Like most games, you have the opportunity to create a persona. By now with other iterations of this game and the known abilities to create characters, you would think this would be pretty advanced. And, you would be wrong. Yeah, you get to change your hair and eyes, but you get a whopping three body types to start off with. Now sit back and get your advergaming on as you sift through tons of real world clothing choices. Nothing says indie rock skater punk like designer label clothing.
So I am ready to roll with my copy of Tony Hawk's Project 8 in the drive. I am thinking, man, never mind the tutorial, for now. I am just going to get in and grind away. A few seconds, and a pint of blood later, you find me doing the tutorial. I guess it has been a while since I have been on a board, real or virtual. There is now a button you can hit to "manual" instead of the old way of rocking your thumbstick up and then down or vice versa. It felt more like a fighting game to me, with all of the combos, than it did a skating game. All of the tricks are easy to hit and are quick enough to learn.
So I am loose in the world, and this time I am armed with some trick knowledge. I am expecting these vast open skate areas that are huge. I was very disappointed, as I had seen some of these place before in other versions, and they were done better there. All of the levels were very and painfully obviously laid out for tricks. I think the real world environments feel better than this bubblegum arena feel.
You are supposed to be getting your name out there in order to become part of the 8. So, you have these mini-game instances that you have to play by finding various characters wandering around the the levels. How well you score with them moves you closer to the top 8 skaters. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the game.
