There were a few big games not present at any of the press conferences this past week, and the one I really wanted to know more about was Tony Hawk 5. There was some screen shots of the game that came out and they didn’t look to impressive, but I chalked it up to a bad selection of screen shots. I waited through the conference’s of Xbox and Playstation to see any kind of game play, but when I didn’t I went on a hunt. I knew that Tony Hawk had to be there showing off the new game and letting people have play time with it, but most of all he’ll need to show off what it looks like in action. I went to the Tony Hawk video game site and found the following game play video that didn’t really make me want to buy it.
This level is a remake of the first level from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and it doesn’t look much different. There are a few more details and the wood has become metal in some parts, but other than that nothing is making me look at this and saying next gen. The other levels in the video are a school level and a video where they show off your board on fire, which is a part of the game now. Knowing the history of the Tony Hawk games the fire will be used to burn something down or light a fuse, and the electricity will be to shock something or turn the power back on.
I ran across this interview Tony Hawk did with IGN where he revealed that Officer Dick and a musician would be a playable character.
I’ll be excited to play with different characters when the levels become interesting. If a level seems boring, why would I want to experience it with more than one character. To progress the story I’ll just want to get past it and see whats next, not spend more time seeing how a long jump looks with different skaters. I’m a Tony Hawk Pro Skater fan, but this game isn’t doing it for me so far.