Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 review — Spine transfer into a new-old format

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is emblematic of a type of game we just don’t see much anymore. It came from an era where extreme sports were all the rage, and the developers at Neversoft successfully captured that zeitgeist in the THPS series. Trends may move on, but nothing ever really filled the void the series left. Some titles may have had skateboarding-like minigames, but not the incredibly tight mechanics and style of Pro Skater. That was, until the remake by Vicarious Visions. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 brought me right back to my childhood, despite never playing the original two games. It was a great way to experience those games or experience them for the first time. Sadly, in spite of their phenomenal work on THPS and other titles, Vicarious Visions was merged with Blizzard Entertainment. Now, Iron Galaxy is taking up the reins for a remake of 3 + 4. While this is a new studio, they’ve put the same amount of love and care into recreating these beloved titles.

I’ll admit I was worried about this remake, specifically the half that is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. While 3 still utilized the 2-minute session format, 4 took things in a different direction with missions you could freely accept throughout each level. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 puts those missions into the 2-minute session format, but it’s a bit more nuanced than that. It’s not a one-for-one transfer in 4’s levels, but rather reimagining those goals to get across the same vibe while fitting in more with 1, 2, and 3’s goals. For example, in the London level, the goal to Free Stompy the Elephant used to involve destroying some traps before the elephant got there. Now, it’s a fairly simple skitching challenge where you need to unlock the back of a car by skitching on the left and right sides. It’s completely different in practice, which makes this less of a remake and more of a reimagining if we’re arguing semantics.

Among those returning from Pro Skaters 3 and 4, there are also three new levels added to 4: the Movie Studio (which is a competition), the Waterpark, and a secret, final level I won’t spoil here. They fit in well with the rest of the levels, and I was actually surprised to learn they were new after playing through them.

It’s not a perfect translation though. In some levels, it was incredibly difficult to find all the SKATE letters in a single combo, and I find that when used well, this particular goal can help you see possible combo lines in a level. There are some levels in both games where this is the case, but also some where it feels like the letters are just scattered about randomly. (Weirdly, Waterpark was a big offender in this.)  There were also three or four times when an objective title just wasn’t enough to go off of and I had to look up info from the original game. I still have no idea where to find a chainsaw in Suburbia and discovered how to get the key in Alcatraz entirely by accident. Surprisingly, I relied a lot more on the score goals to unlock the next levels when I usually gravitate towards the more bespoke objectives.

Getting those high scores and combos involves doing grab, flip, and rail tricks along with manuals and reverts. 3 + 4 plays exactly the same as 1 + 2, so if you already know what you’re doing you can skip right past the tutorial. You can pick from a plethora of different pro skaters, such as Tony Hawk himself, The Slayer from DOOM, Michelangelo the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, Kareem Campbell, Chad Muska, Rayssa Leal, Yuto Horgome, and more all of whom have different stats and styles. I really appreciate the diversity of this roster, especially the inclusion of more female pros, and it’s cool to see so many new and returning skaters.

You can, of course, simply create your own skater to play as, and that’s what I did for the majority of my playtime. It’s a pretty simplistic character creator, you simply pick a face, some clothes, customize your deck, and allocate stats. You can buy more customization options at the in-game shop using cash earned from each run, and find more stat points within levels. However, every skater has their own Solo Tour, so it’s well worth going through the roster if you want to unlock even more goals and customization options. 

There’s quite a lot to do, even after finishing the initial goals in each level. I’ve already mentioned there are stat points to find, but there’s also a secret Iron Galaxy Logo, cash, and passive objectives in each level, on top of Expert Challenges and Pro Goals after completing every goal and earning all the gold medals. If you’re not the completionist type, there’s still a few more modes that might grab your attention, like the online free skate, H-O-R-S-E, and HAWK modes, to name a few. I wasn’t able to try those unfortunately as I can’t afford PS Plus, but there’s also local multiplayer if you really want to go old school. You can even create and share your own parks if you’re the creative type. 

On the single player side, there’s also free skate and single session if you just want to vibe and do tricks, as well as Speed Run mode where you need to complete every goal in a park as quickly as possible. It’s not a mode that really appeals to me personally, but it may be interesting to see someone master it.

At the end of the day, what keeps bringing me back to these games, both the classics and the remakes, is the pure fun of pulling off tricks while skating through a variety of levels. I love chaining together big combos, going from vert ramps to street using manuals and reverts, and seeing how long I can keep it going before landing perfectly or bailing out. It’s a thrilling risk/reward that provides a high like no other once you finally pull it off. The various goals help facilitate this or offer something completely different, but for the most part, it's all fun. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 isn’t a perfect execution of this concept, but it’s still a blast. All that love and care matters, and its people that make these games special. In an industry that is dead set on reducing everything to ashes for more money, never forget that it’s the people who matter.