the series began with.
If that doesn’t sound appealing to you, there are various minute options, including up to a full hour, in the settings that let you spend far more time in each level. While this trivializes the high score challenges, it makes everything more approachable for the average gamer. Alongside the increased timer, are a series of Pro Challenges for once you’ve completed all the basics. These bring back a lot of the harder-to-do objectives from 4, and I think it strikes a solid balance between the old and new systems.
There is no “story” to speak of; you will go from level to level trying to complete every objective. As you do more, levels will open up, you’ll earn cash to buy secret characters, new looks, and more. There is always a carrot on the stick in some form of unlock. Every character has stats to increase, there are dozens of looks to unlock, as well as various videos, and more. The breadth of content is staggering, and 100’ing this game is going to take you an incredible amount of time.
THPS 3+4 feels incredible. Controls are tight, and I rarely felt cheated by the game’s physics systems. There are a seemingly never-ending amount of various jumps, grinds, and tricks to pull off for the game’s hundreds of objectives. While some objectives are new, most return from the original title, and you should never feel bad about googling how to complete something frustrating you.
A is your jump (aka ollie) button, tapping up before you let go have you go a bit higher, double-tapping sees you gain far more air. X is your kickflip button; each direction can be assigned to a different trick. Y grinds, B grabs, tapping up and down, or down and up, has you manual to chain tricks together.
There is so much more depth than it appears at first glance, with scores in the millions possible once you’ve gotten good enough. It took me a few minutes for the fingers to feel right. Once it clicks, there’s nothing like a good Tony Hawk game, and 3 + 4 is a great one. I’d recommend using the D-pad, as it ends up feeling more precise than the analog stick.
While the gameplay is as good as ever, I do have some major issues. The loss of the career mode in 4 hurts. While the retrofitted levels for the two-minute timer are well crafted, they lose the personality and some of the fun missions that 4 originally had. I don’t know that it would have been worth the effort, but some form of the original story mode would have gone a long way for me.
The overall package, while lovingly crafted and bursting with content, feels like a series of patched-together levels and not a cohesive product. It won’t matter for those who haven’t played the original titles, as what’s on offer is still an incredible amount of fun. It just stings for me as someone with such fond memories of the original releases.
I primarily played on Xbox Series X, and the performance was perfect. The game is clean, with great texture work paired with a stable 60fps framerate. I had the audio dip out oddly while doing some objectives. It felt intentional but poorly mixed. It didn’t happen often, but when it did, I felt taken out of the flow as an animation played, the audio died down, came back up, and I was still mid-combo, which I quickly lost a few times.
I would be remiss to not mention the excellent create a park feature. I’m terrible at UGC (user-generated content), but all the tools are here for those of you with the patience to create and share some crazy designs. THPS 3 + 4 has full crossplay as far as I know, which I believe to mainly be about sharing this content, and it’s pretty darned neat even if I’m god awful at using it.
Wrapping Things Up
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is an excellent reworking of the original games into one massive package. While I miss the original career mode of 4, this Day One Game Pass drop is a game I’ll be coming back to for a very long time.
A review copy of this title was provided by Activision PR
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Played on
Xbox Series X
PROS
- Amount of Content
- New OST is mostly bangers
- Controls feel perfect
- Graphical remaster looks great
- Constant carrot-on-a-stick for unlocks
CONS
- Loses some of 4's story mode charm
- A few OST duds
