Tony Hawk's Project 8
Ages: Teen

Skateboarders and armchair borders who have been playing Tony Hawk since 1999 will by now incorporate actions like Grind, Ollies, Nollies and Acid Drops into their bodies. But for newbies like me, doing the tutorial, and working through the Flip trick – "To perform a flip trick, you must first be in the air. Once in the air, press the square button in combination with a direction on the directional buttons or left analog stick" – button directions aren't enough. Hey, what does a Flip look like? I sure could use Tony doing a demo before I pressed the buttons. However, I so want to do all those tricks that sound so great, Lip Tricks, Reverts, Boneless, and Fake Ollie that I am going to spend the time necessary to learn them. Who knows, maybe I'll get to be one of TH's 8. That's the bare story behind the game. Tony is looking for the top 8 amateur skateboarders to be part of his team.

There are many goals to try out for -- races, competition, tour, skate the line, to name a few. Within most goals you can pick the level of difficultly -- amateur, pro and sick. As you master and complete various goals, different parts of the "city" open up. You start in what looks like suburbia. The big deal is the "nail the trick" where, while in the air, you have control of your left and right foot independently. Yeah.

The music is fitting and doesn't interfere. The body motion is unbelievable. The tricks are done with motion-capture. What is so impressive is that there were real people doing these actions. It sure has increased my respect for the kids going the grind on my curb.

Reviewed by: Editor - 12/06