Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 Remake

Introduction
Do you have your skating gear on? I am excited to see how well the remake of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 is compared with the original which I played a long time ago. I had the N64 version of Tony Hawk 1 what feels like eons ago.
In the remake Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 and 2 are fused together, this means that I will also fuse the review. In this game, you take the role of Tony Hawk but there are also other pro skaters, you can also create your own skater.
There is also a secret character voiced by Jack Black but no matter how hard we tried it was impossible for us to unlock him, even though I can pull off combos almost hitting the million I am not well-versed in all aspects of this game.

I am good at grinding rails and doing manuals but my halfpipe and air tricks might need some work to pull this off. There is no story in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 but there are two campaigns for you to complete, you will need to re-complete the campaign with every character if you want them all upgraded to their maximum stats, yes indeed you can upgrade your skaters! In the campaign, you will find stat points that you can apply to your skater! In the campaign, you will need to complete goals like high scores or find a secret tape. I will not add a story mode in this review as there is simply no story.

What did I think of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 before playing?
I have always enjoyed playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater back when I was a little kid and it has been a while since I touched a skating game.
I remember playing as Darth Maul in Tony Hawk 4 and unlocking a secret character in one of the games that had an eyeball for a head.
I was very eager to play this remake and see if I can still play it like I used to back in the day, I got my wife excited to play a skating game even though she dislikes almost all sport-related games.
To my surprise she bought Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 for my Birthday, she also wanted to play the game together taking turns in the campaign.
Since it was my birthday we of course immediately started downloading the game on the PS4, meanwhile, we started to look up some videos.
My wife wanted to hunt down some secret tapes and I wanted to try if I could still reach amazing high scores like back in the day.
The trailers looked amazing and we both got very excited to try the game out, my wife wanted to see our skater epicly fall and have pain to get a good laugh. We missed the blood spatter animation though.

I rate Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 before playing with an 8.5.
Even if you are not a big fan of sporting games this is still a game that attracts many people, the trailers look like how I remember how the N64 edition looked but I know my mind simply deceives me.

Gameplay
After choosing one of the pro skaters or creating your own skater you can choose which game-world you are going to enter, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 or 2. You will need to visit both if you want to get all the stat upgrades for the character that you are playing. There are multiple levels in both game worlds, most of them consist of a small level where you need to complete various missions but you only get two minutes per run. These missions can range from getting a sick score or finding a secret tape but you will also need to perform certain tricks. Some of the parts of the level can be hidden and you will need to find a secret to open doors but this is mostly in Tony Hawk 2. To unlock new levels, you need to complete enough missions in the levels until you reach a level where you need to enter a skate contest. In these skate contests you need to win a medal by doing some amazing tricks and wow the judges, you get three runs off one minute to show off your skills. The best two runs will count, if you earn a medal you can continue to the next level.

When you make a new skater, you can choose your own special tricks, these can be performed when your special bar is filled. You can fill the special bar by pulling off tricks in the level. Combining tricks to get high scores is the best way to go, the best way to chain tricks together is to use a manual after grinding on a rail or performing an air trick like grabbing your skateboard or spinning in the air to perform an ollie. If you are performing tricks in a halfpipe you can also revert when you land to gain some extra score. There are many different playstyles and ways to gain points and combos, there are also hidden combos called gaps. When you cross this gap while performing a trick you will gain a bonus multiplier for your tricks. If you land on the wrong side of your skateboard you will bail and smash to the ground in the most extreme painful ways possible, even though you should be very dead you will respawn. If you want to respawn faster you can mash the buttons, yes this works for real!

When completing levels, you will gain experience points and cash, you can use your cash to buy new clothing for your character, you can also buy new skateboard items. To unlock new items to buy you will need to level up your character while completing levels and challenges. There are many challenges for you to complete and some of them are very hard to complete. Challenges will give you extra experience points and cash, the harder the challenge is, the more cash and experience you will gain.

I rate the gameplay of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 with an 8.8.
Did you know that many of these tricks were not possible in the original games? In the remake they added many features from later Tony Hawk Pro Skater games to upgrade this game, my game-style is mostly combining grinding with loads of manuals!

Sound and Graphics
The graphics are amazing, when I looked at a before and after video, I was just mind blown, it is like looking at two different games. This is yet another remake done properly just like Medieval. I love how they added new things from other games like combining manuals with air tricks. Jumping off a roof with some tricks and then landing with a manual handstand, there is no way a skater can do this in real life(right?). I remember the bull from Tony Hawk 2, When I entered the bull ring, I suddenly had a gut feeling that something horrible was going to happen while trying to perform a combo.

There is a radio that keeps playing music while you are playing this game, if you don’t like the music you can skip it. The sound effects are also well crafted, I love the annoying officer that drives the golf cart and just crashes into you.

I rate the sound and graphics of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 with a 9.0.
It is amazing what the developers have done with this game, you can see that they build the game up from the ground!

What did I think after playing Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2?
I and my wife had a lot of fun with building our own skater but we have also progressed a bit with Tony Hawk, we still have loads of characters to complete!
My wife was totally not home in the sports game section but she had a blast just like me, we managed to complete all the levels in both Tony Hawk 1+2, including all the missions.
Some of the missions were quite difficult like finding some of the secret tapes but the score challenges were usually completed with ease. We did complete all levels before completing all missions, this way we could get all the stat upgrades for the harder missions. We disliked downhill jam the most and our favorite level was School 2. We got hit by that golf cart way too many times.

We are still working on unlocking officer dick but some of the challenges are very hard to complete but we did unlock some secret skateboards, one has easter head statues!
My wife even told me that if Tony Hawk 3+4 launched we might even pre-order it! This game exceeded our expectations with how much fun we had while playing this game.

I rate Tony Hawk Pro skater 1+2 after playing with an 8.8.
I was quite amazed that my wife had so much fun with a sports game, usually, she tends to avoid them.

Personal rating
It was a great experience to relive some more of my childhood memories in high definition, in my opinion, developers can remake more of those classic games!

My personal rating of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 is 9.0.

Pros
– There are many levels and missions to complete in this game.
– You can choose from a wide array of pro skaters or create your own skater.
– The secret tapes are fun to search for.
– Jack Black voices Officer Dick but he is very hard to unlock.
– Did you know there are also alien plushies to collect?
– The roleplaying elements like leveling up for new clothing work better than you expect in a skating game.
– Many features from later Tony Hawk games have been added to make the game more enjoyable.

Cons
– Officer Dick is very hard to unlock.
– The game can be hard for people that know nothing about skating and/or sports games.

I would recommend this game to everybody, you get two games in one and the developers made sure that this game feels very optimized. One of the bad things is that we do not yet know if there will be a Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3+4 but I think we will get to see that game in the future.
The final rating for Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 is …Drumroll…

8.8

Let me know what you think about this game in the comments.
I hope you enjoy reading this review, I hope to see you in the next review!