Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
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| Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Neversoft Aspyr Media (Windows Mobile edition) Edge of Reality (N64 port) Vicarious Visions (GBA port) Treyarch (Xbox port) Natsume (GBC port) Gray Matter Interactive (PC port) |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Designer(s) | Neversoft and Tony Hawk |
| Engine | Rewrite of proprietary Apocalypse engine |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Windows, Windows Mobile, Dreamcast, Mac OS, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Xbox (as THPS2X) |
| Release date(s) | 2000 |
| Genre(s) | Extreme sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T, E (N64) |
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, often abbreviated as THPS2, is the second game in the Tony Hawk's series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision in 2000. It was first released for the PlayStation, with subsequent ports to the Nintendo 64 (by Edge of Reality), SEGA Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance (by Vicarious Visions), Mac OS, and the Windows PC (By Gray Matter Interactive). It was also released for the Game Boy Color, and was better received than the first installment on that machine. In spite of that, it still bore little resemblance to the other versions of the game. The Game Boy Advance version, however, was highly applauded for translating the style and sense of the game accurately into an isometric (pseudo-3D or 2.5D) game.
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[edit] Gameplay
It features the series' trademark open-ended gameplay, in which the player (playing as a well-known professional skateboarder) completes a number of missions which result in cash rewards. With the cash, the player can then purchase skill improvements and better skateboards. THPS2 was also the first game in the series to introduce the manual, a skateboarding trick where the performer balances on two wheels. This enables players to string together trick combos, often resulting in hundreds of thousands of points. Players who could truly master the manual were even able to achieve scores above one million points for a single trick. The game also introduced the Noseslide, Tailslide, Bluntslide, Noseblunt, Feeble, and Overcrook grinds. It was also the first of the Pro Skater games to feature Create-a-Skater and Park Editor features, now staples in the series.
Some levels in Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 are designed for the player to complete a set number of tasks in two minutes. Such tasks include finding the S-K-A-T-E letters, high scores and finding a hidden tape somewhere in the level. Each of the non-competition levels contain ten tasks for a player to do, each task rewarding a player with cash. Cash is also scattered around the levels in order for players to find, increasing the use for replaying a level. Once a player has enough cash, they can continue on to a new level. The maximum amount of money that can be obtained is $150,000.00. The other type of levels are competition levels. This is first seen in Marseilles, where a player must perform tricks and get judged on. The rating by the judges that a player receives is based on how much they score, variation of tricks, bails, and how much of the level they have used. The judges give scores based on these criteria, the highest and lowest are taken away, and the three scores are given an average. There are three runs total and the best two count. Competition levels also contain cash hidden for a player to collect.
[edit] Ports
[edit] Nintendo 64
Originally to be released along with the PlayStation version, but delayed to allow further sales of the first THPS for the console. Almost a year later, the game was released by the same company that brought the first Tony Hawk game to Nintendo 64, Edge of Reality. This version includes all of the features from the PlayStation version, including the Create-a-Skater and Park Editor. In addition to visual improvements (less jagged, smooth) like the Nintendo 64 version of the first game, a new level called Bike Headquarters (from Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX) was added. Also added were a few new cheats, such as the 10x Point Multiplier, Double-Moon Physics, and Max Turbo Mode codes. The amount of songs was reduced to six and portions of each one were cut. This was the last Nintendo 64 Tony Hawk game to be released in Europe.
[edit] Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2X was released on November 14, 2001 (only in the US and Canada) as a launch title for Microsoft's Xbox. The game contained remade versions of all the levels from the first two games in the Tony Hawk series, five new levels, a 4-player split screen and LAN multi-player feature and the ability to create females in Create-a-skater mode. Other new features include a redesigned main page and grind bar. The redesigned Philadelphia level from this version would later be reused in Tony Hawk's Underground 2.
[edit] Windows Mobile
Austin-based Aspyr ported the game to Windows Mobile Professional devices in 2006. The game offered hardware acceleration for some Dell Axim devices.
[edit] Reception
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 met with a tremendous amount of critical and commercial success. The Playstation version scored second highest according to Metacritic with an overall score of 98%, only trailing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Grand Theft Auto IV. The PlayStation version of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 has earned Platinum awards from gaming magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. Because of this, it is the only game in the magazine's history to ever have earned a Platinum award twice (but is only acknowledged as a single game in EGM's records due to the game receiving a 10 from only one reviewer as opposed to the PlayStation game receiving 10s from all 3 of its reviewers). The PlayStation version of the game received a 10 out of 10 from the magazine Game Informer, despite the versions for other consoles receiving lower scores. The Gameboy Advance version received particular acclaim for being an accurate translation of the series.
[edit] External links
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