Tony Hawk's Underground 2
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| Tony Hawk's Underground 2 | |
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| Developer(s) | Neversoft Shaba Games (PSP port) |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Engine | RenderWare |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation 2 GameCube Xbox Windows Game Boy Advance Mobile phone PSP |
| Release date | October 4, 2004 March 15, 2005 (PSP NA) September 1, 2005 (PSP EU) |
| Genre(s) | Extreme sports |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) PEGI: 16+ |
Tony Hawk's Underground 2 (also known as THUG 2 or Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 6) is the sixth installment in Neversoft's Tony Hawk's Series and is the sequel to 2003's Tony Hawk's Underground. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 was released on October 6, 2004 for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, Windows, and Game Boy Advance platforms. It is also backwards compatible with the Xbox 360.
On March 18, 2005, it was released for the PlayStation Portable and renamed Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix.
Contents |
[edit] Story
The opening sequence shows the player skating at home (the New Jersey neighborhood from the previous game). A van shows up in the middle of the ramp and the player slams into the van. Two people wearing hockey masks kidnap the player and take him to a dark room with other skaters like Eric Sparrow, Bob Burnquist, Mike Vallely and others. Then, Bam Margera and Tony Hawk explain their plans for the first annual World Destruction Tour, a "sick-as-hell" around-the-world skateboarding tour. The skaters then split into two teams - Team Hawk and Team Bam - and the player joins Team Hawk. The player starts trlm director, by the name of Nigel Beaverhausen, wishes to bring the tour to the public but instead humiliated by Tony and Bam. After causing chaos in Bangkok, the tour lands in Australia. At the end of the leg, the player is supposed to be eliminated by being stripped naked and hit by mousetraps but due Rodney Mullen spotting a mathematical error in the teams points, the player is supposed to compete with Eric with the loser eliminated from the tour. The group ponders what to do but an Australian skater kid shows them a video of the tour, created by Nigel Beaverhausen. Bam then decides that whoever humiliates Beaverhausen will stay on the tour. Eric only steals his clothes but the player, with Nigel's clothes, pisses off local Aussies to get them angry at Beaverhausen. Eric is then eliminated from the tour and the tour advances to New Orleans. At the end, Nigel revealed that he filmed the whole tour, even before he met Tony and Bam in Berlin. Nigel then proposes that if he is allowed to film the whole tour, he will pay for all the damages of the tour. Team Hawk then performs a death-defying stunt called the "Equalizer" to tie up with Team Bam and is successful, but team members Mike Vallely, Chad Muska and Rodney Mullen are arrested by the cops, leaving only the player and Tony Hawk. At the end of the final stop in Skatopia, Bam blows up Skatopia, Tony evacuates the inhabitants and Bam dares the player, who is still stuck in Skatopia, to exit Skatopia in a combo, which the player does and gives Team Hawk the win in the World Destruction Tour. Nigel then wants Bam to give him the tape of the tour, which only shows Bam's father, Phil Margera in the toilet, The game ends when Bam and Tony humiliate Beaverhausen once more.
[edit] Gameplay
The gameplay in Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is similar to that of previous Tony Hawk games: the player skates around in a 3D environment modeled after various cities and attempts to complete various goals. Most goals involve skating on or over various objects or performing combos. Scores are calculated by adding the sum of the point value of each trick strung together in a combo and then multiplying by the number of tricks in the combo.
THUG 2 also sees the return of the much loved Classic Mode. In this mode, the player has 2 minutes to complete as many of the tasks as possible, including high scores, collecting "SKATE" letters and finding secret objects. Many levels return from previous games, including an expanded warehouse from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, and the airport from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.
[edit] New tricks
- Natas Spin - The character can spin his or her board on objects such as fire hydrants and garbage cans.
- Destruction Bonus - The character is rewarded with a small bonus for destroying objects. In addition, if certain tricks are performed in some places of each Story Mode level (except for Training), a massive amount of destruction will ensue, allowing for new skating possibilities (for example, a pile of rubble may be used as a ramp).
- Throwing Objects - The character can pick up objects, such as spraypaint cans and Mardi Gras beads, to throw at pedestrians.
- Sticker Slap - Replaces the Wallplant from THUG 1. As the name suggests, a sticker is stuck on the wall instead.
- Focus - Allows time to slow down to perfect tricks and help keep your skater balanced.
- Flips and Rolls - The player can perform front flips, back flips and roll tricks.
- Freak Out - When a player falls over, repeatedly tapping the grind button causes the player to "freak out" and break his board. This allows the player to begin a combo immediately. The higher the Freak-Out gauge gets, the higher your Freak-Out Score will be when you get angry.
[edit] Major characters
Tony Hawk is basically the 'good guy' in this game. His team has none of the 'odd skaters' (ex. Paulie, Eric, etc.) The player is on his team, briefly swapped, and then brought back to his team.
Jackass veteran Bam Margera is depicted as a loose cannon, playing the immature and outrageous pranks he is renowned for. As is the case in Margera's Jackass spin-off Viva La Bam, his favorite victim is his own father, Phil Margera. Margera's prominence in THUG 2 can be attributed less to professional skateboarding than to the level of fame and popularity he had achieved through Jackass and Viva La Bam.
