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Introduction

The long awaited Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is out and now PC owners can enjoy the action for once. There is nothing I can say that is negative about this new addition. The smooth, clean game play hasn’t changed and it has brought with it some hardcore new features to ensure a great drop in your social and academic life. THPS2 is impossible to put down, more so than the original, so get some supplies before you start, I suggest tons of twinkles and Jolt cola. The Twinkies would be for nutrition and the Jolt Cola to keep you up because you’re not going to want to sleep until you beat the game. Girlfriends, pets, and loved ones beware because you are about to be neglected.

One great thing about THPS2 is not much has changed as far as gameplay goes. You still have that crisp flow as you bust out combo after combo. What The long awaited Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is out and now PC owners can enjoy the action for once. There is nothing I can say that is negative about this new addition. The smooth, clean gameplay hasn’t changed and it has brought with it some hardcore new features to ensure a great drop in your social and academic life. THPS2 is impossible to put down, more so than the original, so get some supplies before you start, I suggest tons of twinkies and Jolt cola. The Twinkies would be for nutrition and the Jolt Cola to keep you up because you’re not going to want to sleep until you beat the game. Girlfriends, pets, and loved ones beware because you are about to be neglected.

If you haven’t heard of the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Series yet I suggest you leave the cave your hiding in and run to your nearest video game shop. The concept behind THPS is quite simple, pick a skate boarder and tear it up in the city of your choice. You are scored on your ability to pull off different combos using the four main trick types, Grind, Grab, Kick-flip and manual. Throw in 360’s and wall rides and the different combinations are endless. There are also different types of play the most important one being career mode, where you pick your skater and follow his career in competitions and free skates. As you get farther in your career your skater becomes more experienced & performs better. It is a pretty simple concept, but is quite the challenge to pull off. If a career is not for you, then you can also select a few other modes of gameplay such as the free skate, single session and multiplayer. Free skate allows you to skate around without time limits, while single sessions give you a two-minute time limit but allows you to set high scores. There are a bunch of options for multiplayer but I will get into them later in the review.

There are some up and downs of having the PC version. I’ll start with the bad news, no split-screen. Yes, unfortunately Neversoft decided not to allow two people to play simultaneously on one computer. Why they made this decision completely confuses me. With the split screen you and your friends can play against each other simultaneously in the same room and it makes for a great social environment. When all your friends are in the same room playing, you can grill them when they wipe out or give them respect for a cool combo. It bothers me that Neversoft did not recognize the importance of Split-Screen. But before you start crying, I have some good news, the graphics are better (depending on your hardware of course) and you have the ability to play over the Internet, take that Playstation! The graphics are comparable to the Dreamcast’s and when you play it on a computer monitor, instead of a television, your going to see every single pixel clear and crisp take that Dreamcast!