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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All good things come to those who skate, 21 April 2008
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3) (Video Game)
It's been a good few years since I last hopped on a deck and ground my way around Alcatraz Island collecting S.K.A.T.E, ollie-ing over prison warders and getting "big air". Frankly I thought those joyful days were over.
Circumstances continue to surprise me.
Firstly I won a PS3 in a competition where I actually wanted to win the car or holiday. Secondly I spied a pre-owned copy of "Project 8" in a well known DVD rental shop. A moment of weakness and all the pieces came together.
The old magic is still there.
From my embarassingly shaky start in the tutorial mode, when I suddenly realised my fingers had forgotten how to pull off a 3 trick combo, I gradually improved and progressed into the first true game area and last night opened the final area of the game. The learning curve is perfect. From the initial horror of just trying to land a flip without bailing to the sublime experience of racking up my first 150,000 pt combo this game has been an absolute delight. You learn and improve without ever being conciously aware that you are.
Every aspect of the game is so much fun. Just sit back and experience the game, don't push yourself too hard and I promise you'll be skating like a pro in no time. Complete one of the hundreds of amusing mission goals or just free-skate for your own enjoyment. There is never a point when you have nothing to do. The huge next-gen enviroments are fantastically realised and you do find yourself wondering just how to reach that next roof or if you can grind all around that massive rail without ever feeling that the game is pushing you into it.
This is classic Tony Hawk gaming and it's better than ever. I also love the fact that, on top of all the new challenges, every area has one NPC who opens all the familiar "classic" goals from the first 4 Tony Hawk's games.
I'm never going to be a THP8 elite player but I don't care. "Sick" scores are the next challenge I have to face and also finishing off all those spot challenges.
So much about this game is so much fun that I can do little else but strongly urge you to buy it. Don't listen to the "instant gratification crowd", this game is not "hard" or "tricky" but in fact is perfectly paced and intelligently constructed.......it's a thoroughly rewarding experience and as near perfect as I could have ever possibly imagined.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Decent game but difficult, 16 May 2010
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3) (Video Game)
I don't think anyone would argue that the Tony Hawks games have peaked, but this one is still not a bad game at all all things considered.
There's only so much you can pack into a game of this kind, and minus a couple of new tricks and gimmicks, Project 8 is really not much different from it's predecessors.
The game is mapped out as one huge world, rather than several separated levels. Different sections of the world unlock as you progress. The Career mode follows a similar format to those of the THUG games; "Goals" are handed out by people hanging around on the street. Each area (level, in old terms), has 20 or so goals, most of which can be completed to either Amateur, Pro or Sick difficulties. (e.g. you have to score 10,000 points to complete the goal to Amateur level, 100,000 for Pro and 500,000 for Sick.) This is a positive part of the game; regardless of your ability level you won't be totally stuck and unable to progress.
Gameplay-wise there are no surprises, it's all the usual grinding, tricking and very often unrealistic action that made the earlier Tony Hawks games so fun to play. There are a couple of new gimmicks, e.g. having the ability to use the Special bar you've built up to go into slow-motion mid-combo. This new addition is particularly useful for getting those "Sick" combos where you are struggling to balance during a grind or a manual.
There is a massive focus on combos in the game; admittedly I am no master of these and this is where the game falls down a bit for me. You are expected in a number of Goals to rack up an enormous amount of points, which can only be achieved by doing long combos. This emphasis on combos has been prevalent in recent Tony Hawks', and it gets a bit samey after a while.
That said, there is some degree of variety in the Goals you have to complete. Project 8 seems more content to be unrealistic than some of the earlier Tony Hawks, which I am all in favour of as that is where the enjoyment often comes from. One goal, for example, requires you to do tricks while falling out of a helicopter 150,000 feet up (sounds more fun than it actually was to be honest). There are also a series of entertaining bail-Goals, where the sole intention is to trip up off your skateboard and hurl yourself up into the air as far as possible, into as many obstacles as possible, breaking as many bones as possible and racking up as big a hospital bill as possible. It's all very unrealistic and Jackassy, but nevertheless great fun.
Downsides of the game then. The areas (i.e. levels) aren't particularly inspiring. They're not based on any real life cities, which I think was one of the main plus points in previous Tony Hawks'. The good old days of skating around Alcatraz, New York or Moscow are gone, unfortunately. Instead you have areas such as a fairly generic town, a school (a standard for every Tony Hawks game it seems!) and a funpark, (which is not really much fun truth be told). It doesn't kill the game, but it's a bit unimaginative. The makers could be forgiven for running out of ideas, though.
Secondly, the frame rate. Not a problem, until one of your friends signs into the PS3 Network. Everytime this happens, the game freezes entirely for 2-3 seconds. Really frustrating when you are mid-combo, and a major glitch in the game.
Thirdly, the on foot controls. Never a strong point in the post-THPS games, but in this one they seem especially awkward. The wall jump sometimes works, often doesn't, and say you are halfway up a building and you try and jump up another level, sometimes the walljump won't work and you just fall all the way back down again. It's all very very gammy and lacking in control. Trying to put a "caveman" (jumping off the board and running) into your combo is a complete no-no unless you want to be extremely frustrated.
Graphics-wise, not a lot different to the PS2 ones in my opinion, in fact, with all the walking through walls and watercolour buildings you could be forgiven for thinking this was a PS2 game. Not a strong point, but then in the old days we didn't used to care about graphics so why now?
Overall, Project 8 is very much a "more of the same" offering, similar format, fun, but never quite as fun as the older ones. Much bigger, more gaps, more goals and a lot more difficult, but still well worth getting if you like Tony Hawks games. And doing combos.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Tricky to master, but a welcome return to form, 10 May 2007
Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars
This review is from: Tony Hawk's Project 8 (PS3) (Video Game)
This game has had some lukewarm reviews in the gaming press. One of the comments that almost put me off buying it was a complaint about choppy framerates. After witnessing this in F.E.A.R. and other poor Xbox-to-PS3 conversions, I was expecting the worst.
Let me reassure you right now that the only time the framerate goes a bit wobbly is when you move from one major area to another, i.e. when new level data is being streamed off the disc. Even then, it only lasts about 2 seconds, and many times it doesn't happen at all. While I have been skating around and pulling tricks in the many different game missions, I haven't seen any slowdown at all.
With that out of the way, the rest of the game is the same tricky-to-master skateboarding game you either love or hate. Personally, I stopped playing the Tony Hawks games once they started moving away from the skateboarding into Jackass territory. Project 8 is a welcome return to the business of skateboarding around realistic environments, performing ankle-twisting tricks. The controls are relatively easy to master although sometimes, for accuracy's sake, you might want to use the D-Pad instead of the rather vague left analogue stick. One excellent feature is "Nail the trick" in which you can click both analogue sticks down whilst in the air, sending the game into a slow-motion close up of your feet on the skateboard. At this point, you use the analogue sticks to move your feet, thereby kick-flipping the board under your feet. You then have to make sure your feet are lined back up as the grip tape side of the board rights itself, and this can take some practice, but it's well worth the effort.
The graphics are very impressive and the soundtrack has a reasonable amount of variety (as long as you like Thrash Metal, Hip-Hop or Punk). That said, I really think you have to be a skateboard/snowboard fan to enjoy this.
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Suitable for 12 years and over. Not for sale to persons under age 12. By placing an order for this product, you declare that you are 12 years of age or over.
