best skateboarding game to date
User Rating: 9.6 | Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 GC
The Tony Hawk franchise is one of the most recognized in the United States. This is the franchise that made skateboarding cool. I started playing the series in part 3, in which I was just blown away. Then comes this one, ready to come out. My cousin was excited and bought the game the day it came out. Now, Neversoft faced a tough challenge ahead. They had to decide whether to change the formula and add a little variety to the series, or make it totally like part 3. And, if they decided to make it the same, just how far should they go to make it the same before crossing the line and it becomes a copycat? This worried me; after all, part 3 really helped the series explode some more in popularity. I played part 4. How was it? Read on (Don’t think you will get an answer right away). The graphics were impressive, with plenty of levels to choose from, just not a lot to choose from in the beginning. The level design was pretty simple, nothing bad here. As a matter of fact, it bears a similar resemblance to part 3’s graphics, just a little more detailed. You start off with plenty of people, but there are way more to find throughout the game, just like levels and other hidden things. The playcontrol is still as simple as ever, with easy combo to perform and tougher combos to try to perform. Well, it felt like the controls of part 3. The music is a bit weaker; I remember part 3’s music being a little better. But still, there are plenty of decent tracks here. System of a Down, N.W.A., and Run DMC are among the artists featured in the game (System of a Down’s track was probably the best one, and the loudest too). Good music, you get a good mix of rock and dab of hip-hop. Just like part 3, this game is also pretty challenging. There is a lot to do, and you will need skills to get them all. Some combos are easy, but others are just ridiculously difficult to do. But with the simple controls, you cannot yell at the controller, just yourself. Grinding is easy to do, but how long can you grind is the question. This game is loads of fun, and a blast as multi-player. Just like part 3, it has good graphics, easy controls, good music, respectable challenge, awesome build-a-park mode, and plenty of extra features. Both are oodles of fun, but which one is the better buy? One advantage part 3 has is that the airport level is perhaps the best level of the series, but one advantage part 4 has is the complexity and the hugeness of the levels themselves. In the end, both are great, but if you want the cheaper buy, take part 3 instead, after all, they are both almost the same thing, but both are still great. This is the most dominating franchise today; this franchise will not have competitors for quite a while, it simply took skateboarding and made it part of American culture. 
