None of the talk about bland features or unnecessary odes to pro skaters I’ve never heard of should detract fans of the series from checking this game out, because the game is as solid as ever. Mapping the controls to the analog stick has gone largely without a hitch, though there still are a couple rough spots in pulling of specific kick-flips or grabs. I don’t quite understand what the difference between a backside 360 triple kick-flip and a regular triple kick-flip is, but the game makes that distinction in its challenges and will incessantly frustrate gamers.

Using the analog sticks during “Nail the Trick” is a fantastic addition to the franchise. By clicking both analog sticks after an ollie, the camera zooms on to the board and the skater’s feet. While zoomed in, player’s control their skater’s feet with both analog sticks, manipulating the board as it spins around in slow motion. Performing difficult and complicated combinations, especially with the board upside-down, earn bonus points and really rack up a nice score. I hope that Neversoft explores this mode further and takes the series down the “controlling the skater’s feet independently” route.

unfortunately, that’s where the innovations in Project 8 end. The level designs are all rehashed from games we’ve played before. There’s the neighborhood block, the downtown area, the Capitol, a school, and a factory. I realize that there probably aren’t many more places to skate in real life, but why not thrown in a toy store, furniture warehouse, office building, three ring circus, or something bizarre to liven things up a bit? It’s not beyond the over-the-top tricks and air to go a little silly on the level design. What’s worse is that some challenges are near impossible to reach. The demo on the School roof, for instance, took thirty minutes for me to find, and that was only after I turned the game off for lunch and came back, practically placed on top of it as if it were divine intervention. Getting lucky to spawn in the right place to reach a challenge borders on ridiculous and really kills it for players looking to complete objectives instead of putzing around with freestyle tricks. A map system that would allow players to instantly jump to the challenge would have alleviated all of these problems ala Oblivion, but I guess grinding around rails in circles is more fun to “skaters.”

It’s also important to note for potential Project 8 patrons that the online gameplay is bland at best, and downright tiresome. While I absolutely love the idea of having individual Leaderboards for most challenges found in the Career Mode, the regular Xbox Live selection is all rehashed save the new Walls mode. Trick Attack (High score when time runs out), Graffiti (tricking on objects to claim them), and Combo Challenge (name speaks for itself) have all been done before in previous titles. Couple that with lag problems during larger games and you have an experience that you’ll soon forget.

In talking to the guys at Neversoft at a past event, they were very proud of their quick integration of the SIXAXIS function into the whole title. Unfortunately, like most of the rest of the game, once the novelty of controlling your skater in a new way wears off you’ll likely go back to the analog sticks. The motion sensor controls simply aren’t accurate or comprehensive enough to be used exclusively, though players will likely find combos where they can implement some part into their regular play.

When we heard that the Tony Hawk franchise was going back to its roots and starting from scratch, we didn’t think it would be quite as this. Like watching skate videos themselves, Project 8 simply loses its charm after a while. Realistic graphics and Nail the Trick aside, Project 8 comes off as a title that’s so rooted in its own genre that true innovation may prove unlikely.

By Patrick Evans
CCC Staff Writer

Rating out of 5 Rating Description 4.3 Graphics Project 8 looks pretty decent, but clipping problems are everywhere. The worst is when Nail the Trick camera glitches out. 4.5 Control Moving the game to the analog sticks works more times than not. Perhaps putting Nail the Trick on a single button would make it easier to combo. The SIXAXIS control just doesn't feel tight enough to be worthwhile. Maybe next time when Neversoft has had more experience. 4.8 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting The perfect soundtrack lies beneath excellent board and crowd noises. Repetitive spoken lines are the only detractor here. 3.7 Play Value Only hardcore skate fans need apply. All others will be bored before making it past the first 100 skaters. 3.9 Overall Rating - Good Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

We check out Project 8’s single-player on the PS3 and online multiplayer on Xbox 360. by Patrick Evans

There was plenty to see at the Activision press event a couple weeks ago. Call of Duty made a strong showing on all three next-gen platforms and Marvel Ultimate Alliance really shined on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Tony Hawk’s Project 8 was also shown to the attending media, though we’ve already gotten to see much of it at an earlier Neversoft event. What is new is the online multiplayer that we saw on Xbox 360, as well as finally getting to lay hands on the PS3 version.

