A new release in the Tony Hawk series is here, it's not a HD remake neither is it a new game, but it's a compilation of content from 1st two games from the PLAYSTATION 1. The remake first came out on the Xbox Live Arcade and it had it's share of technical issues, lots of clipping and challenges didn't register your moves that were required (School level Rails most notable) but you could get pass that. In the interviews ROBOMODO said that they delayed the PSN release because it's the most important release because it's on a console it originated, but as soon as it was released it wasn't even improved in any way i could say it was even worse, first of all the frame-rate is bad but to a level you get use to it, the clipping is there, the challenges still don't record your moves properly, and the constant freeze of the game (I've been expiriencing 3 times in one day in 2 hours) later it crashed less but still did after 3 to 4 hours WHAT? So that's my short intro.
The game over all is not bad if only they would fix the freeze and frame-rate issues on PS3 (at least for me). So you start your game and you choose a character there is a lot of old skaters you know and love and some new one you don't rather give a damn but they are there "for a sake of progression" (a comment which was pointed in many interviews) main disappointment in game is the fact that if you unlock every stage with one skater the others don't get these levels unless you do it for every skater separately, this was never an issue in any Tony Hawk game! But nevertheless there is ton of contonet varying from Classic mode which is classic do the list of challenges and you're good but there is no competition mode why? (LAZY) there is Hard mode which is another list of challenges but a bit harder, so higher scores and more specific goals. Hawkman mode which is collection balls red (air) yellow (grind) blue (wallride which is glitchy and doesn't always work) and green (manual) collect all the balls before the timer runs one and you're good to go. Then you got free-skate (self explanatory) and single-session 2 minutes a level and a high score. And all of these modes need to be unlocked separately for each character that's okay but why do you have to unlock levels in free skate for every character alone. ow btw i can't seem to open the door to the gym in school 2 i can do it in the original no problem. you also earn money for the 1st 3 modes which you'll use to buy stats, decks, special tricks and that's it...
The controls are what you expect X jump, square flip, circle grab, triangle grind, and a d-pad for movement and pulling of tricks. The game is a recreation of the first 2 games so there is no getting of the board or revers or spine transfers or nail the trick or natas spin. only manuals are a cool thing because first game didn't have them so you can manual in first game levels yay.
Graphically it's good HD looking nothing ground breaking but nice. The frame-rate is annoying but like i said it's easy to adjust to. You will also see texture pop in every time you start a level it's an UNREAL engine thing, which leads me to a new complaint, there were Tony Hawk games on PS3 and Xbox360 and they had their own engine i don't know why robomodo would develop in UNREAL (obviously they don't know how to program anything else if you played they other games, that ipad game which kinda sucks and THride series).
Sound wise half is new ("sake of progression") only 3 or 4 good songs and the rest is old but very questionable choice same goes for levels i'll explain later. you got Anthrax and Public enemy, you got bad religion you got that superman song (except for nostalgia factor it sucks) some powerman 5000 and some others but the soundtrack is so small you'll hear every song 20 times in an hour (exaggeration) there is no way to skip songs or listen to them in the menu... but you have the custom soundtrack ability so download i mean buy some music and put on your ps3 and play to it most recommended although the game froze once i did that (like i said it might be my copy). The sound effects are not classic there is no boneless sound which make using it feel powerless, there is no diarrhea sounds in the toilets in the school 2 lvl and the grind sound is not old.
Multiplayer is there but not split-screen (lazy development) on PS3 i had trouble getting only sometimes and sometimes i was in lobby for 10 minutes everyone was checked and nothing happened.
Conclusion overall i thinks it's a good game worth picking up if you're a fan, although you won't see a cool box on you shelf next to the rest of you collection simply cos it's a download game which is only 500mb. but download means you can play it whenever without the awesome feeling you get when you put the disc in. This HD remake/compilation is not perfect there is ton of disappointment but the game is fun you if you like the Tony Hawk series i've only played it for a week with the freeze breaks and now i only come back from time to time to beat my high score cos i can't seem to complete it 100% (can't do one gap, just doesn't work) and it's not as good you can see the lack NEVERsoft touch here which made the series fun. And it's been over a month and still no patch have been released to fix bugs and apparently the PC lacks online i can see a pattern here, every next release is inferior to the previous.
Final Comment Get it you but might wanna wait for a sale or price drop, but if not get it it's good.