Tony Hawks Underground (GameCube) Preview

Skateboarding is a sport with no limits, no boundaries. With surfing you're restricted to what's there, water, but it is a totally different matter. You can modify ramps to your liking so you can set up anything, you can push that gap between the pipes just that bit further and more. An example of this would be the loop, a vast structure where the boarder riding over will literally skate upside down, lots of skill, nerves and determination is needed but to push the limits, and make the challenge that bit harder by opening up a gap is a perfect example of what extreme sports are all about, and thankfully the Tony Hawk games have always portrayed this perfectly.

It would be fair to say that the Tony Hawk series won't be go under a total revamp in the engine for the fifth game, Underground. The engine works very well, its simple and needless to say you will enjoy the way the game plays. If you didn't like the original engine then, you obviously aren't keen on Extreme Sports games as Tony Hawks has always proved to be the leading game in the skateboarding sub genre and many would argue to be the best in the Extreme Sports genre although with tough competition coming from the fast and most certainly furious 1080

In this instalment of the series, you will have the opportunity to, take your feet off of the grainy surface of your board and put them on the floor of vast areas in which you can walk around. This makes the game sound like it is defeating the object of skating, well, to be blunt, it isn't. This extends the gaming, and, with such large areas to play in this can only be viewed as a good idea. But, beyond this there is a bigger and better reason in that if a character is stood on a roof of a and its near impossible to reach him or her on your board then you will have to resort to getting off of your deck and moving around on foot. When on foot you can actually perform quite a lot of actions. Your skater will be able to run, jump, climb and drive. Yes, drive, as in the chunk of metal with 4 wheels that's known as a car. This adds a bit of variety to transportation but it will only be on offer for a certain few goals to aid you in getting about with a bit of speed.

You won't be able to walk a mile, as there is a timer. We say you because, for once the create a skater mode is much more involving in Tony Hawks Underground as you'll have to create the skater that you want to play through the game with, so, for instance, you could create yourself, or, a celebrity, or even a skater that won't be appearing in the game itself. This doesn't mean that you won't be getting many opportunities to play as real skaters such as the flat land master and innovator of nearly all the manual manoeuvres Rodney Mullen. Then there is the king of everything vert Bob Burnquist. Or, even the main man himself, the first ever skater to complete and land a 900 degree Indy, Tony Hawk. The inclusion of you playing as yourself, or anybody who you want to for that matter just gives you the chance to play as somebody new and different instead of seeing the same old faces, as, not many games allow you to play through the career mode with custom made characters. In other modes such as multiplayer and free skate we can expect to see the entire original selection of skaters and more to be at your ready for some high flying skating action.

Instead of having to draw your face on an extremely complex create a skater function, Neversoft have opted for a much newer and innovative idea and method in that, you can have any face that you would like. You simply need a picture of the face you want then you send it down to Neversoft, they will graphically redraw it and it will be sent down back to you. Exactly how this will work on the Gamecube is not yet known, but it should be great fun playing as yourself, Michael Jackson, David Beckham or even Marilyn Manson!

Custom made skaters won't be the only customizing you will be treated to, but, as with the past 2 Tony Hawk games you will be able to create skate parks. The skate parks that you could build and design were cool, and, a very good idea but the idea was very limited and was a vast disappointment to say the least, and, all in all seemed lifeless. These were however fun for a short while but, this time of fun was much to short, and, the parks seemed pointless and sometimes tedious. This has been resolved somewhat as there is much more room for configuration and editing.

The pipes are bigger, the loops are crazier, the rails are longer, and there's much, much more variety to the objects. To add more realism to your parks you can add bushes, trees, plants and, now, buildings. Dotting buildings anywhere and everywhere will help make the atmosphere a bit more challenging and will make the park feel more like a real level on career mode.
Graphically, the game looks near perfect. Tony Hawks Underground will have a much larger amount of cinematic intros in between the games goals. The goals, are unlocked at a much slower pace in Tony Hawks Underground, you won't have the opportunity to take on 10 goals at once without unlocking them in this instalment, completing one goal then opens another, or two more, or more, but this helps keep the game last longer and keeps the initiative there for you to keep on playing and trying harder to achieve success in every goal without making the game too challenging. The goals do range in difficulty but, unlike previous Hawk games, this instalment will include difficulty levels- those being Too Easy, Beginner, Normal and Sick.

The cityscapes are massive; they are filled with fellow skaters as well as moving vehicles that you can skitch on and the buildings all offer a certain level or interactivity in that on the rooftops of some buildings you will find pipes, tubes, rails and more for you to land some sick points on and around, and, there will be stair cases, ramps and more on the ground. The skaters as always look near perfect when compared to their real life counterparts. The multiplayer should also be an extremely fun outing playing through the vast areas that you can play through in career mode.