For those who missed our hands-on preview a couple weeks ago and are too lazy to scroll the browser downwards to it, I’ll recap the game’s overall gameplay. Tony Hawk is assembling a team of the greatest eight amateur skaters and it’s your goal to make his team by placing in the top eight of 200. Neversoft is bringing Hawk back to his roots by ditching the Underground storylines and focusing on pure skating mechanics. There is still a story, though it will be an afterthought to the skating.

Skating throughout your town is a very open experience within the areas that you have unlocked. You can attempt any challenge that you can reach at any time. There are grind challenges, trick challenges, and even “force bail” challenges, where you try to break as many bones on your rider as possible by bailing out during a jump. In addition, you can also accept challenges from any of the twelve pro skaters found throughout the game. All in all, there are around 200 challenges, most with three different levels to achieve (Am-Pro-Sick). According to producers that spoke to us, it has taken their testing team over 25 hours of straight play to accomplish “Sick” on all of the games challenges, so players should have plenty to look forward to when they drop into the game for the first time.

The Xbox 360 multiplayer that we saw had two different modes, Walls and Trick Attack. Trick Attack was a very straightforward “Who can score the most points in a set amount of time.” The journalists around the room were all trying to make use of the various grabs, manuals, grinds, and spins, with varying success. Having played the game a little during the Neversoft press event, I was a little more successful than others at linking manuals and grabs with the “Nail the Trick” mode. The “Hand-plant into a Manual into a grind into a sick multi-angle-and-totally-impossible-in-real-life kick-flip” scored a ton of points, but because the skaters were limited in their stats it was impossible to pull off a second time.

Walls, the second multiplayer mode that we played, was an interesting mix of skateboarding and Snake, that classic Windows game that you play when your bored at the office. As you pulled off different tricks and avoided other people’s trails, your own trail got longer and longer. This mode was pretty fun for players that lasted the full time, but like Counterstrike, once your out all you do is sit there and wait for the next round. I’m fond of this, since it puts a premium on lasting the entire round, but I can see how it may bug others if the game ships like this.

Though I was disappointed to see that the PS3 version that was on display offered nothing more than I had already seen on 360, I was impressed nonetheless. While other writers in the room were being advised by producers and testers about how to “Nail the Trick,” I was already cruising along to challenges that Activision didn’t necessarily want me getting into. The differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 visually were not immediately evident during our play because all of the TVs were on different resolutions, but after a little time with both you could notice tiny differences in lighting and shading. Playing on the PS3 controller felt excellent and pulling off tricks seemed a little easier than on Xbox 360. While some may say that the Xbox 360 controller is king for FPSs, I would argue the same for the PS3 controller and Tony Hawk based on how it’s felt thus far. Revisiting my favorite challenge from before, the Puzzle Challenge that called for arranging busses and rails to grind to a platform without touching cement, was much easier this time around.

As the winter shopping season approaches and the console wars draws near, it seems that Tony Hawk will appear in top form in Project 8. Everyone in attendance was excited by the return of old-school goals instead of playing through a contrived storyline complete with fetch-quests and silly challenges. While I thoroughly enjoyed kick-flipping through the PS3’s single-player, it’s important to note that the PS3 version will not feature online multiplayer like the Xbox 360. If that’s important to you, then take note, and if not, both versions have been a blast to cover thus far.

Features:

Enhanced Physics and Responsive Controls: The new physics system introduces advanced grinds and bails that allow players to control falls and minimize or maximize damage for fun with the innovative new ragdoll bail mode. A greater sense of momentum and gravity is impossible to miss, and provides the most realistic – but fun - virtual skate experience ever.

Next Generation Gameplay Brings Skateboarding to Life: Tony Hawk’s Project 8 is built from the ground up with an entirely new engine for Sony and Microsoft next-generation consoles and features incredible graphics and an amazing animation system, including full 3D body scans of pro athletes and motion captured skateboard tricks.

