Publisher: Developer: ESRB Rating: Console: Genre: Activision Neversoft Teen Playstation 2 Action/Skating - Overall: 9.5 Graphics: 9.5 Sound: 9.0 Gameplay: 10 Durability: 8.0

One of the best sequels available to an action game is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.  It is primarily a great skateboarding game with many clever features.  Its audience never fails to be interested in it; since each game in the series has new innovations with it.

As Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 launched, it left the graphics it used to have in the dust.  The picture quality seemed like the biggest innovation in this game.  Instead of the pixilated environments, there are environments which seem real to the gamer.  Precision was added to the objects for great viewing.  Also, the main menu has become three-dimensional.  Instead of a two-dimensional wheel like in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, there is a skate shop, with many interactive features.

Music could have never been better in the soundtrack of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.  All of the selections are varied, to please all gamers with different tastes.  I would call some of the songs disturbing, but that music would probably be normal to other gamers.  The songs don't have completely bad tastes; its range is between pop and rap, with rock in between.  Some of the songs can get so addictive or interesting, the gamers may go to the song selection menu just to listen to the song.  The great innovation in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3's music is that there are about double the songs there were in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2; a great leap.  Some of the songs can be pure musak, while others are well-known celebrated pieces.  Some bands featured in the soundtrack are The Ramones, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Rollins Band.  It's very universal, which is a great thing I like about this game.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 improved gameplay about as well they improved their graphics.  As mentioned before, the whole game is based on a three-dimensional graphics; including the menu.  The menu features a list of all the things that can be done in the game.  In career mode, all of the missions and goals are listed with the environment in the background.  The main structure of the game is similar to its prequel.  However, more goals are added to each level.  Since Neversoft knows that many gamers who have played the prequels to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, they made some of the missions much harder.  All of the levels have some goals that are related to the skating environment.  Some of these include clearing a line to a satellite dish, or even starting an earthquake.  The high scores and sick scores have also been raised quite a bit to make the game harder.  An improvement in career mode that I wanted was the viewing of goals during a run.  This has been done, and many other new in-session additions have been made.

Two players would enjoy Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 the most.  The same games can be played in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, but newer ones were added.  The time limit can also be adjusted, depending on how much the gamers want to play.  Since levels are more sophisticated now and offer more liberty to gamers, the two players' fun seems perpetual.  Network playing was a major new feature applied into the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series.  It is almost the same as the two players' mode, but still seems more interactive.

Another new feature in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is the tutorial mode.  It makes perfect sense that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 helps the novices which will have trouble with the levels which were made hard, for the experienced gamers.  This mode is quite short, but if it is concentrated on, then novices can get the hang of the game quite easily.

If careers and two players are not an object of the gamers, then they can always go to the free skate mode.  In this mode, gamers can skate around communities for as long as they want.  Some minor objectives can still be completed in free skate mode.  Most minor objectives not found in career mode are in single session mode, where time is limited.  This mode is like a career mode without major objectives.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3's durability depends entirely on the gamer.  For some hardcore gamers, beating it could be a cinch.  While for newcomers, the game may take them several months to beat.  Although the game was made much harder, some gamers still could beat it without letting go of the controller.  There are always extracurricular activities that could have been completed, but finding them was not easy.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is truly a great sequel; a great game itself also.  It provided countless innovations to the series, and therefore earned one of our highest scores.

Review by SD Austere Aurora

	Related Pages This is the section that provides links to other related or pertinent pages on GNI. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (GBA) Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Review Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 Screenshots