Tony Hawk's Underground 2

Written by Jeremy Siegel  on August 27, 2004

First Impressions: Way better than Johnny Eagle OvergroundЕ.okay, I'm sorry, that wasn't very funnyЕ

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Look out, skater bois and grrls, Tony Hawk is coming to your town, and he wants your help to take on Bam Margera and his team of super skaters. This game looks to be the ultimate combination of old-school Tony Hawk and the hip freestyle gameplay of Tony Hawk Underground 1. If you haven't played the original Tony Hawk Underground (T.H.U.G) do yourself a favor and go check it out. You don't have to be a skater to appreciate the fun, the challenge and, surprisingly, the good storyline in T.H.U.G. I'm certainly not a skater (although I do enjoy going out to the local Vans Skate Park to watch wipeout after wipeout) and I loved the first T.H.U.G.

This game has two modes: Classic Mode and the Story Mode, in which you embark on the "World Destruction Tour." I was going to make a George W. Bush joke here, but I figure I'll leave this apolitical. The World Destruction Tour story-wise takes you back to the rookie you created in the first game, and although you did so many cool things and started to make a name for yourself, you're still nobody compared to the Hawkman. Count on having just as many options, if not more, when creating your skater. And not only will you have a fully customizable character, but you'll also have a "tag" that you can create (using pre-set designs) and then spray paint all over the cities you'll be visiting.

Your team will consist of the regular cast of pros (Hawk, Burnquist, etc) as well as a cast of characters that you meet during your adventure. Many of these will be humorous in nature (Benjamin Franklin, for example), and you will be able to skate as the different members of your team in order to take advantage of their various skills and strengths. One skater will be better at grinds and flip tricks; another may be a half-pipe master. You get the point.

In addition to the new team experiences, this game also introduces us to a new level of interactivity. There will be more items to grind on and jump off of, and more gags to be activated (fire hydrants, etc).

As I mentioned before, the old Tony Hawk gameplay experience is here as well, with 15 "Classic Mode" levels to skate through. These will consist of all of the oldies-but-goodies, such as searching for the S-K-A-T-E letters, hidden tapes, and high score challenges, all in two-minute timed events.

This is all just a taste of what the T.H.U.G. 2 experience will consist of. The game also boasts a freak-out function, to save face and even earn some points during bails, and a "Focus Mode" where you can enter a Matrix-like slow motion to accomplish even crazier tricks and pull off difficult combos.