It's good enough for the Tony Hawk name, but most people will probably pass on this anyway
The Bad: Frozen face graphics; Really repetitive; not always clear on how to complete an objective; pretty easy to make your skater perfect at everything
The Tony Hawk franchise has been around for a long time. And this isn't really a new game. It's still good, just not something you'd buy before anything else.
You start by picking a pro skater (or you can make your own, which is pretty cool), and you start out in a college. You basically have to skate around and try to find different people who need your help with stuff. These objectives range from the classic "Collect S-K-A-T-E", to save the artist Vinnie from the killer shark. They're pretty unique and some of them can be a lot of fun. Others can just seem to blend in and seem like everything else. That can get pretty repetitive. You complete these objectives to get more skill points, cash, and eventually you're able to move onto new areas. If you complete enough objectives, you unlock another mode where there are more objectives in each area and are harder. So the value is pretty good for this game.
Most of these objectives aren't particularly challenging though. Some you'll complete in one try, others that might be a bit more challenging, take 5 minutes tops most of the time. The people giving the challenges can be pretty funny the way they present the fact that they need your help. You can take a mission from Tony Hawk, or maybe Ollie the Bum. Some of the things they say is pretty funny. How they get angry over silly things or they ask for something ridiculous.
The customation options in this game is pretty cool when you make your own character. You can put on different headwear, underwear, shirts pants, pretty much anything you want. You can even buy some crazier things like clown shoes or a bag to put over your head. These add to the game's humor and it can make it seem that much better. The soundtrack in the game is kinda weird, and it doesn't fit very well. Fortunately you can have custom soundtracks on the xbox version. As for the owners of the PS2 or GC, you'll just have to suffer or turn the music off.
The different areas that the game drops you off at are pretty diverse. You can go from San Francisco to a carnival to an unlockable level from a Matt Hoffman game. There are plenty of unlockables in this game. You can unlock several different special skaters (including Jango Fett!), videos, and areas. However, you'll probably get bored with the repetitiveness of the tricks by the time you get to different areas. That's not to say that you don't have a lot of tricks to do. Far from it. It's just that you have a limited array of controls to do tricks. X does flip tricks, B does grab tricks, and Y grinds. You can set up your tricks differently so pressing one combination of buttons and directions on a thumbstick can do different stuff. You have some pretty funny special tricks like the 'Ferrot Fight' or 'Muska Beats'. These can add a little bit more fun to the game.
The multiplayer can be mildly entertaining too. It has games like HORSE and trick attack. And then it also has a few new games like Combo Mombo to see who can rack up the biggest combo. And what would Tony Hawk be without other classic games like King and Graffiti?
Gameplay: The game can get somewhat repetitive, but it will also keep you busy for a while before you do.
Graphics: These are pretty ugly, but the rest of the game still saves the game.
Sound: With the option of custom soundtracks, the sound rating is raised slightly.
Value: This game can be bought dirt cheap right now and it has a lot of unlockables.
Final Words/Tilt: The game is pretty good for a while. It'll give you something to do and it'll be kinda fun too.