Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 might be a numbered iteration for the franchise, but it doesn’t feel like it. Its moments of thrilling gameplay and competition-rich multiplayer are sideswiped by bad performance, the poor implementation of Slam, and frequent glitches. The series might have once had potential to be revived, but Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 makes sure that all signs of life have been squeezed out of it.

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Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 could have been so much more. There was some expectations early on that maybe it could live up to its name, especially with Activision slapping a number on the end for the first time in well over a decade. Regrettably, the result is a mess. While the mechanics are slightly unpolished, they still have a similar feel to what we’ve come to expect, which can result in some enjoyable antics. Unfortunately, they are contained in a constrained formula where the player must navigate menu after mens to get into repetitive and uninteresting missions. It doesn’t help that the online portion feels underdeveloped, not aiding the player in their search for shredding the streets with fellow skaters. The only positive notion about Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is that it isn’t offensively bad, and does contain a decent amount of options to choose from when it comes to customizing your skater, but that means playing through dull missions over and over again. It might be best to put ol’ Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater out to pasture. It’s best to remember what it was, rather than dwell on what it has become.

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When all is said and done, this game doesn’t deserve to be called Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 and most certainly shouldn’t make its way onto your download queue. I feel like Activision withheld it from early reviews because the company knew it's a butt of a game. I know it’s tempting to give this one a go, especially after the years of awesomeness the Pro Skater franchise has provided in the past, but it doesn’t match up to today’s standards. Avoid this one like the Black Plague.

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Why, when Activision has seemingly taken so much care and attention with its elegant revival of Guitar Hero? Why, when Activision has supported Bungie's triumphant overhaul of Destiny? This is a publisher that cares deeply about its marquee titles - after all, its bets are placed on perilously few of them. Seemingly, it comes down to a simple contractual obligation. The Tony Hawks license runs out at the end of the year. The game had to be ready for its deadline, even if wasn't ready for its deadline. It's an explanation that goes some way to absolve the development team, who no doubt gave their all and worked as hard as they could within the time that was available. Regardless, to charge full price for a game that is so clearly ramshackle is scandalous. Not even the glitches can save Tony Hawks 5. They are too narrow in range to sustain our interest. A skater disappearing in dry concrete is funny the first time. But the joke wears pretty thin when it's repeated this often, especially when it comes at such a high price for everyone involved.

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Tony Hawk 5 looks like the burned corpse of a three-legged sheep and plays like the results of teaching a chimpanzee how to code. At its very, very best, it’s an intensely mediocre experience, populated by repetitive, remedial missions and archaic stunt “action” that you could find in literally any other skateboarding game – all of which is buried behind loading screens, unintuitive menu design, and the curious decision to make players wait an arbitrary amount of time before they get to confirm or cancel any decision.

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Still, at least the game is plastered in advertising for Mountain Dew and Monster Energy, so you know the fine folks at Activision are making the money they deserve.

In my professional opinion, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 can fuck off.

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Even without its technical issues, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, at its core, is a bad game. The graphics are two console generations old, it suffers bad level design, and missions are uninspiring throughout all stages. What makes this whole experience sting even more is the fact that this bad game has so many obvious issues, that even getting through it for the sake of a review was difficult.

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The videos and GIFs of glitches and bugs are not indicative of my experience, to this day I still have had only one instance where I was thrown clear of the level after a bad landing, stemming from the slam feature. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 isn’t broken, it is very much playable and enjoyable, but getting past the hurdles of the design decisions of this game make that difficult (unless you’re completely offline). You can see what Robomodo was going for, but it just isn’t all the way there. Robomodo remained faithful to this series, and it is something I will still continue to play, mastering each level because that core gameplay is still present and addictive, which is why we played all those years ago.

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Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5’s rare moments of nostalgic joy are drowned out by its abundance of poorly thought out levels, control problems, bugs, and its glaring lack of attitude. It boggles the mind that a $60 game in 2015 can be riddled with so many technical issues.

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After playing THPS 5, I have renewed respect for the struggles of Tony Hawk's previous developer, Neversoft, as it tried to evolve the series away from its beginnings. Apart from tightening up its gameplay, Tony Hawk 5 begs for a direction. It's clear that making a game that simply tries to capture the good times in a new setting isn't enough, even if it did nail the gameplay. The gaming landscape has changed a lot since the series heyday, but this title is stuck in a no-man's-land between not being good enough to replicate the past nor ambitious enough to move the franchise forward.

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In my professional opinion, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 can fuck off.

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Colombo said:

Wow they bring back THPS and it's crap - good work Activision!!

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s multiplayer modes provide the most damning evidence to support this conclusion. These diversions, which include Deathmatch and King of the Hill contests (you fire directed projectiles from your deck whenever you ollie), are buried away in a menu that players might reasonably never notice. Select one and the game searches online for others to join. If no other players are available, no matter: it forges ahead regardless, depositing you into the match solo. There is no way to exit the forsaken pitch early without quitting the entire game. There's more: on some menus the analogue stick works, on others inputs don't register at all (you must switch to the d-pad). The slim selection of licensed music tracks frequently cuts out. Menu transitions are dreadfully slow. Navigation of those menus is a labyrinthine puzzle

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Tony Hawk 5 looks like the burned corpse of a three-legged sheep and plays like the results of teaching a chimpanzee how to code.

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Enter the Dragon Punch said:

in completely unrelated news the skate franchise is on sale on xbox live

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GreatCharleston said:

LOOOOOOOOOOOOL. Wow.

When was the last actual good TH game? I stopped at THUG2.

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raven777 said:

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dreamfall said:

Yipes. Hope that we'll get a good skateboarding game this gen :/

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In my professional opinion, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 can fuck off.

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impact said:

Their entire selection of games this year is crap, it only fits.

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Crimsonclaw111 said:

Olli Olli is great.

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cHaOs667 said:

Reviews are as expected (at least from my side).

Now get your arse up EA and bring us a new Skate game!

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raven777 said:

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impact said:

ehhhhh it's ok, and no one wants a 2D skateboarding game when they say they want a new THPS or Skate. It's more of a platformer with skateboards than a skateboarding game imo.

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