Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
PAL region cover art
Developer(s)	Neversoft, Vicarious Visions, Babaroga, Aspyr Media
Publisher(s)	Activision
Platform(s)	Xbox, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Game Boy Advance, Tapwave Zodiac, Mobile phone
Release date(s)	October 23, 2002 GameCube NA October 23, 2002 PAL November 15, 2002 PlayStation NA October 23, 2002 PAL November 15, 2002 Xbox NA October 23, 2002 PAL November 15, 2002 PlayStation 2 NA October 23, 2002 PAL November 22, 2002 Game Boy Advance NA October 28, 2002 PAL November 22, 2002 Mobile August 1, 2003 Macintosh NA August 20, 2003 Windows NA August 27, 2003 Zodiac NA 2004
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Rating(s)	ELSPA: 15+ ESRB: T / EPSX OFLC: M PEGI: 12+
Media/distribution	CD, DVD, Nintendo optical disc, Game cartridge

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, often abbreviated to THPS4, is the fourth game in Tony Hawk's series. It was developed by Neversoft and was published in 2002 by Activision for the GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. In 2003 it was published for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X and Tapwave Zodiac.

This game is the last of the Tony Hawk's video game series to be flanked with the Pro Skater name, since Tony Hawk's Underground (2003) overhauled the imagery of the franchise. However, Underground and other titles reused a large number of THPS4's elements.

Gameplay

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

Tony Hawk's 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. THPS4 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 Tony Hawk's 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. It saw the introduction of the spine transfer and car skitching.

The "hidden combos" for turning some tricks into slight variations in Tony Hawk's 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.

There are also three characters that you have to buy in the game. They are: Jango Fett from Star Wars, Eddie the Head (The mascot featured in most Iron Maiden music videos) and Mike Vallely who is a professional proskater as well as a professional wrestler.

Online play

To go online with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, one would have needed 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.

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.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator	Score
GameRankings	92.55% (PS2) 88.89% (Xbox) 89.84% (GC) 87.50% (GBA) 83.00% (PS1) 87.64% (PC)
Metacritic	94/100 (PS2) 91/100 (GC) 88/100 (PC)
Review scores
Publication	Score
1UP.com	A (PS2) B- (Xbox) B+ PC)
Eurogamer	8/10 (Xbox) 9/10 (GBA)
GameSpot	9.5/10 (PS2) 9.3/10 (Xbox) 9.2/10 (GC) 8.8/10 (GBA) 8.7/10 (PC)
IGN	9.3/10 (PS2) 9/10 (Xbox) 9.1/10 (GC)

The game received favourable reviews from critics.

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.

Track listing
No.	Title	Length
1.	"System of a Down - Shimmy"
2.	"The Offspring - Blackball"
3.	"AC/DC - TNT"
4.	"Sex Pistols - Anarchy in the UK"
5.	"Run-DMC - My Adidas"
6.	"The Cult - Bad Fun"
7.	"N.W.A. - Express Yourself"
8.	"De La Soul - Oodles of O's"
9.	"Public Enemy - By the Time I Get to Arizona"
10.	"Iron Maiden - The Number of the Beast"
11.	"The Distillers - Seneca Falls"
12.	"Gangstarr - Mass Appeal"
13.	"Goldfinger - Spokesman"
14.	"Agent Orange - Bloodstains (Darkness Version)"
15.	"Less Than Jake - All My Best Friends Are Metalheads"
16.	"Flogging Molly - Drunken Lullabies"
17.	"Rocket from the Crypt - Savoir Faire"
18.	"Aesop Rock - Labor"
19.	"Avail - Simple Song"
20.	"Bouncing Souls - Manthem"
21.	"Delinquent Habits - House of the Rising Drum"
22.	"Eyedea & Abilities - Big Shots"
23.	"The Faction - Skate and Destroy"
24.	"Haiku D'Etat - Non Compos Mentis"
25.	"Hot Water Music - Freightliner"
26.	"JFA - Beach Blanket Bongout"
27.	"Lootpack - Whenimondamic"
28.	"Nebula - Giant"
29.	"Toy Dolls - "Dig That Groove Baby"
30.	"US Bombs - Yer Country"
31.	"Zeke - "Death Alley"
32.	"Muskabeatz - I'm a Star (featuring Grandmaster Melle Mel)"
33.	"Muskabeatz - Versus of Doom (featuring Jeru the Damaja)"
34.	"Muskabeatz - Bodyrock (featuring Biz Markie)"
35.	"City Stars - Bad Dreams"
36.	"Lunchbox Avenue - Everything and Anything"
37.	"Lunchbox Avenue - Standing Still"

External links

• Official Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 website on the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 at the Internet Movie Database