Title: Tony Hawk's Project 8

Date: 12.20.2006

Genre: Skating

Platform: PlayStation 3

Developer: Neversoft

Publisher: Activision

After seven different games over seven different years, the Tony Hawk franchise has gotten a little stale. How many kick-flips and board grabs can one person do before ultimately becoming bored and turning it off? Project 8, the title that was to strip the series down and build it from the ground up, failed to sidestep many of the trappings of earlier titles. It's almost as if Neversoft threw the best parts of all the games before and slapped a new coat of paint on it. Sure, the Nail the Trick mode is awesome and really fun to master, but the rest of the title feels dated. Additions to the control scheme using the SIXAXIS feature are fresh for a while, but even this addition becomes stale after a time.

The “storyline” doesn't help matters any, only serving as an excuse to continue skating. Tony Hawk is looking for the top eight amateur skaters in the world, and he's stopping off in your hometown to scout the local talent. Everything grind that you perform and challenge you tackle moves you closer and closer to those top eight spots. If you do well enough to earn “Pro” or “Sick” on challenges, then you move up the ladder a little quicker and can move into the top four, or even as high as number one.

Again, the storyline is no more than an excuse to throw you on rails, half-pipers and ramps to try the same three-dozen tricks over and over again. Well that, and to toss as many pro skateboarders in your face as humanly possible. Pros like Bob Burnquist, Bam Margera, Rodney Mullen, and Tony Hawk himself will challenge you to perform different demos and tricks. Our favorite, as described in the Hands-on preview we did last month, was Daewon Song's challenge. Instead of the basic “perform for this crowd” challenge, Song's involves moving buses and rails around to grind from one platform to another on the other side of the street. The first time through I was challenged by both what pieces to use and the actual execution, but pulling it off was more satisfying than most of the rest of the game.

Completing these challenges not only moves you up the list of amateur skaters but also unlocks “Pro Trick” to watch at your leisure. In Pro Trick mode, players can watch the raw motion-capture footage of all the pro skaters in Project 8, moving the camera around to focus on the board. Watching the pros like this is akin to watching a pro film; the action is cool the first two dozen times you watch it, but after a while you just want to move on to something else.

To further grovel at the feet of pro skaters, Neversoft also threw in Jason Lee, the former pro skater turned actor. Sporting the “Hi, My Name is Earl” beard, Lee introduces the sponsorship feature. Companies like Volcom, DVS, and Element will sign you and provide you with a free deck, but they are useless otherwise. You aren't even awarded Stokens, the Project 8 currency, for signing like other titles that use name brands in this way. When you unlock the sponsorship, you'll go “huh, cool I guess” and hit the next half-pipe.

None of the talk about bland features or unnecessary odes to pro skaters I've never heard of should detract fans of the series from checking this game out, because the game is as solid as ever. Mapping the controls to the analog stick has gone largely without a hitch, though there still are a couple rough spots in pulling of specific kick-flips or grabs. I don't quite understand what the difference between a backside 360 triple kick-flip and a regular triple kick-flip is, but the game makes that distinction in its challenges and will incessantly frustrate gamers.

Using the analog sticks during “Nail the Trick” is a fantastic addition to the franchise. By clicking both analog sticks after an ollie, the camera zooms on to the board and the skater's feet. While zoomed in, player's control their skater's feet with both analog sticks, manipulating the board as it spins around in slow motion. Performing difficult and complicated combinations, especially with the board upside-down, earn bonus points and really rack up a nice score. I hope that Neversoft explores this mode further and takes the series down the “controlling the skater's feet independently” route.

Unfortunately, that's where the innovations in Project 8 end. The level designs are all rehashed from games we've played before. There's the neighborhood block, the downtown area, the Capitol, a school, and a factory. I realize that there probably aren't many more places to skate in real life, but why not thrown in a toy store, furniture warehouse, office building, three ring circus, or something bizarre to liven things up a bit? It's not beyond the over-the-top tricks and air to go a little silly on the level design. What's worse is that some challenges are near impossible to reach. The demo on the School roof, for instance, took thirty minutes for me to find, and that was only after I turned the game off for lunch and came back, practically placed on top of it as if it were divine intervention. Getting lucky to spawn in the right place to reach a challenge borders on ridiculous and really kills it for players looking to complete objectives instead of putzing around with freestyle tricks. A map system that would allow players to instantly jump to the challenge would have alleviated all of these problems ala Oblivion, but I guess grinding around rails in circles is more fun to “skaters.”

It's also important to note for potential Project 8 patrons that the online gameplay is bland at best, and downright tiresome. While I absolutely love the idea of having individual Leaderboards for most challenges found in the Career Mode, the regular Xbox Live selection is all rehashed save the new Walls mode. Trick Attack (High score when time runs out), Graffiti (tricking on objects to claim them), and Combo Challenge (name speaks for itself) have all been done before in previous titles. Couple that with lag problems during larger games and you have an experience that you'll soon forget.

In talking to the guys at Neversoft at a past event, they were very proud of their quick integration of the SIXAXIS function into the whole title. Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the game, once the novelty of controlling your skater in a new way wears off you'll likely go back to the analog sticks. The motion sensor controls simply aren't accurate or comprehensive enough to be used exclusively, though players will likely find combos where they can implement some part into their regular play.

When we heard that the Tony Hawk franchise was going back to its roots and starting from scratch, we didn't think it would be quite as this. Like watching skate videos themselves, Project 8 simply loses its charm after a while. Realistic graphics and Nail the Trick aside, Project 8 comes off as a title that's so rooted in its own genre that true innovation may prove unlikely.

Graphics
Project 8 looks pretty decent, but clipping problems are everywhere. The worst is when Nail the Trick camera glitches out.

Controls
Moving the game to the analog sticks works more times than not. Perhaps putting Nail the Trick on a single button would make it easier to combo. The SIXAXIS control just doesn't feel tight enough to be worthwhile. Maybe next time when Neversoft has had more experience.

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The perfect soundtrack lies beneath excellent board and crowd noises. Repetitive spoken lines are the only detractor here.

Play Value
Only hardcore skate fans need apply. All others will be bored before making it past the first 100 skaters.

Game Score

B-

Reviewed By: Alrom Christian Ricafuente