A legend of a game, beautiful environments, amazing soundtrack, more tricks, what more could you ever want from this?
Like the rest of the Pro Skater games, there is no story, just to enter a level, score some goals or get them, under the two minute time limit whilst listening to one of the bands in the game. A simple game you can just jump in and play straight away.
If your new to the franchise there is a tutorial, which has Tony Hawk explaining what you need to do to perform certain tricks. You can learn the rest on the way, either by viewing them or just pressing random buttons. Some are hidden like Triple Kickflip. It doesn't take you long to get used to the controls, after the tutorial you'll be wanting to skate like mad! The tutorial is optional, you don't have to do it if you don't want or don't need to, which is a relief.
The graphics are a major improvement from THPS2 (Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2) and even if it doesn't compete with some of the PS2 games to date, it's the fun in it that makes you want to play this. The environments are different, there is Skate Island which is an indoor arena, Surburbia which speaks for itself and Airport which again speaks for itself.
The levels are good, there are 3 competitions you have to enter in, which between them have about 2-3 levels. In each level there is Stat Points, which will boost a particular stat by 1, some for example are Air, Manual and Ollie. There a hidden decks in each level, and you can customize your skateboard a lot more then in THPS2.
The characters are the usual, you can play as Tony Hawk and other famous skateboarders. 2 suprising unlockable character is Wolverine and Darth Vader, you wouldn't expect them in here but it is a sweet edition to the game.
The game soundtrack is superb, some bands are Motorhead, Alien Ant Farm, Xzibit and a few more. You can choose if you want all the songs on, or only a particular one. If you don't like any of these, simply turn them all off, put your own music on from say your PC or a Stereo and you can play with the music you like. A great feature for a game.
Completing this game maybe a problem for some, to complete this 100% you have to get a Gold Medal in all 3 competitions, complete all level goals and do this with every character. Thats right...every character. Of course you can just cheat to unlock the characters, as completing the game if your new will take you far too long on one character. Of course if you have nothing else to play, it's still a great challenge.
Tony Hawks Pro Skater 3 is a legend of skateboarding games, this shows a fine example of what a skateboarding game should be like. Cool characters, good music and brilliant environments.