Most Unique, Robust and Realistic Skateboarding Game Experience Ever: Tony Hawk’s Project 8 offers more goals, missions, and secret areas than any other Tony Hawk game. Players track stats with new in-game record keeping, explore the city, compete in demos and competitions, or just skate how they want to skate. New challenges appear throughout the world as they progress, giving gamers the freedom to take on challenges in any order they desire as they climb from the #200 ranked skater to the top 8 on Tony’s Team

Innovative, Never-Before-Seen Gameplay Elements: Featuring new gameplay mechanics, Tony Hawk’s Project 8 challenges fans with the most goals ever in a Tony Hawk game. Players interact with pro skaters who give out boss-battle like challenges.

By Patrick Evans
CCC Staff Writer

Cheat Code Central infiltrates the offices of developer Neversoft for the dirt on Project 8. by Patrick Evans

Tony Hawk games seem like they have been around forever. For me, it seemed like the Underground titles were bland attempts to keep the series from fading away. Sure, they sell millions and their fans love them, but there had been nothing really to keep it fresh and entertaining in at least a couple years. With seven games in as many years, it looked like the Birdman’s franchise was flooding the genre that it had sole ownership over.

Project 8, the newest and first truly next-gen Tony Hawk title, is primed to revitalize the series. Instead of simply adding a couple modes and a couple new skaters to the previous game, developer Neversoft has stripped the game down to its bare basics and rebuilt it from the ground up. In doing so, they hope to vault their game past anything players have ever seen before in terms of graphics and playability.

Project 8 puts players in the role of a professional hopeful as he shows off to earn a spot on Hawk’s new skateboarding team. Instead of following a “story” like THUG and THUG 2, Project 8 will simply present gamers with a world to conquer one rail at a time. “We wanted to put together the coolest skate area that you could imagine,” one developer said while we were playing the demo. “We have cool areas like a car factory and whatnot, but most of the places you will find here would be common in your average suburban neighborhood.”

Players will begin with a limited run at their surrounding neighborhood as they start their career, but completing challenges and impressing professional skaters found throughout the neighborhood will unlock other areas to skate through. One unlockable area will be a school complete with grind-able buses, hand-rails, and more that opens about a fifth of the way through.

It was difficult to determine through the demo exactly which areas were “unlockable” because there is no real way to discern areas once they are available. In Project 8, there are no loading tunnels, malls, or other tricks to load areas and make you wait. Levels are constantly streaming behind the scenes. The promise made by the TV commercial a couple years back about “no loading” will finally be realized as players grind a fence for one area, jump into their first unlocked section, and then back seamlessly with nary a hint of slowing down.

With all this open space and no storyline to follow, players may wonder what the heck to do when they start playing. Immediately after you create your character and start your career, there are challenges staring you in the face and daring you to attempt them. One challenge that is literally steps away from your house is a grind challenge along the curb of your block. Some challenges, such as the grind challenge here, are initiated by talking to a person and getting instructions. Others such as spinning on the neighbors mailboxes for as long as possible, must be discovered by the player as they play, making exploration and experimentation huge requirements to advance.

Most challenges are structured in a gold-silver-bronze format, instead using the labels “am”-“pro”-“sick.” Players can choose to simply settle for the bronze, or “am,” if they want to move on, but hardcore players will strive to earn as many “sicks” as possible by attempting the challenge over and over again. An idea of this would be points of a “Nail the Trick” ramp (which we’ll return to in a bit), where players have to try and earn points for multiple tricks done on a single jump. “Am” might be, say, 3,500 points earned, whereas “pro” may be 8,000 and “sick” may be 15,000. Some challenges also require a secondary feat of some sort on top of points to secure a “sick” rating.

One of the more interesting types of challenges we saw on the demo was the Puzzle Challenge. Players can position skate pieces such as rails, tables, and buses (yes, grind-able buses) to clear an area without touching cement. Knowing how your character will come off one rail to a bus, or that you really can’t jump at a 45 degree angle off a rail to another rail, is important to complete the challenge. Of course, setting up the pieces is just half the battle. For our challenge, you still had to grind along those buses and rails to reach the goal. There are probably set-ups that work better than others, but there were probably five or six different layouts employed by those playing the demos, which certainly makes me excited to see how open-ended later puzzles will be.

