Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
Developer(s)	Neversoft (GC, Xbox & PS2) Vicarious Visions (PS1 & GBA) Beenox (PC)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Series	Tony Hawk's
Platform(s)	GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Tapwave Zodiac, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	October 23, 2002 PlayStation 2 JP May 27, 2004 NA October 23, 2002 EU November 22, 2002 PlayStation NA October 23, 2002 EU November 15, 2002 GameCube NA October 23, 2002 EU November 15, 2002 Game Boy Advance NA October 28, 2002 EU November 22, 2002 Xbox NA October 23, 2002 EU November 15, 2002 Windows NA August 27, 2003 EU August 2003 Mac OS X NA August 20, 2003
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 is the fourth game in Tony Hawk's series. It was developed by Neversoft and was published in 2002 by Activision for the GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. In 2003 it was published for Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

This game was the last of the main Tony Hawk's video game series to be flanked with the Pro Skater name for 13 years until Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 (2015). This is because Tony Hawk's Underground (2003) overhauled the imagery of the franchise. However, Underground and other titles reused a large number of Pro Skater 4's elements.

Gameplay

An in-game screenshot of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, on the PC.

Pro Skater 4 is a departure from the previous three games' Career mode, in which the player had a set amount of time in order to find and complete goals. 4 instead featured a Career mode more similar to Free-skate mode, in which there was no time limit to explore the level, the goals are usually offered to the player to attempt by characters found in the level. This Career mode would be later seen as the Story modes of Underground series, American Wasteland, Project 8 and Proving Ground.

The game builds on the success of the gameplay in the previous games in the series. All of the combos from the previous game make an appearance, as well as some new tricks that can be performed to better navigate parks and areas. New to the game is the spine transfer, in which the player can press the shoulder button to transfer between connecting quarterpipes, or otherwise self-right themselves to exit quarter-pipes or prevent bailing should they fly off them. The game also features skitching, which lets skaters hang off the back of moving vehicles.

The "hidden combos" for turning some tricks into slight variations in Pro Skater 3 turned into a standard feature, albeit not as advanced as the system would turn out in the next game in the series, where it was finalized. Also included was the ability to do grind and lip extensions by tapping a direction and grind while grinding or lipping, which can also grant the player bigger combos as they can do a grind extension into a special move, for example. As with trick extensions, this would be standard in the next game in the series where it was much simpler to do. The game is also the only one in the series where the player does not have to buy tricks. Instead, the basic trick-set the player gets is allocated depending on what type of move set the player defines for their character.

Additionally, the player can unlock three other playable characters; Jango Fett from Star Wars, Eddie the Head, the ubiquitous mascot of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden, and Mike Vallely, who is a professional skater and wrestler.

Online play

To go online with Pro Skater 4, the required components are, a PlayStation 2, a network adapter and an Internet connection. With broadband, a room of up to eight people can be hosted. With dial-up, a room up to three people can be hosted. Players with either connection can join any room.

2-player modes

• Trick Attack: The goal is to get as many points as possible. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.
• Graffiti: If one player does a trick on an object, that object changes color to the player's color. If another player does a bigger trick on it that is worth more points, they steal that object from other players. The one with the most tags wins.
• Combo Mambo: Almost the same as Trick Attack, except the highest number of points done in one combo.
• King of the Hill: A capture the flag type of game where in the player must hold a crown for as long as possible.
• Slap: The goal of the game is to hit each other. The faster skater will knock down the other.
• Free Skate: Practice

Soundtrack

Pro Skater 4 introduced a play-list filter. The tracks by "Muskabeatz" are the work of Chad Muska, one of the game's pro skaters.^[1] The two Lunchbox avenue tracks are exclusive to PC and Mac platforms.

Reception

The game received critical acclaim from critics. IGN gave the Xbox version a 9/10, stating that "Tony Hawk 4 is by far the best skateboarding title around and head and shoulders above its 'me-too' competition."^[4] The PlayStation 2 version received the highest score from IGN, with a 9.3/10, commenting that though the graphics haven't changed from its predecessor, the maps are much larger than in Pro Skater 3, along with praising the increased difficulty.^[5]

References

External links

• Official website (archived from the original)
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 at the Internet Movie Database