The player's rival from THUG is back in THUG2. He is a member of Bam's team, but after Spain, they swap him with the player. After the completion of the Berlin level, the swap is undone and the player is gladly welcomed back into Tony's crew, who were getting annoyed by Eric's shameful performance. Sparrow is kicked out of the competition after the Australia level and Nigel falls from a crane onto him. In the ending of the game, newscaster Hugh Jass says Sparrow was recovering nicely after undergoing plastic surgery after the incident. Eric is not playable in the game.
- Nigel Beaverhausen
The teams meet Beaverhausen on the Berlin level of their tour in which Nigel offers to sell videos of the tour. After having the skaters refuse his offer (and they also duct-tape him to his own truck and put a scared turtle in his pants), he starts selling out videos with unauthorized footage of the competition. In Australia, the teams temporarily unite and gets their revenge by making some Aussies angry enough pick him up with a crane (by his somehow durable underpants) after the player, disguised as Beaverhausen, annoys the locals. In New Orleans, he finally makes his deal: he pays for the entire tour in exchange of an exclusive video of the event. But in the end of the game he is only being given a tape of Phil Margera on the toilet. A cheat is available for Nigel Beaverhausen, which is sellout, a cheat that enables Nigel Beaverhausen to be unlocked for High Score/Free Skate.
- Paulie "Wheels Of Fury" Ryan
A ten year old boy that is in a body cast from skating on wood chippers. He and the player were the only two left and Bam had to choose. He chose Paulie over the skater, due to his fiery spirit. His wheelchair is battery powered and he is able to grind and do grab tricks with it. He is selectable in free skate and classic but he is not in his wheelchair. He uses a regular board. He is playable on the Berlin level of the game as the hidden skater.
[edit] Playable characters
[edit] Secret Skaters(obtainable by progressing through the story and classic modes and by getting all the gaps.)
[edit] Story Mode Levels
[edit] Classic modeIn response to longtime fans' dissatisfaction with the format introduced in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Neversoft has added a classic mode, which allows players to skate through both new and remade classic levels in the traditional 10-goal, two-minute time limit mode that was present in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, complete with the stat points scattered all around the levels. In classic mode, the player chooses from one or two levels in which to attempt to complete enough goals to advance. All of the "remade" levels are accessible only through "Classic Mode" although once unlocked, it is possible to use them in any mode except "Story Mode". Classic mode levels include the levels found in the story mode of the game with the exception of "Pro Skater", as well as the remade levels:
The remade levels from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 are based on the Gamecube, PS2 and Xbox versions as opposed to the versions for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. Although some of the levels are the same regardless of the version, Canada, Airport and Los Angeles, California are based on the higher resolution versions of the game. [edit] ReceptionGame Rankings currently scores it 84% for the PlayStation 2, 83.9% for the GameCube, 82.8% for the Xbox, 83% for the PlayStation Portable, and 86.1% for the PC. [edit] RemixTony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix for the PlayStation Portable is largely identical to the console and PC versions, but adds four new levels ("Las Vegas", "Atlanta", "Kyoto" and "Santa Cruz"), which were exclusive at the time, but later included in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, in the classic mode. Due to space and battery consumption issues, much of the voice acting was removed. THUG2 Remix was ported by Shaba Games, previously responsible for porting Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 to the original PlayStation. The game was released to generally good reviews, averaging 83% on Game Rankings [1] The following characters were added:
[edit] Soundtrack(53 songs)
The Ministry song "No" is actually titled "No W," however, the Tony Hawk games have a history of changing song names for example: Agent Orange's "Speed Kills" is actually "Bloodstains," and in Tony Hawk's Project 8 the Ministry's song is called "Stigmata Remix." [edit] Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Special Edition Xbox Console The Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Special Edition Xbox was issued in October 2004 in conjunction with Activision and online skater magazine caughtinthecrossfire in the United Kingdom. This special edition console was only available as a winner's prize at skateboarding and gameplay competitions to commemorate and promote the release of Tony Hawk's Underground 2 on the Xbox. The artwork was airbrush painted by hand in an urban graffiti style with translucent matte lacquer finish. The artwork covered the top of the case and followed the X shape downwards on the corners of the Xbox. A very limited production run of 10 graffiti style units was commissioned and was issued "Not For Resale". Included with the THUG2 Special Edition console was a matching Crystal Controller S and a Tony Hawk autographed copy of Tony Hawk's Underground 2. [edit] GlitchesA level of infamy has resulted from the amount of glitches in the game. [edit] Los Angeles background skateArguably the most notorious glitch in the game, this is achieved by getting onto the bridge, and standing on a car while it drives off the programmed area. This results in the formation of "bouncy walls". [edit] External links
Notes In the New Orleans level, the alley across from the cemetary features skate shop called Humidity named after the real local skate shop in the french quarter, as well as ramps featuring the Humidity logo on them. |
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