After years of doing the same basic tricks, with only minor changes with each passing iteration, Tony Hawk's skateboarding series is ready for a reboot. Following on the heels of the critically acclaimed Skate, is Proving Ground's reinvention of the classic game too little too late? As most gamers will question quickly, what reinvention?
The Tony Hawk franchise is skating's answer to the Madden football franchise; relentlessly, and needlessly, releasing annual versions with minimal upgrades from one to the next. Hawk does not even have a rookie draft to pin his steady stream of games on. The trend continues here, with the only real change made is the three branching storylines for gamers to pick and choose how quickly they play through each, or whether they ignore one altogether. The look, feel, controls, and general gameplay all remain sadly intact.
Skaters being the game much in the same way they have for years, by creating themselves in full-on skater fashion. Sadly, what has been a game of 'how much can I make this look like me' in previous iterations has been stripped to the bare essentials on Proving Ground. There are a whopping twelve faces available; really just slight variations of white, black, and Asian. Selecting your hair is equally limited. To see so few customization options for player creation at this point in the series is a major letdown.
They replace the customization of your character with a plethora of licensed good to slap on your bland skater creation. If the developers put half the time into the game on things that gamers cared about (new modes, innovation, etc.) that they did about things like licensed kneepads and real-world video of skating 'legends' that no one outside the skating scene knows, Tony Hawk might return to a game worth buying. Even the character models in the game feel like a step backward at this point, with the most important character in the series (Mr. Hawk, himself) looking like a worn-down junkie. From the muted, gritty tones of the menus to the catch-all old school rap to tattered garage rock soundtrack, the presentation of the game is as bland and lifeless as the gameplay.
Once in the game, gamers start a branching storyline that takes you in three separate directions as a skater. Gamers are now in control of what type of skater they become. Gamers choose to do objectives to improve their status as rigger, career, or hardcore skaters. Riggers are perhaps the most interesting of the bunch, as you actually build ramps and rails to skate. Sadly, it is not nearly as involved as it sounds. No actual 'building' is required, as you just press the 'back' button and select the kind of item you would like to place. The game offers you an initial challenge of building a small ramp, and jumping over cars. Why not make the gamer actually track down plywood and 2 x 4's to complete the process? Instead, the game dumbs down the process to simply placing a pre-made ramp in the right direction. Thanks for the challenge.
