Tony Hawk UnderGround 2
Posted November 14, 2004
If something isn’t broken, don’t fix it right? The crew over at Neversoft have tried to stick to this system over the 5 previous installments of the Tony Hawk series, and then changed things up last time with a branch off into the underground. Now with Tony Hawk’s Underground 2: World Destruction Tour, they heard the complaints from the fans and have made this game to please old and new fans alike.
Gameplay:
Two modes of play are present in THUG2, the story mode which pits two teams of skaters against one another in an around the world tour of mayhem and Jackass like stunts, which is fitting as it’s Team Bam Margera against Team Tony Hawk, as well as Classic mode, which is a fallback to Tony Hawk Pro Skater modes of play which I’ll touch on later.
Story mode is slightly altered from the first installment with changes to the way challenges are given out, so this time you get all goals for your current character up front instead of having to talk to people to get goals. Notice I said current character, implying different playable characters which is what we get here. With each start of a level you control your rookie character and have a group of goals each is worth a certain amount of points, and goals range from things like beheading statues in Boston to finding a shrimp vendor while in Australia. While skating around the level, you can find a pro from your team who also has some set goals to perform, some of which are a little tougher to do with an inexperienced (low stats) player and also each level has a character who you get to use and accomplish some goals with, such as the aforementioned shrimp vendor or Jesse James from Monster Garage fame. A game full of secrets such as this series also includes yet another character to use on each level who is “native” to that location.
Par for the Tony Hawk games are new tricks that can be performed while playing, and here we get a couple minor additions such as the pole spin and the Freak-Out combo starter. When you bail, a Freak-Out meter comes onscreen prompting you to tap a button which builds the meter. You are given points for this freak out and a short timer comes up letting you start a trick linking the two together. While not something that is very useful, it helps get some extra points after a bail. Another small addition is the ability to extend a trick even when you aren’t on a board. So what you can do is start your combo, hit the black button to pick up your board and run, then haul over to a new location and jump back on the board and keep the same combo multiplier.
Classic mode, as earlier mentioned is almost exactly like the older Pro Skater games, with all the same goals with some additions such as spelling combo on the same trick run. Instead of advancing through the levels in a predetermined fashion in Classic mode, this time when you accomplish enough goals to advance, you are given a choice of destinations, all which lead to the same goal however. But this feeling of being able to go on different routes adds to the replay value quite nicely. The addition of Classic mode instantly boosts the value of the game, because in the past people would by the game only for this mode of play, and here we get it as an instant bonus.
Classic mode puts you through the same levels as the story mode, but also includes some classic levels from older games remapped. Playing through the first level of the first TH game was actually quite fun again and reminds you how far this series has come…but also how stagnant it’s becoming.
Another typical inclusion in the series is again here, and that is the Create a Skater mode. No stranger to this option, Neversoft lets you customize your character in almost any way possible (and those PS2 guys can even get their own face in the game). Along the lines of create a skater are the Park Editor and Graphic editor. The graphic editor lets you create a customized graffiti tag that you can use to mark your territory in the game. While not a fantastic addition, it helps add that extra level of customization that makes it fun. The park editor is brought back because who doesn’t like to try and create their own skate park complete with trick gaps, and enormous half-pipes?
Sadly, the multiplayer area is lacking on the Xbox version. Where is the Live love? Even the PS2 guys get to take the multiplayer game online and play with people around the globe. Also the multiplayer is limited to two players, so playing that game of King of the Hill loses something, we’ve got four controller ports, why not utilize them?
Graphics:
Another step forward in the graphics department for the Tony Hawk series, as characters are all rendered in a realistic fashion. The people look like people, vehicles like Jeeps make an appearance in their obvious display of embedded advertising but they still look good.
Everything moves in the game at a high frame rate and I personally didn’t see much if any in the way of slowdown. All the locations are nicely drawn with little popup happening in the expansive environments. For example in Boston you can see something across a river, and you can skate all the way to it (providing you’ve unlocked that area).
Neversoft did a great job in creating a game world representation of the cities and locales they chose, from the bullrings in Spain to the French Quarter in New Orleans things look almost realistic (in a video game sort of way).
Audio:
There is quite an eclectic mix of music on this latest installment, with contributors ranging from the late Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra large amounts of hip-hop. Now perhaps I’m a little out of touch with the current skating community, but when I was into the scene hip-hop was the last thing we’d be seen listening too. But for the tougher edge purists out there we’ve got the Stooges on here, along with other alternative acts like Ween, the Violent Femmes and some classic Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Voice acting in the game is done fantastically well, with voices for the main characters in the cut scenes actually sounding like they’re well acted. Nice work Bam and Tony, you sound good in a game.
Conclusion:
Honestly I stopped playing the TH series after I played part three, so I never played four or the first underground game basically for the feeling of being “Tony Hawked out”, and sure enough I found myself growing tired of this gameplay quite quickly. It’s not that is was as bad game, because it was very well done as all the other games in this series, but my feeling of been there, done that (multiple times) overwhelmed all of the other feelings I had while playing. Perhaps if you are new to the series (if so, where’ve you been?), or don’t necessarily get bored with a game easily then this might be for you, but if you’ve had the feeling of being over Tony’ed as I have been since 2001 then I’d suggest skipping this. But because I personally am bored with the game I am still going to have to give it a overwhelming recommended grade, because it is not a bad game by any means and if I didn’t have this residual feeling of too much Pro Skater I’d have easily given this a highly recommended grade.
