Predictable in some ways, completely unpredictable in others! This game is classic! (FUNNY MOVIE OF ME SKATING ASWELL!!)
I'm saying this, because I don't want you to read this review, and think I know everything about the physics, the way the board moves, or anything, because I don't. AT ALL.
However, I have played all the Tony Hawk to death, and enjoyed Skate. So I know how good the game is in terms of this.
So, to start with, I'll talk abotu the storyline. It's VERY sound. VERY solid. VERY exciting. You can choose what you do, when you do it, and how you do it. No pressure whatsoever. If you want to learn how to film yourself, you do that, if you want to learn how to build an amazing line, you do that, if you would rather skate and explore, do that! That said, this is what the last five Hawk games have been about, since Pro Skater 4. The storyline is split into chapters, all based around different proskaters, and different skills. This works well, and you'll soon find yourself having fun, doing different goals.
The controls are good, but starting to fall into the trap of either being classic, or very complicated. All of the original controls are there, except for focus mode, and the new features, such as skate checking, and bowl slashing all seem very complicated. Still, you get used to them.
Like I said, I'm gonna be awful trying to locate the realism, but I'd say it is more realistic than many of the previous games, and so feels better.
Customization options are absolutely through the rough on this game, changing nearly everything about your character, up to the colour of the whites of his eyes! The rigging is great as well, bringing skating a little more to your own needs!
Obviously, a great soundtrack, probably the best to date, with Foo Fighters, Nirvana and many others!
Lastly, I have come to the part I have been dreading: Having to compare it with Skate.
The reason I have dreaded this is because they are both great games. In their own right.
See they are different, and as much as I have to say it, I think that Skate has only made me enjoy THPG even more than I would have.
Also, it is worth pointing out that this game is as much a sequal to THUG, that THP8 was a sequal to THPS4. Unfortunately we've got onto the Jackass games next time if this pattern continues!!!!!!
A great game, and well worth your colllection!!!