Purists have scoffed at the idea of analog skating for a while now, but I am happy to report that Project 8 has been fine-tuned for specifically to excel on the sticks. As you drop into an empty swimming pool and start doing mini-half-pipe tricks, it’s almost hard to tell you are using analog sticks just by watching the game. About the only thing that seems more difficult with the new control setup are the landings, which were pretty touchy. Landing at just about any angle would result in shattered ankles, whereas in previous games you could get lucky and shoot off in that odd-angled direction unscathed. I think that it’s fair to assume that this adjustment is the result of the development team’s efforts and not the fault of the control scheme.

Besides, putting the game on the analog sticks unlocks the coolest aspect we were witness to while at Neversoft Studios, the Nail the Trick mode. When accepting certain challenges, ramps labeled “Nail the Trick” in spray-paint serve as a launching pad for this spectacle, which slows time to a crawl and puts the camera squarely on the board. While in mid-air, the left analog stick controls the left foot and the right stick controls the right foot. Every time you shift the board’s spin into another direction or orientation, the points rack up, while bonus points are awarded for “perfect spins.” “We really wanted to capture the feeling of actually skating when we developed Nail the Trick,” Scott Pease, Neversoft Development Director, mused after the demo. “By actually putting players in control of the feet instead of letting them get off with only simple button combos, we were going for a more engrossing feeling.”

“The idea for ‘Nail the Trick’ came from our E3 demo when we saw just how cool the game looked when the camera focused on the board instead of the whole skater,” Scott added. Neversoft certainly hit the nail on the head with this feature. Testers that were demonstrating the game were pulling off eight or ten kicks in combination while in the air, but even newbies such as me and the other journalists could perform four or six and make a clean landing after a couple minutes of trial-and-error. The best part of Nail the Trick you ask? Slow-motion foot-and-board manipulation can be initiated anywhere during by pushing in on both analog sticks while in mid-air. Combo potential increases exponentially as you consider the possibilities of board grabs mixed with impossible wheels-up kick-flips leading into grinds and other tricks.

As pretty as that sounds, it looks even more gorgeous in action. Neversoft has slaved to build an entirely new graphics engine for Project 8, and their labors really shine on the Xbox 360 demo we saw. I could bore you with mundane technical jargon like “regular mapping” or inane numbers like “7,000 polygons for facial expression,” but words can’t really describe the jaw-dropping visuals they have achieved. Truly, the proof is in the pudding, or hyper-realistic skating, as they say. Sometimes, when you look at screenshots, you say “the game can’t possibly look that good for real!” Let me assure you, having seen a nearly-complete build, that they are indeed that awesome. Animated at a solid 60 FPS (Frames per second), Tony and company look fantastic.

Along with the super-enhanced graphical engine, the developers have also utilized the Havok physics engine as well. You know it when you see it, and the rag-doll physics engine is instantly visible when you fall off your deck for the first time. It doesn’t matter if you were going 30 or 3 MPH; every fall looks like you have suffered multiple broken bones. While this may have been enough for many teams, Neversoft decided to let players have fun with the idea of a rag-doll by including the force-bail. When you hit all four shoulder buttons in mid-air, your rider separates from his board and goes limp, allowing you to control his flight path and rack up as high a medical bill as possible. There are even challenges dedicated to this to see how many bones you can break in a single force-bail.

Slinging your rider around ala Flatout is fun, but the physics engine also allows the game to perform some seriously cool things. The biggest example is Nail the Trick, for instance. Without a physics engine that accounts for the board independently from the rider, Nail the Trick would still be a pipe-dream. Every time you leave a jump your trick will be different, that is unless you have the precise timing and order down for your created move, the Superfly Tornado of Love on Saturn. Wait, never mind - that’s my move. Patent Pending!

Another nuts-and-bolts aspect of the game is the “historic” character development system. Akin to Oblivion’s “Use it to level it” system, players will boost their stats in Grinding, Airtime, Spins, and Manuals by performing on the streets. As you, for instance, grind away in a goal over and over again, you may level your grinding skill to make the challenge a little easier. Leveling won’t drastically alter the gameplay experience, but it will reward hardcore players with hardcore characters.

