The demo sent to the press by Activision is the exact same demo youll get access to in the next couple of days if you pre-order the game or buy the right burrito, but do not expect much. It consists of a single level: The Warehouse. You can just play as Tony Hawk, and you have 2 minutes to get as numerous points as you can during your run.
In spite of stopping working in my first effort at a line, I was elated. My old muscle memory was still there, sharpened from hours upon hours playing the initial video games, judging distances and finding lines and finding out how to keep a technique going. I lost virtual teeth because I wasnt able to land that last ollie and bring the points house, however I understood it was my fault, not the video games.
Up until I understood that my timing and spacing were both a little off, and I landed in a load– only to enjoy my skater get pixelated as a small “rewind” sound played through the speakers, a brand-new addition to the series. The tape I was shooting just required to be brought back to where I was on my feet.
I started, gained momentum on the down slope, ollied onto the metal bar in the middle of the level for a brief grind, popped off, landed in a handbook to keep the combination going, then skated up the ramp on the opposite side of the level, still in my handbook, and transitioned into a slide that kept me returning toward the other side of the level, popped off the ramp to land a grind on the rail right prior to the space, leaped off the rail, and cruised throughout the space. It was magnificent.
I was dying to discover if the designers of Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 and 2 had actually done it, had actually restored the initial feel of the series, and I received my response very rapidly: This is what I wanted. It was tough to stop smiling as soon as everything clicked.
The demonstration as it exists is an exercise in restraint and showmanship
There are some quality-of-life updates here– the handbook didnt exist in the original Tony Hawks Pro Skater, after all– and you can toggle a few things to change the experience, such as making it so your unique meter is constantly filled or so you cant eliminate. The skaters from the original video game that will make it into this release will be the present-day, older variations of the real-life skaters, with some additions to the lineup. The last soundtrack is a great mix of old and brand-new, with a couple of tracks missing due to accrediting issues.
The demo as it exists is a workout in restraint and showmanship. Its the sort of statement you release when you know that youve done enough vital things well, and that a small taste will suffice to get individuals excited. Its a minimum working version thats ideally indicative of the final game.
You can just play as Tony Hawk, and you have 2 minutes to get as many points as you can throughout your run. Until I recognized that my timing and spacing were both slightly off, and I landed in a load– just to enjoy my skater get pixelated as a minor “rewind” sound played through the speakers, a new addition to the series. My old muscle memory was still there, sharpened from hours upon hours playing the initial games, judging ranges and finding lines and discovering how to keep a technique going. There are some quality-of-life updates here– the manual didnt exist in the original Tony Hawks Pro Skater, after all– and you can toggle a couple of things to change the experience, such as making it so your unique meter is constantly filled or so you cant wipe out. The skaters from the original video game that will make it into this release will be the contemporary, older variations of the real-life skaters, with some additions to the roster.
” We dug into Neversofts codebase, we had the ability to pull the managing code out of there, bring it into the engine that were in now and update it to ensure that we are making that feel exactly the method you remember it but upgraded with modern-day animation,” Vicarious Visions studio head Jen Oneal told Polygon in a previous interview. “It just looks extremely smooth, and the fidelity is great.”
Even though I had put this specific controller down a decade earlier, playing this demo for the first time made it feel like no time had actually passed at all.
This is the Tony Hawks Pro Skater I remember, and I can play it like I remember, which is everything I desired from this updated variation. The rebuilt and retextured levels I could leave or take, although the upgraded look updates the experience visually to such a degree that it would not look out of place as a brand-new game in 2020.
This sense of continuity, of making that muscle memory useful again, was among the objectives of this rerelease.
If you liked the first two Tony Hawk video games, this demonstration will get you a lot more fired up to see how the rest of the levels look and play when Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 and 2 is launched on PlayStation 4, Windows PC, and Xbox One on Sept. 4.
