Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
Cover art
Developer(s)	Neversoft (PS3/360) Page 44 Studios (PS2/Wii) Vicarious Visions (DS)
Publisher(s)	Activision
Series	Tony Hawk's
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS, PS2, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	NA October 15, 2007 AUS October 31, 2007 EU November 2, 2007
Genre(s)	Extreme sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, Multiplayer, online multiplayer
Rating(s)	BBFC: 12 ESRB: T OFLC: M
Media/distribution	Blu-ray Disc, DVD-DL, DS Game Card, Wii Optical Disc

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (abbreviated as THPG and loosely referred to as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 9) is a video game developed by Neversoft for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 video game consoles; by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation 2 and Wii; and by Vicarious Visions for the Nintendo DS. Proving Ground is the ninth installment in the Tony Hawk's series.

Proving Ground didn't copycat the success of Tony Hawk's Project 8 (2006). When it debuted in 2007, critics were hesitant about its controls, despite receiving praise for its visuals and audio. Amidst this somewhat lackluster reception, it was a financial success.

Gameplay

Single player

There are 9 levels in the video game. They are in 3 East Coast cities, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington DC. The levels differ between the different console versions. In the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions, there is one open world. In the Wii and PS2 versions, you have to select different levels by pausing the game. You can choose three different types of goals in Story Mode; Rigger, where you add things to the level to complete a challenge, Career, which is mainly competitions and things to raise you to pro status, and Hardcore, which is street skating. In each level, there are two arcade machines, one for high score and the other to play classic mode. This game has three Nail the Trick modes ( Nail the Trick, Nail the Grab, and Nail the Manual.) The PS2 and Wii versions do not include the Nail the Manual feature. The Classic Mode feature allows the player to play each city section in the style of early Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games. There is a free skate mode on the PS3 and Wii versions.

Multiplayer

In the Wii and PS2 versions a 2 player game is available in which you can play one of 4 game modes in any of the nine areas. These modes are:

• Graffiti: Colour as many objects as possible by tricking off them for the most points
• Trick attack: Get the most points possible
• Horse: Take it in turns to get a higher combo than your opponent in order to make them spell the word h-o-r-s-e
• Free Skate: An unlimited skate with no time limit or score to get in your way

Development

Demo

The Tony Hawk's Proving Ground demo was scheduled for release on Xbox Live Marketplace for Xbox 360 on September 10, 2007 but was delayed to September 12, 2007. The release date for the PlayStation 3 demo in the PlayStation Store was September 13 in the U.S. The UK demo was released on October 25, 2007. The demo allows ten minutes of free time, but allows players to try out each skater class, including a detailed tutorial on the new Nail-The-Grab mode, as well as a toned down version of the Video Editor.

Soundtrack

• !!! - "All My Heroes are Weirdos"
• Airbourne - "Girls in Black"
• Angels and Airwaves - "Secret Crowds"
• Anglo Jackson - "Motorbike"
• At the Gates - "Slaughter of the Soul"
• Bad Brains - "Banned in DC"
• Beastie Boys - "Electric Worm"
• Blackalicious - "Your Move"
• Bloc Party - "Version 2.0"
• Cursed - "The Hands Will Abide"
• Cymande - "Fug"
• Dag Nasty - "Circles"
• Darkest Hour - "Sanctuary"
• Deadbolt Zen - "Everything Changes"
• Divine Era - "The Sound of the Words"
• DJ JS-1 featuring L.I.F.E. Long & Immortal Technique - "Audio Technician"
• El-P - "Up All Night"
• Folk Implosion - "Natural One"
• Foo Fighters - "The Pretender"
• Fu Manchu - "We Must Obey"
• Funky Four Plus 1 - "Rappin and Rockin the House"
• Future Pigeon - "Gift Tax"
• Gallows - "Come Friendly Bombs"
• Gorilla Biscuits - "Hold Your Ground"
• Jimmy Castor - "It's Just Begun"
• Jurassic 5 - "Radio"
• Kittens - "Carpenter"
• Los Abandoned - "Panico"
• Lyrics Born featuring KRS-One and Evidence - "Pack Up Remix"

• Maylene & the Sons of Disaster - "Memories of the Grove"
• Motorcity Daredevils - "Bear in the Air"
• Nation of Ulysses - "You're My Miss Washington D.C."
• Nirvana - "Breed"
• Oh No feat. J. Dilla and Roc C - "Move Part 2"
• Paint It Black - "The New Brutality"
• Paris - "The Devil Made Me Do It (Poach a Pig Mix)"
• Percee P - "Throwback Rap Attack (Madlib remix)"
• Pierce the Veil - "I'd Rather Die than Be Famous"
• Pig Destroyer - "Loathsome"
• Reverend Horton Heat - "Baddest of the Bad"
• Revolution Mother - "Come On"
• Roots Manuva - "Chin High"
• Sayvinyl - "That's Entertainment"
• Silversun Pickups - "Well Thought Out Twinkles"
• Slick Rick - "Children's Story"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Tarantula"
• Snapcase - "Energy Dome"
• The Ameila Premiere - "Disintegrate"
• The Bled - "Starving Artiste"
• The Clash - "Clash City Rockers"
• The Cramps - "Garbage Man"
• The Icarus Line - "Gets Paid"
• The Kooks - "See the World"
• The Octopus Project - "Music is Happiness"
• The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy for the Devil"
• The Sex Pistols - "Holidays in the Sun"
• Twilight 22 - "Electric Kingdom"
• Voltera - "It Beats for You"

Reception

Tony Hawk's Proving Ground was met with mixed reviews upon release. On Metacritic, both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions had an average score of 72, the PlayStation 2 version had an average score of 65, and the Wii version had an average score of 57. All of these scores are considered "mixed or average" by the site. The PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii versions were criticized for not having the same mechanics that are in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. The Nintendo DS version received generally favorable reviews from critics. On Metacritic it received an average score of 79 out of 100 based on 21 reviews. On Game Rankings it received an average score of 78% based on 19 reviews. Notably however, the game received a 9/10 from the Official UK Xbox Magazine. The Official UK PlayStation Magazine awarded the game 7/10.

• IGN - 8.0/10 (DS version), 7.1/10 (360, PS3), 6.6/10 (PS2 version), 4.0/10 (Wii version)
• Gamezone - 9.2/10 (PS3), 8.8/10 (Xbox 360)
• PNGX - 9.5/10 (PS3) Received Editor's Choice Award
• GameSpot - 6.5 (Xbox 360 and PS3), 5.0 (Wii and PS2), 8.0 (Nintendo DS)

External links

• Tony Hawk's Proving Ground official website