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Radioactive IT Review: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground VS Skate
Radioactive IT Review: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground VS Skate | Review: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground VS Skate |
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| Written by Mike Bantick | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sunday, 11 November 2007 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The venerable Tony Hawk adds another to the franchise list with Proving Ground (THPG) developed by Neversoft for PS3 and Xbox 360, Page 44 for PS2 and Wii and Vicarious Visions gives us the Nintendo DS version. Developer Black Box produces Electronic Arts foray into the skate-park with the simply titled Skate.
Both provide an urban jungle to traverse, with THPG taking you to the gritty (and more interactive) back alleys of Philadelphia, Washington DC and Baltimore, whilst Skate takes place in the large, much cleaner climes of the fictional San Vanelona.  Both games provide a solid career path with THPG giving the option of progressing through the fields of career athlete, hardcore skater or rigger (building ramps and rails to "improve" the city-scape for the skater) at will. The biggest distinction here is that the player in Skate begins the game as good as he will be, no stat increases, or much in the way of unlockable areas. And that is an important distinction, Skate's presentation is laid back and not pushy, meaning players can roam around the city, checking out back yards and cool places just to hang out and have fun, with out the pressure of completing the 100 or so challenges in the game to have any form of progression. Whereas, the different 'Nail-the's' in THPG must be unlocked at some point. Nail-the-trick puts the skater in slo-mo and gives stick control to the feet; simply Nail-the-grab gives control to the arms and finally Nail-the-manual to give a new camera angle and enhanced feet control.
Which neatly moves us into the important controls discussion. THPG is by far the more forgiving of the two games, with it sometimes feeling like a car game than a skateboarding simulation, it takes a fair shunt to put this skater off his board. The basic controls - as they have always been in the series - are button orientated, hit the right combo at the right location to achieve the required trick. Advanced tricks and Nail-the's require the analogue sticks to be tweaked at the right moments, but other than that, it is a matter of learning the correct combos and sequences. Skate on the other hand introduces the flickit controls, in a nutshell; the thumb sticks essentially manage all control of the board. Though there is a short, steep learning curve, once up and running, this feels a great deal more natural than button mashing.  Soon in Skate you will be talking to the pro's, learning their signature moves, roaming around the city finding cool places to practice for the various challenges. Some improvements with the game camera would be welcome however, there are times when your view is just a little to close to the action. Both games offer customisation, mainly of skater and gear based on money rewarded from challenges. THPG takes this further with the rig-a-kit mechanic, enabling players to design their own personal skate park and also personalize their Skate Lounge (!) with furniture, plasma TV's and more. THPG is fun, though feels a little forced for ideas (it is the eighth follow-up to a game that was ground breaking and comprehensive to begin with) and after playing through Skate, is no longer intuitive. Skate on the other hand, for a new IP hits all the marks right from the get-go, the control mechanism is more robust, the replay editing works well (make sure you check out some of the hilarious user created content online) and aptly provides a laid-back humorous approach to a sport where these ideals are held highly. THPG provides a broader variety of stuff to do, and a superior online experience, but Skate is simply a better game for the outlay.
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