Tony Hawk's Project 8

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Tony Hawk's Project 8

Developer(s) Neversoft
(Xbox 360, PS3)
Shaba Games
(PlayStation 2, Xbox)
Page 44 Studios
(PSP)
Publisher(s) Activision
Platform(s) PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PSP, Xbox 360, Xbox
Release date November 7, 2006 (PS2, Xbox, Xbox 360)
November 17, 2006 (PS3) (US)
November 21, 2006 (PSP)
March 3, 2007 (Europe)
Genre(s) Extreme sports
Mode(s) Single player, multiplayer, online
Rating(s) ESRB: T (Teen)
PEGI: 16+
Media BD-ROM, DVD, UMD

Tony Hawk's Project 8, also known as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 8 but officially abbreviated as THP8, is the eighth installment in the Tony Hawk's Series. It was released on sixth-generation (Playstation 2 & Xbox) and seventh-generation consoles (Xbox 360 & Playstation 3), and is a completely different game from its Wii counterpart, Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam. The name Project 8 refers to the Project 8 competition featured in the storyline, and because this is the eighth game in the "Tony Hawk" series.

Contents

[edit] About

Project 8 features one giant streaming city to skate in (only on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360) , which contains various skateparks and "hidden sections". An E3 preview by a member of the PlanetTonyHawk.com staff stated "The levels are massive and an amalgamation of just about every level in the early THPS games. So Suburbia, School, Downtown and Factory (I, II and III) are all interconnected and part of the same town." [1] There are about 45 skaters in the game, including unlockable characters, who each have a unique mo-cap style (only on the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360), providing a different experience and no recycled animations. One of the new features is the 'nail the trick' option. When a player enters this mode the camera will zoom in on the side to focus on the skateboard and the characters feet. Players will then be able to use the right analog stick to control the right foot and the left analog stick to control the left foot, allowing the player to flip and rotate the board in any such manner; including tapping the underside of the board in the air and merging various techniques to form new moves. Another new ability in the game is to control the characters in the game during crashes, allowing you to obtain a high "Hospital bill", with bonus money awarded for broken bones - this feature is used in numerous challenges across the story mode (only on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360). Players can also induce a wreck manually in a way very similar to Thrasher: Skate and Destroy on the PlayStation. Lastly, players still have the option to get off their skateboard at any time and run, though it plays a very small role in the game overall, other than avoiding bails and extending combos.

[edit] Playable Skaters

[edit] Levels

The levels/regions featured in the game are:

Story Mode world

  • Suburbia/Suburbs
  • Skate Park/Crete Park
  • Main Street/Downtown
  • Capitol/City Center
  • City Park (PS3/Xbox 360 versions only)
  • School/High School
  • Slums (PS3/Xbox 360 versions only)
  • Factory/Car Factory
  • Hill Top (PS3/Xbox 360 versions only)
  • Fun Park
  • Downhill (PS2/Xbox versions only)

Classic Levels (PSP version only)

[edit] Version differences

Project 8 is available in three distinctly different versions. The first version is the one created by Neversoft for the current generation game consoles, the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 games do not use the universal cheats. The second version was created by Shaba Games for the previous generation game systems, the Xbox and the Playstation 2. Some features were left out or redesigned to suit the limitations of the older game systems for the Shaba version. Notable changes/exclusions in the Shaba version include isolated levels selected from the menu rather than one large interconnected level, fewer options for create-a-skater, the new stat upgrade system, and skeletal animations are not included in the Shaba version. Also some of the goals are different between the next generation consoles and the older systems. The third version was created by Page 44 Studios for the PlayStation Portable. In the PlayStation Portable version, "nail-the-trick" is used with the face buttons. The PSP version also has extra classic levels from previous Tony Hawk games.

[edit] Tournament

It is recently been added on the World Cyber Games.

[edit] Reception

 Tony Hawk's Project 8
Publication Score
G4 3/5
Game Informer 8.75/10
GamePro 4.5/5
GamesMaster 89/100
GameSpot 7.3/10
GameSpy 2.5/5
GameTrailers 8.8/10
IGN 7/10
Play Magazine 85/100
Official PlayStation Magazine (US) 7.5/10
Official PlayStation Magazine (UK) 5.10
PSM 7/10
PSM3 80/100

The game has been met with mostly positive reviews, with the Xbox 360 version garnering an overall average of 81% on Game Rankings. It was especially the subject of praise for its "Nail the Trick" mode and graphical enhancements (it has, however, received criticism for the removal of several key features).

Combined with the greater processing power of the current generation of consoles, this presents a big leap in graphical appearance over the rest of the series, which has somewhat stagnated in this area; however, many people criticized the facial animations of the models, calling them unrealistic looking.[citation needed]

In the GameSpot review of the Playstation 3 version, Project 8 was criticized for its lack of online play and unstable framerate.[2] Criticism has been aimed at the versions of the game on all Sony systems (PSP, PS2, PS3) which all lack any online multiplayer functions. Major gaming websites like IGN and GameSpot[citation needed] note that since the Tony Hawk franchise was the first game series available to be playable online on the PlayStation 2, the PlayStation 3's omission is strange, especially considering the Xbox 360 version is fully playable on Xbox Live, and all prior versions of the series back to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 have been fully supported by online play with the PlayStation 2. Despite the unstable frame rate and the lack of online play, the Playstation 3 version was praised for its superior graphics over the Xbox 360 graphics due to crisper still images and sharper character models and its excellent use of the Sixaxis motion sensor.

[edit] Awards

  • Received the IGN award for Best Licensed Soundtrack on PlayStation 3 in 2006.

[edit] Soundtrack

The complete in-game soundtrack was revealed on October 17, 2006 [1]:

Note:

  • The tracks with a '+' next to it indicates that these songs are featured on the PS2, Xbox and PSP versions.
  • The songs "Moving at the Speed of Life", "Second Thoughts", "Goodbye", "I Hate the Radio", "Cause I Can" and "Skatetown" can be listened to on the official site [2].
  • The title song for the game is "Club Foot" by Kasabian
  • The Walkmen's "This Job is Killing Me" was replaced by "Tenley Town" on the PS2, Xbox and PSP versions, but the title is still listed as "This Job is Killing Me".

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • Mindy from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland makes a cameo in the skatepark.
  • On the Project 8 ranking section of career mode, notable amateur skateboarders can be seen, such as Shane Cross, Colin Provost, Louie Lopez and Lewis Marnell.

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.planettonyhawk.com/thp8/info/e3preview/
  2. ^ Tony Hawk's Project 8 for PlayStation 3 Review - PlayStation 3 Tony Hawk's Project 8 Review

[edit] External links

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Tony Hawk's video games