PushingPlay

When Skate was released last year, EA Blackbox didn’t anticipate how badly they would cripple our aging buddy Tony Hawk. The design team made it clear that they weren’t trying to directly compete with Tony, and they thought the two franchises could co-exist in the market. But we all know what happened… Everyone went NUTS for Skate and as a result for the first time in almost a decade, Neversoft hasn’t release a Tony Hawk game. I tried to go to the Tony Hawk website and it wasn’t even online anymore. I was a huge fan of the Tony Hawk series, and it pained me to see the game slowly become stagnant, and then haplessly try to re-invent itself with the Matrix style ‘Nail-the-Trick’ action, and worse yet, the awful Wii abomination, Downhill Jam. The core gameplay is there, but the many additions ended up distracting from the fun bits.

Next January EA Blackbox will be releasing Skate 2, and you can rest assured that the next Tony, (which would be the 10th title in the main Tony canon) will follow sometime soon. Fans of the series understand why Neversoft had to go back to the drawing board, but they’re also worried that a redesign might end up doing more harm than good. What can Tony do to stand a chance against Skate 2? We put together 5 things we felt would give Tony a fighting chance.

1 - DON’T go simulation.

Basketball games come in 2 distinct flavors: The 2K series is more of a simulation game, and Live has an arcade feel. If Tony Hawk starts to think the grass is greener on the other side and tries to make a realistic game simulation game like Skate, it’s destined to faceplant. Tony needs to stick to it’s roots and bang out a game that has the same type of crazy double-900-into-one-footed-crook-grind madness to which it’s fans have grown accustomed to.

2 - Level design

The designers of the Tony hawk franchise have almost a decade of experience designing levels for skate games, and it shows. Every single item in the game is trickable, and even garbage bins and rock formations end up lining you to combo as long as you can hold your balance. The designers of Skate are still experimenting with how to make the best of their levels, and I have high hopes for Skate 2, but Tony is still king of level design. Because of the series has abandoned realism, Tony levels can be as ridiculous as it’s tricks are. In the world of Tony a suburban cul-de-sac is just as skateable as a alien crash site, a beach, or even the bowels of hell. The next Tony Hawk will need to stay to its roots and hit the fans with some insane Jumanji vine-grinding outrageousness.

3 - Crashes

The only salve for the anguish of a wipeout when you’ve gotten your multiplier deep into the double digits is a satisfying crash. The only problem is that the ragdoll physics that are used only make sense in shooting games… Skateboarders don’t go limp the second they drop off their board. When Skateboarding games start to employ the Euphoria engine we’ll we’ll see some AMAZING wipeouts. Watch this video until the self preservation part at the end and you’ll know what I’m talking about. If Tony can beat Skate to the punch, they’ll surely get a leg up.

4 - Keep the Party Going

I played Skate a lot more than I played Proving Grounds, but I always found myself wishing I could play HORSE. The ‘pass the controller’ multiplayer mode in Skate, Spot Battle, was fun, but getting cut off in the middle of a long grind because your time ran out was incredibly frustrating. Tony rewarded you for long trick combos, rather than punishing your perseverance. If Tony keeps ever removes HORSE it would be a crime…

5 - Cut the Bullshit

Every year Tony has added a pile of unnecessary features they’ve only ended up distracting from the core experience. A skateboarding game with a Class system? Are you joking? Skate looks like it’s starting to fall into that with the move pieces around the world gameplay. Hone down the gameplay to only the most important elements instead of continually adding complications to the experience and you’ll keep your fans, and maybe even get some new ones.

It’s been rumored that the next Tony might even come packaged with a skateboard shaped controller.… not a good sign! This will cost a pile of money in development, and probably end up taking away from the core gameplay!

Stick to the basics…Tight controls. Big tricks. Amazing lines! Let’s Hope Tony Hawk: 10 isn’t another Downhill Jam. We miss you Tony!