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After three successful Tony Hawk games, one would think that Neversoft, the series’ development team, would eventually slip up.

The pressure is certainly on, as some gamers are again charging that the Tony Hawk games are the “same old thing” and that the series brings nothing new to the table.

After this latest game, it certainly seems that Neversoft has again managed to silence the critics by presenting a more open-ended game that provides challenges of all types, bigger levels, and more character interaction. It’s not quite perfect, but fans of the Tony Hawk series will most likely not be disappointed and new fans will certainly have more than their share of fun with this game.

It’s interesting to see some of the changes that the series has gone through since it began in 1999. The first game had only a few challenges to fulfill per level, and achieving and breaking high scores and big combos comprised the zen-like quality of the game. Tony Hawk 2 introduced the manual (or ground wheelie), which led to even bigger scoring potential… and it also introduced collecting cash as an important objective as it was needed to increase stats and open new levels. Tony Hawk 3 backed away from collecting cash and instead was based more on accomplishing objectives — some of which were rather difficult — and hidden secrets which were unveiled by repeatedly beating the game.

Now, in Tony Hawk 4, cash collecting has come back and the number of objectives in each level is pretty astounding. Some of the old stand-by objectives return, such as collecting S-K-A-T-E and achieving a certain score within a certain time limit, but there are new challenge types, as well. Skitching (which is skateboarding while holding onto the back of a vehicle), collecting all five C-O-M-B-O letters within a single unbroken combo, and performing tricks as they are called out are just a few of the myriad of level objectives that Neversoft has put into Tony Hawk 4.

For players who played Tony Hawk 3 and complained about its relative ease, don’t worry… Tony Hawk 4 is no pushover, and more than a few of the game’s objectives will take more than a few attempts to successfully complete. What’s more, the level timer that has been a staple of previous Tony Hawk games is now gone, save for certain timed challenges; this opens up more level exploration time. As for cash collecting, the money which is collected can be used to purchase various items, including secret skaters, new skate decks, cheats, and more.

Once you’ve fulfilled enough level objectives, the Pro Challenges open up… and these are perhaps some of the best features of Tony Hawk 4. Each individual skater, either a pro skater or a created skater, has his or her own specific pro challenge to complete. For example, Tony Hawk’s pro challenge requires him to bust certain tricks while transferring between two separate pipes, which are located on the rooftops of two adjacent buildings and have some serious distance between each other. Bam Margera’s pro challenge takes him back to his Jackass days, as he must race against time in a shopping cart. Bob Burnquist’s pro challenge takes place within a loop that has no top. Each of these challenges will require a lot of skill (and a little luck from time to time) to complete, and once a pro challenge is completed, a whole new set of level objectives open up for each level, providing even more replay value.

If you’ve played a Tony Hawk game at all, you’ll be pretty familiar with the controls, and they handle just as well as they always have. A new move — the spine transfer — has been added to increase combo scores, as well as to catch air from one side of a pipe to another. This move, combined with the manual and the revert, can help to jack up combo scores into the hundreds of thousands of points. There are also new manual special tricks as well, which not only can add to your score, but they look good, too. From bouncing on your board like a pogo stick to playing guitar to setting off fireworks, it’s a varied group of tricks. Most of which aren’t really that realistic, but still fun to watch.

The Create-A-Skater option in Tony Hawk 4 is deeper than in any of the previous Tony Hawk games. There’s a pretty good chance that most players can create skaters that look pretty close to themselves in appearance, or they can create some pretty wild-looking skaters. There’s a ton of different facial models, clothing, and accessories to choose from. It’s also a good idea to create a skater if only for the fact that there is a pro challenge specifically built for the created skater, and it cannot be attempted any other way.

Tony Hawk 4 also has an online feature for those players with network adapters. Lag is usually at a minimum, and there are quite a few different play options for online games, including scoring challenges, racing to accomplish objectives from the Career Mode, and combo competitions. Any of these modes can be commenced by finding a fellow skater just skating around while online and talking to him or her. It’s not the best online lobby around, but it’s certainly serviceable.

With all of the improvements and great features mentioned above, there is one personally detracting disappointment in Tony Hawk 4. Whereas the first three games seemed to encourage high scoring, scores do not seem to have much, if any, importance. Perhaps this is because of the fact that the level timer is now gone, which can lead to scores of ridiculous proportions (like in Acclaim’s Aggressive Inline). Still, even in challenges that involve setting high scores, the scores are not kept and the challenge ends once the score threshold is broken. When skating around a level, your highest scores are not tallied or saved to memory, unless you’re playing the Single Session mode.

Aesthetically, Tony Hawk 4 looks better than ever but yields mixed results in the sound department. The game moves along at a solid 60 frames per second with very few bouts of slowdown to contend with. Each level in the game is much bigger than any of the levels that you might have seen playing any of the previous Tony Hawk games. The levels aren’t as gigantic as in, say, Acclaim’s Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2, but they’re certainly big enough where it’ll take some time to acclimate yourself with where everything is. The skaters are animated well, too, including their signature tricks and painful bails. There’s not really a lot to complain about in terms of the visuals.

The sound, however, is hit-or-miss. The soundtrack, which has become more and more varied with subsequent Tony Hawk sequels, continues that theme here. There are some recognizable hard rock acts (like AC/DC, The Offspring, and System of a Down) and hip-hop acts (like N.W.A and Public Enemy), but a good portion of the soundtrack is populated by lesser-known groups that you’ll either love or hate. Of course, the game’s built-in playlist allows you to remove any songs that you don’t like, but in my case, I was only left with about 1/3 of the soundtrack after taking out the tunes that I didn’t like. As far as sound effects, the usual stuff can be found here, accompanied by varying levels of voiceover quality. Some of the skater dialogue just sounds forced, while other dialogue can be uproariously funny.

At the end of the day, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 again proves that Neversoft isn’t content to simply release mere updates for their sequels. In fact, Tony Hawk 4 is a vast change from Tony Hawk 3 in terms of difficulty, interaction, and things to do.

There’s a lot more meat on Tony Hawk 4 there has ever been in a Tony Hawk game, and series newbies and veterans alike will eat this game up. It’s a good thing, too, since the next Tony Hawk game isn’t scheduled for another year or so.

What else can Neversoft possibly bring to the table? They’ve made a believer out of most of the gaming media, including me, with each new Tony Hawk game, and I would expect that to continue.

Reviewed by Peter J. Skerritt, Jr.