Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (DS)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 4.0 stars Excellent
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 8.0 (4.0 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Frank Provo
• Reviewed on: 10/24/2007
• Released on: 10/15/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (DS) Review

If you've been keeping up with the Tony Hawk series on the DS, you'll recall that the previous game, Downhill Jam, shifted the focus from linking sick tricks together in free-roam skate parks to doing so in claustrophobic downhill courses. That experiment must not have been popular with the powers that be because the newest game, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, takes the series back to its open-ended roots. You can build your own custom skater and skate park in the story mode, as well as tackle challenges for up to seven skate parks in the classic mode. You can also try to outscore other players in the wireless or online modes all while exploring the surrounding environment and performing tricks at your own whim or pace.

Performing realistic tricks and learning how to link them together into monumentally lengthy chains has always been the hallmark of the Tony Hawk series. And that aspect is definitely in full force in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground. As you manipulate the D pad and ride your board around one of the game's expansive 3D skate parks, you'll notice plenty of edges, rails, ramps, quarter pipes, or other interesting surfaces with which to interact. Literally every button on the system is put to use to let you go wild on those surfaces. If you key in a button sequence in the air or near an edge, your onscreen persona will kick, grab, grind, or handplant just as you've indicated. When you're falling back to solid ground, you can initiate a transitional move, such as a footplant, revert, or manual, to keep the combo multiplier growing while you speed toward the next ramp or rail. Wall slides, wallplants, and spine transfers also let you change course without breaking your trick chain.

In addition to using the buttons to perform various tricks, you can tap spots on the touch screen when your style meter is full to execute special tricks, activate a slow-motion effect, or bail out into a temper tantrum minigame. Special tricks are high-risk, high-reward tricks that can be performed while grinding in midair or during a manual. As you'd expect, the slow-motion effect gives you more hang time, which in turn means you have more time to link kicks and grabs together. The last option, the temper tantrum, is a bizarre ability that's taught to you by Bam Margera in the story mode. Basically, if your style meter is full and you're about to land on your face, you can distract the judges with a tantrum to hold onto the points you'd otherwise lose. It isn't very realistic, but it sure is entertaining.

Getting the hang of the controls does take a while mainly because there are dozens upon dozens of skater moves and tricks to learn. However, the controls are laid out logically and never feel unwieldy. It merely takes time for every button's purpose to become ingrained. To that end, the lesson tutorials and the challenges the pro skaters give you in the story mode will gradually lead you through the basics to the finer points of spooling out massive combos.

The story mode in Proving Ground is set up similarly to the story mode in previous games, in that you roam around looking for pro skateboarders and then try to complete the tasks they ask of you. These tasks vary in difficulty and provide different levels of cash reward for how well you complete them. For example, if you're told to follow the camera crew around, you'll get more money for performing 15 tricks on cue than you will for 10. Every time you accomplish a certain number of tasks, you'll unlock a new skate park and another pro skater will start appearing in all of the parks you've opened up to that point (giving you additional challenges to complete). A neat part of this game's story mode is that you actually get to outfit one of the parks with ramps, rails, and other structures of your choice. Another sweet aspect is how the game makes the distinction between hardcore and career-style pro skaters. By setting out to complete tasks doled out by skaters from a specific discipline, your own custom character will learn moves unique to that discipline. In short, you have some control over how your park and skater develop.

Continue reading

Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 0 stars Not yet available
  Back to product review
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 1 of 1 user review

• 5.0 stars

  "I think this should be spectacular!"

  by joebro47 on March 25, 2009

• See 1 user review Write review