Wow! The state of this game is amazing, and that makes it the best Tony Hawk game ever!
n THUG, the player's skater (which must be created; professional skaters (including the seminal Tony Hawk, also the game series' eponym) and unlockable skaters are available, but only in multiplayer modes) is a largely nameless skater from a New Jersey town, who aspires to make a name for himself (or if you chose to make your avatar female, herself) in the world of professional skateboarding. To this end, he receives some help from childhood friend Eric Sparrow and skateshop owner Stacy Peralta, as well as a skateboard from skateboard pro Chad Muska, whom the character impresses during his time in New Jersey. As the game progresses, the character gains recognition, first as an amateur team skater, then as a professional. However, Sparrow's selfishness gets the better of him time and again, and he always seems to steal the spotlight...
The initial culmination of the player's efforts results in one of the most memorable cutscenes in the game; the player must jump off of one building, perform a grab trick (specifically, a McTwist) over the spinning blades of a helicopter, and land in (or near) a half-pipe a number of stories down on another building. Note: Even if the player does not land the trick correctly in game, the cutscene will show the player landing perfectly on the hotel roof.
In THUG after getting out of Moscow you must make your own team and complete a series of difficult stunts. For your last challenge you face Eric where you must hit all of his lines within a set time limit. Because it is considered to a be a frustrating and tiresome goal no matter what the difficulty, players only need to complete the goal once - Any subsequent plays through the game, and when Eric challenges you, you just punch him in the face, knocking him out and catching the tape in one motion. Cool, right?
What's awesome about this game is that you can do pretty much anything. You can skate and pull tricks off of houses, fences, cars, everything and you can get off of your board at anytime and explore. You can even drive around, though it isn't that much fun because it feels they just threw it in last minute. There's a bunch of awesome looking tricks you can do and they made them pretty easy to pull off. There are four difficulty levels to choose from so it can suit the skill of any player. Easy is just that, easy. You can pull off tricks and even if you miss the ramp you just flew off of and hit the street, you'll still land the trick. The harder modes you have to land straight and make sure you stop your trick well before you reach the ground otherwise you'll fall off of your board.
In story mode you first have to create your character and they give you quite a few options like you can choose the head, the hair style, color, clothes, tattoo's, etc. or if you don't feel like making your character from scratch you can choose from pre-made characters. Usually you have to pull of certain tricks or combo's in order to progress through story mode, but sometimes you'll have to drive the car to a certain area in a short amount of time.
There's even a mode to build your own map which is really freakin' cool, though don't expect the maps to look like the ones in story mode. You can play your custom map on multiplayer modes.
The graphics in this game are stellar. Watching my character do even just a trick that earned you low points like the Ollie looked more realistic than I had ever imagined it to look. The tricks are pulled off so well that I would have trouble telling the difference between the game and the real thing.
The characters are also very well done. The faces of the real life skaters are very close to what they actually look like. Facial expressions are done very well as well. The lips move very realistically, eyebrows will frown when you are angry, and eyes will squint when the character is angry.
The sound effects in this game are very true to life. The sound of the wheels on the ground sound exactly as they should. The best thing about that being when you go from regular cement to a cobblestone walkway in Manhattan. The transition between the sounds is seamless. Crashes also sound great. I love to hear the bones crushing when you go head first into the ground.
Something that normally doesn’t get factored into this rating is custom soundtracks. If you don’t like the music that is playing, you can insert your own music into the play list. Or, if you do like the music, but also want more, you can play the custom soundtrack along with the original. I have not had a need to change the soundtrack though because the music is so varied and it is also very good. But if you change it, make sure you have Green Day songs.
Now. The verdict. Should YOU buy it or not?
Well, I would say a YES if you enjoy skateboarding or the previous Tony Hawk Games or any sport ones. But a NO if you are not interested in skating.
A very great game with tons of tools and customization that you should definitely buy. Overall THUG is definately a great game, it's levels are so diverse, and ghetto, and cozy that you will want to come back over and over again. This is a must-buy for anyone with an Xbox. Anyone.