The year is 1999, you rush home from school, turn on your console and wait for that iconic Police Truck song to start. The day just feels like a distant memory as you shred around. Fast forward 21 years, as an actual adult now I feel myself rushing home, turning on my Xbox and waiting for Guerilla Radio to start. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 has been developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision and is a ground up remaster of two games that were childhood favourites for so many of us, so it’s time to drop in and get this board rolling.

Getting stuck in, you are greeted by a menu with a bevy of options neatly packaged together. The hub is where you’ll find a shortlist of challenges and where you can pick between Tony Hawk’s 1,2 and Ranked Free Skate. Tab over to ‘Skater;’ to either create your own custom skater to your liking or pick from 21 past and present absolute legends of the industry. Kareem Campbell fans where you at?! If you do get the deluxe version, you’ll also have access to the wicked looking ‘The Ripper’ skeleton character.

The next tab has all things skate shop related. New clothing, logos, tattoos and boards will become available as you level up in game and are purchasable with in-game money which gives you a sense of accomplishment for your hours put in. Throughout both Skate Tours and the Create-a-Park game modes there is mountains of challenges to do. 714 to be exact! So be ready to literally ‘grind’ them all out if you’re keen.

To the gameplay, now and boy does Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 live up to expectation! The remastered quality is beautiful and just how you’d have imagined in your wettest skating dream. Each park has been meticulously detailed and flows so well it will have you doing a 900 in your chair. As with the original, each park has its own list of goals and stat collectibles scattered around. Classics like wall riding the school bells and grinding the infamous subway rails of New York bring back such great memories of the pixelated days.

The game mechanics themselves feel just like they used to, with fair ease being able to pull of some of the sickest tricks in the sport. If you feel more comfortable using the D-pad for steering and doing your tricks the game is geared for both types of players. Slamming down each of the parks and tracks Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 just oozes what Tony Hawk has always been about, the outrageous and wild side of skating.

Racking up combos soon becomes a lot easier as you start to memorise your trick lists leading to the all mighty special bar. For those of you that don’t know about this, this is where the real magic is hidden. While in special mode you can pull off with the right button combinations Trademark moves like ‘the 900’, ‘The Pizza Guy’ and many more. There are hours on hours of replay-ability trying to church out high scores, big combos and just generally enjoying the nostalgia. Nothing feels clunky or under done as far as controls go and is simple enough for even the casual gamer to enjoy.

Multiplayer games are a new addition and provide that little bit more competition for the seasoned pro. Line up against your friends and random people from all around the world and find out who takes home the cake. Lastly, the Create-a-Park mode allows you to construct your own skate park from a large selection of different pieces. As you design your park there’s a difficulty meter that goes up to give you a rough idea of complexity your project is at. When you’re happy with the beast you’ve created you can upload it for others to download and shred on which is pretty cool.

The graphics in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 are well polished and are a massive improvement from the original (not hard). All the movements feel and look smooth, nothing looks jittery or out of place. The parks themselves are masterpieces with enough going on to keep you mesmerised. Even the leaves as you skate through them lift and move, an A+ for attention to detail. The colours used for each park reflects the originals and blows you away at just how perfectly well they melded together. The soundtrack itself is still as timeless as when it originally came out. It could have been left as it was from the original games but the new additions fit the game to a tee. A few Australian acts even made it in which definitely made me proud! The mixture of both new and old tracks gels so well with the game it’s like they were there from the beginning of time.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a remaster package that puts a lot of others to shame. The effort put in to bring back an absolute classic from my childhood has been noticed and I personally couldn’t be happier with what’s on offer. With so much to do and with a soundtrack unlike any other game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is a game I’ll be Kickflip Mctwisting into for the months ahead.

Written by: SmuglinRaisins