Hey. This year I started playing this franchise and since I see that most reviews are from people that already played the games years ago and newcomers usually just start with 1 2 because of it being the most recent and better game, I thought it may be interesting to see the point of view of someone who starts with the first titles. Anyways, before starting I will say that my opinions are mostly based on three aspects (Gameplay, Levels and Music) and that I’m rating the single player modes. I’ve tried a bit Create a Skater/Park but not enough to have an opinion. And the consoles that appear next to each games are the ones in which I played them. Ok, let’s go:

Tony Hawk Pro Skater (Em. PS1 & Dreamcast)

Yeah, I know. This game doesn’t even have manuals and not too many goals that encourage you to replay it. But guess what? That’s what made me love it in the first place. I’ll explain it better later but for now, I can say that this game has some of the most iconic levels in the series and a competent soundtrack that fun fact, has extra songs in the PAL Region and Ain’t Got Time to Waste is a banger. It’s a basic game but it does well what it sets out to do.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (Em. PS1 & Dreamcast)

Pro Skater 2 became one of my favorite games and one of the best games I’ve ever played. There’s something about linking combos and mastering the game that’s beautiful. I like most of the levels, the OST has some bangers and it has frickin Spiderman!

But the truth is the first time I played the game, I thought it was just ok. Why? Basically, I didn’t know how to play and having so many goals in School II where I could do nothing at the time made me put the cheats.

But after that, I played Pro Skater 1 and its simplicity made me say “Okay now I get this”. When I returned to Pro Skater 2 knowing how to manual something clicked on me and Bam: (Currently) my favorite in the franchise and I even want to own a physical copy. Since June I’ve replayed it like 5 or 6 times.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 (PS2, PC)

This is also a great game but 3 in particular suffers from something that doesn't put it at 2's height: The revert. It makes the overall game so easy that I could probably beat it in an hour while 1 and 2 would take me more time even if I’ve already played them a couple of times. The goals are mostly pretty easy and more when you know what to do.

But that doesn’t mean it’s “bad”. The levels are great, there’s something about Airport that makes me want to combo the entire place and this is the last soundtrack I really remember. It’s a really good experience, just a short one.

Also, I first played the PS2 version and I sucked. I don’t exactly know why but it didn’t control really well. That didn’t happen in the PC version which for some reason has NPCs talking too loud over the music. Weird but it didn't really bothered me, just wanted to point out.

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 (PC)

To be honest, when I started skating in the College level, I was having a blast. It felt refreshing and all the goals felt clear (this will make sense later). But after playing more... It just turned out to be a good game. I think the main problem are the levels. Aside from College, Zoo and Carnival I don’t really find anything particularly interesting. I understand that they changed the formula so the games wouldn't become monotonous but what I don’t understand is why this system became the staple of the series. What’s wrong with the other design aside from having to do smaller levels?

Tony Hawk Underground (PS2)

I was curious to play this one because it’s the one I’ve seen in multiple lists as “The best one” or “my favorite”. And surprise surprise.

It’s just a better Pro Skater 4.

The story was alright, I didn’t expect a game like this to have a tense narrative and it’s fine. It works and Eric does a good job making me hate him with all my soul.

I would say the levels are mostly the standard of how a good Tony Hawk level feels. At least I had more fun with the goals contrary to THPS4 and THUG 2. Even the vehicles are… something. They definitely control weirdly but no mission is really frustrating (Basically the last missions are the ones where I really started suffering).

And lastly I wanna mention 2 little details I thought were nice. First, the create a goal mode. I haven’t tried it much but it’s really a nice feature that’s even more attractive than Create a Park. The other thing is that contrary to Pro Skater 3 on PS2, I had 0 problems playing Underground in this console. Maybe is because I got used to it or something but it felt pretty close to my experience on PC.

Tony Hawk Underground 2 (PSP)

This was my third experience with the series and... it was ok. It’s cool to have a portable TH game but here the problem are the goals. Half of them are not fun or I don’t understand how to get them contrary to THPS4 or THUG. And because the goals are the core of this game it becomes a little hassle to play this. At least I know there’s also a classic mode and I’ll eventually try it out.

Surprisingly, this time the OST is better and has more memorable songs that some of the previous games. It’s weird to listen to Ring of Fire in a game that has toilet humor but that kinda makes me remember it more than generic rock/punk song #16.

And talking about the humor. I personally don’t found the fun in the jackass concept and it’s kinda curious that in this game it’s encouraged to destroy things but when you crash the tank in THUG 1 you go to jail. Huh.

Oh, and I don’t really have anything to say about the story. It’s outdated but I’m not going to complain about an aspect that doesn’t really have much presence into the game.

If I had to do a tier list of the games, it would look like this:

S: Pro Skater 2

A: Pro Skater 3

B: Pro Skater 1 and THUG

C: Pro Skater 4

D: THUG 2

In the future I plan to play THPS 1 2 and maybe try American Wasteland, but none of those are a priority right now. I’ve played 6 games (7 if we count THUG Pro) in a short time and while I’ll occasionally be replaying 1 through 3, I don’t feel the urge to play the rest of the games right now.