Game details
Developer: Vicarious Visions, Beenox
Publisher: Activision
Platform: Windows 10 (reviewed), Xbox One, PS4
Release Date: Sept. 4, 2020
ESRB Rating: T for Teen
Price: $40
Links: Amazon | EGS | Official website
Before we begin putting arms around each other as a bunch of PlayStation skateboarding fans, screaming classic pop-punk songs and praising this week's new Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, let's remember the last time a nostalgic cash-in pretended to be Superman.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD launched in 2012 as part of the last gasp of the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation, but it was far from the return to skateboarding glory that fans had hoped for—especially as the series had been written off after watered-down sequels and peripheral add-ons. As a "compilation" of the first two mega-popular Tony Hawk games, THPSHD only included seven skateparks from both games combined. Its "HD" status may have technically been true, but glitchy physics, questionable color-mapping, and a broken "big drop" system made it far from definitive.
Eight years later, the series' handlers at Activision are back with another crack at the first two Tony Hawk games, once again on the cusp of a new console generation. In good news, this time, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is… good. Like, it's really good.
What to expect, how it feels
The THPS2 "Hangar" course, reimagined. Activision Yes, you can still grind on a helicopter's blades and open up a snowy outdoor space to skate around in. Activision The THPS1 "Warehouse" course. Activision You can arguably play this level over and over and over and get your money's worth. Activision One of the more dramatically lit remastered levels. Activision THPS1 "School" course. Activision Lots of shadowy portions as you look for tables and schoolbells upon which to grind. Activision "Downtown" from THPS1. Pre-session goals give you hints for what you need to complete. Activision "Venice" from THPS2. The sunset effect is handsome… Activision … but sometimes, I wish I could toggle the sun shining more directly from above. Activision
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1+2
(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.) The sales pitch is simple: Every skatepark from the series' first two PlayStation games is back, all touched up with modern graphical flourishes while otherwise resembling the courses' original geometry. In kind, gameplay breaks down like it traditionally did—a mix of a "classic" campaign, ample "free skate" options, multiplayer versus, and a massive create-a-park mode.
Having spent the past day playing a lot of the remake's PC version, I can report that the rebuilt-from-scratch controls and physics are (mostly) on point—with every major difference hinging on a jump from the original game's refresh rate. What once natively ran at under 30 fps can now run at an unlocked rate at arbitrary resolutions, and I've seriously enjoyed the results on my 144Hz monitor.
Mechanically, the multistudio team that pieced Tony Hawk back together appears to have erred on the side of allegiance to the first two PlayStation games. How high you jump; how long you hover in midair while boosting up a half-pipe; how quickly your body rotates as you pull a trick; how long it takes tricks to animate: set a stopwatch on the modern versions and their PS1 forebears, and they're pretty much 1:1. This differs slightly from the Xbox and Dreamcast versions of the first two games, which each added floatiness to most of the above metrics.
If your brightest THPS memories come from the '90s, then you're likely to remember the game as played on a CRT panel, a screen technology that benefits from lower latency between button taps and on-screen action. This was the first thing I thought about when I struggled with trick timing while playing THPS1+2 anew: is my monitor the bottleneck for my high scores and sick tricks? Does my screen suck, or is it just me? So I grabbed my Samsung Galaxy S9, toggled super slow-motion video, and got down to business.
Lapsed THPS players should expect short-lived frustrations.
On default monitor and GPU settings, my PC version of the game shows roughly 16 frames between a button tap (using an Xbox One gamepad, connected via 2.4GHz wireless adapter) and a significant in-game animation beginning (in my test's case, a mild bending of the knees before pulling an "ollie" hop on a skateboard). On a 144Hz monitor, those 16 frames equate to roughly 0.11 seconds. Depending on your GPU manufacturer, however, you can toggle different types of "low latency" modes. In my case, I went into an Nvidia Control Panel, switched "low latency" mode to "on" (not "ultra") and tried again. This cut the tap-to-animation time in half, from 16 frames to eight frames (down to 0.05 seconds). After making this switch, I did indeed start doing better. (Again, this is just the animation before your skater actually hops. Milliseconds matter.)
Without a copy of the game on either PS4 or Xbox One to compare, I'll merely estimate that those systems' input latency counts (as connected to standard HDTVs and running at 60 fps) are more floaty than a high-end PC connected to a high refresh-rate monitor. Mostly, I've had to come to terms with how the series' classic controls and timings feel different when your character's animations run that much more smoothly. Your mileage will quite honestly hinge on how that switch strikes you. (Lapsed THPS players should expect short-lived frustrations when getting accustomed to it.)
More on mechanics, achievements
Let's start this menu-dive gallery with a look at the create-a-skater interface. One of the facial options feels very, very 2020. Activision The game's new achievement system rewards players with in-game cash and experience points. Activision You'll need both experience levels and in-game cash to unlock some of the fancier cosmetics, like a series of skateboard graphics that animate. Activision The create-a-park system gates some of its wackier decoration options behind in-game cash and experience levels, as well. Activision The menu option many of you will be most interested in: the playlist. Most, but not all, of the first two games' songs have returned. Activision PC video options, part one. Activision PC video options, part two. Activision Some in-game options, including HUD tweaks. Activision Want to remove some of the QoL tweaks and have the game better resemble either THPS1 or THPS2? That's an option. Activision
If thatRead More – Source
[contf] [contfnew] 
arstechnica
[contfnewc] [contfnewc]
