This may be just another Tony Hawk game, but it manages to give enough new to keep veterans occupied.
User Rating: 8.5 | Tony Hawk's Proving Ground X360
Tony Hawk games have always seemed to have the glory of being the only skateboarding game out there. More recently, SKATE was released and challenged this position of glory. It could have been possible to change everything about the Tony Hawk gameplay and compete head on with SKATE, but instead Neversoft stuck to their roots and delivered what seems to be a solid game. The presentation of Proving Ground (PG) is instantly different than that of it's predecessors, but the core gameplay stays the same. The game does not have an intro with blazing rock music like the older games and instead just drops you onto the primarily red main menu. Upon entering the game, you may notice that the balance meters for both grinding and manual tricks have been changed, and that the camera is a little offset compared to project 8. These are different, but quite frankly they don't take too long to get used to and I didn't find myself really caring that much. In fact, the offset camera was set back a little bit (compared to skate where the guys camera is jammed up your A%@) and my skater never got into my view of the target rail or ledge. Upon entering story mode you are instantly told that every choice you make changes the type of skater you turn into. The types of skaters may be different for this, but you can't help but think that the hardcore and rigger types just end up being popular and have a career anyway. Other than that, you have a little checklist that lets you know just what paths you seem to be taking and although it's not a huge innovation the new system gives a little bit of replay value to a game that's known for linear storylines of rags to riches. The only thing that i have to say about this game other than the above concerns is that it is a little bit more challenging than Project 8. You will sometimes find yourself repeating a challenge 20 times, but any veteran player should be able to pass them and the difficulty seems to be adjusted exactly so that you cannot fly through the game. To me this was a welcome change, as beating the more recent TH games have been a breeze for veteran players. With more areas to explore, the same rocking soundtrack, and the new east coast feel, Proving Grounds should be a fun and more challenging game for people that are veterans of the series. I couldn't help but feel like the darker east coast setting gave this game a fresh feel, and anyone that's tired of the brightly colored cities of the last few games should not regret spending their cash on this one. 