Gameplay:
Two modes of play are present in THUG2, the story mode which pits two teams of skaters against one another in an around the world tour of mayhem and Jackass like stunts, which is fitting as it’s Team Bam Margera against Team Tony Hawk, as well as Classic mode, which is a fallback to Tony Hawk Pro Skater modes of play which I’ll touch on later.
Story mode is slightly altered from the first installment with changes to the way challenges are given out, so this time you get all goals for your current character up front instead of having to talk to people to get goals. Notice I said current character, implying different playable characters which is what we get here. With each start of a level you control your rookie character and have a group of goals each is worth a certain amount of points, and goals range from things like beheading statues in Boston to finding a shrimp vendor while in Australia. While skating around the level, you can find a pro from your team who also has some set goals to perform, some of which are a little tougher to do with an inexperienced (low stats) player and also each level has a character who you get to use and accomplish some goals with, such as the aforementioned shrimp vendor or Jesse James from Monster Garage fame. A game full of secrets such as this series also includes yet another character to use on each level who is “native” to that location.
Par for the Tony Hawk games are new tricks that can be performed while playing, and here we get a couple minor additions such as the pole spin and the Freak-Out combo starter. When you bail, a Freak-Out meter comes onscreen prompting you to tap a button which builds the meter. You are given points for this freak out and a short timer comes up letting you start a trick linking the two together. While not something that is very useful, it helps get some extra points after a bail. Another small addition is the ability to extend a trick even when you aren’t on a board. So what you can do is start your combo, hit the black button to pick up your board and run, then haul over to a new location and jump back on the board and keep the same combo multiplier.
Classic mode, as earlier mentioned is almost exactly like the older Pro Skater games, with all the same goals with some additions such as spelling combo on the same trick run. Instead of advancing through the levels in a predetermined fashion in Classic mode, this time when you accomplish enough goals to advance, you are given a choice of destinations, all which lead to the same goal however. But this feeling of being able to go on different routes adds to the replay value quite nicely. The addition of Classic mode instantly boosts the value of the game, because in the past people would by the game only for this mode of play, and here we get it as an instant bonus.
Classic mode puts you through the same levels as the story mode, but also includes some classic levels from older games remapped. Playing through the first level of the first TH game was actually quite fun again and reminds you how far this series has come…but also how stagnant it’s becoming.
Another typical inclusion in the series is again here, and that is the Create a Skater mode. No stranger to this option, Neversoft lets you customize your character in almost any way possible (and those PS2 guys can even get their own face in the game). Along the lines of create a skater are the Park Editor and Graphic editor. The graphic editor lets you create a customized graffiti tag that you can use to mark your territory in the game. While not a fantastic addition, it helps add that extra level of customization that makes it fun. The park editor is brought back because who doesn’t like to try and create their own skate park complete with trick gaps, and enormous half-pipes?
Sadly, the multiplayer area is lacking on the Xbox version. Where is the Live love? Even the PS2 guys get to take the multiplayer game online and play with people around the globe. Also the multiplayer is limited to two players, so playing that game of King of the Hill loses something, we’ve got four controller ports, why not utilize them?
Graphics:
Another step forward in the graphics department for the Tony Hawk series, as characters are all rendered in a realistic fashion. The people look like people, vehicles like Jeeps make an appearance in their obvious display of embedded advertising but they still look good.
Everything moves in the game at a high frame rate and I personally didn’t see much if any in the way of slowdown. All the locations are nicely drawn with little popup happening in the expansive environments. For example in Boston you can see something across a river, and you can skate all the way to it (providing you’ve unlocked that area).
Neversoft did a great job in creating a game world representation of the cities and locales they chose, from the bullrings in Spain to the French Quarter in New Orleans things look almost realistic (in a video game sort of way).
Audio:
There is quite an eclectic mix of music on this latest installment, with contributors ranging from the late Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra large amounts of hip-hop. Now perhaps I’m a little out of touch with the current skating community, but when I was into the scene hip-hop was the last thing we’d be seen listening too. But for the tougher edge purists out there we’ve got the Stooges on here, along with other alternative acts like Ween, the Violent Femmes and some classic Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Voice acting in the game is done fantastically well, with voices for the main characters in the cut scenes actually sounding like they’re well acted. Nice work Bam and Tony, you sound good in a game.
Conclusion:
Honestly I stopped playing the TH series after I played part three, so I never played four or the first underground game basically for the feeling of being “Tony Hawked out”, and sure enough I found myself growing tired of this gameplay quite quickly. It’s not that is was as bad game, because it was very well done as all the other games in this series, but my feeling of been there, done that (multiple times) overwhelmed all of the other feelings I had while playing. Perhaps if you are new to the series (if so, where’ve you been?), or don’t necessarily get bored with a game easily then this might be for you, but if you’ve had the feeling of being over Tony’ed as I have been since 2001 then I’d suggest skipping this. But because I personally am bored with the game I am still going to have to give it a overwhelming recommended grade, because it is not a bad game by any means and if I didn’t have this residual feeling of too much Pro Skater I’d have easily given this a highly recommended grade.