Speaking of hardcore players; Project 8 is going to take Xbox Live gamers to another level with highly integrated leaderboard systems for every individual challenge in the game. Say, for instance, you can score a Sick on that first grinding challenge. Your score will go against scores across the world in that specific objective. Players no longer have to settle for challenging themselves to improve. Instead, they can look to their peers for gaming inspiration, leading to a much more engrossing and addictive gameplay experience. Neversoft didn’t end with Leaderboards, however. One new gameplay mode named “Walls” puts up to eight players in an area with little Snake-like trails behind them to trap opponents and eliminate them. Your tail grows longer as you perform tricks, so pulling off awesome moves while watching out for others should be a frantic and exciting experience. Other classic online modes will be available to beat your friends in person as well as on the leaderboard.

Unfortunately for Sony fans, the developers told us that they are not including online multiplayer for the PS3. Aside from that, however, the games are said to be virtually identical. There was no discernable difference between the 360 and PS3 versions that we were shown. Project developers hinted at PS3 exclusives but gave nothing up, saying that they were waiting for “official announcements.” In discussing the development of the PS3 game alongside the 360 version, Pease likened it to “hitting a moving target.” Development for a system that hasn’t come out yet is a difficult task indeed, but hopefully the efforts will prove fulfilled at the PS3 launch.

When I asked him about the interesting blend of realistic graphics and physics coupled with outrageous tricks and falls, Pease described their title as a “game without limitations.” They wanted to build a game that looked as real as possible without becoming something like a skateboarding sim, and from what we’ve seen thus far it appears that they have hit the mark. Everything here screams blockbuster, but we will have to wait and see until the game releases in November.

By Patrick Evans
CCC Staff Writer

The Hawk (and Neversoft) reinvent the THPS experience once again. by Patrick Evans

The next generation is getting a plethora of original intellectual properties that will provide unique and compelling experiences without established fan carried over from the current gen. But rest assured, Xbox 360 and PS3 owners this fall will see plenty of sequels trying to advance or redefine their gameplay to ensure gamers find their product fresh and rewarding. One of these titles that have gone back to the drawing board is Tony Hawk’s Project 8, coming to the Xbox 360 and PS3, as well as Sony and Microsoft’s current gen. consoles as well.

Neversoft, having recently acquired a new, fancy motion capture studio at their new offices, has been hard at work to produce the most realistic skateboarding game the world has ever seen. The official trailer, which debuted at E3 at the Activision booth, shows just how realistic and vibrant the visuals in Project 8 are, presenting fully motion captured skaters doing the staple kick-flips and grinds that we have all seen for years. For added realism, the studio has even mo-capped the board itself, generating a realistic platform for their new riders to shift their weight on and perform tricks. This isn’t just a current-gen title getting a facelift like we saw with Hawk’s previous outing; this is truly next-gen stuff here.

Project 8, aside from pointing out that this game marks the eighth in the TH series, marks a return to the old-school for Hawk and company. The storyline puts the player, who lives in Nowhere, Nebraska, or somewhere equally irrelevant in Midland USA, amidst a talent contest between amateur skaters in the local scene. Tony Hawk is looking for the top eight amateurs in town to assemble a team, dubbed the Project 8 skaters. Beyond this setup, there is no real storyline to follow, unlike the previous couple entries. Instead, players will skate around a truly open environment spanning various different environments where they will talk to NPC’s for missions, wow the crowds with their slick moves, complete side-goals, and explore their expansive surroundings. According to developers, players will have more to do in Project 8 than in any previous TH title. More comforting is that these goals are more old-school compared to the Underground games.

Neversoft has worked hard to make Project 8 as accessible as possible as well. They have mentioned changes to the control scheme that will refine the use of the analog sticks as well as the D-Pad on the various console’s controllers. In addition to that, they will be introducing variable difficulty levels that will adjust in game, instead of having to start over to attempt a different difficulty. Character creation has been mentioned as well, although details are sketchy as of yet as to its extent.

While Project 8 appears to be moving along nicely, word is that they have not included a skate park editor with the new title. While the subtraction of features from a next-gen title has marked trouble in the past year (Tiger Woods and Madden anyone?), Neversoft’s effort in this title thus far is impressive. Realistic animations for physics-defying athletes always draw big crowds, so we certainly look forward to Project 8 as its November 06 release date nears.

By Patrick Evans
CCC Staff Writer