I don't know why they ever decided that a fun arcade game like Tony Hawk needs a story mode. Open world was definitely a good idea but then they ditched that once the technology was actually able to make open worlds easily. I still think something like a Tony Hawk underground 3 that takes place in an open world would be amazing, especially if it feels anything like Pro Skater 1+2
They had to reinvent the franchise to stay relevant. That's why they did it. I personally like the classic approach more but Underground wasn't bad. It was a decent yet goofy story mode that worked. THUG2 and THAW heavily dropped the ball on the writing, though. I still really like the games because gameplay is king and they always nailed that part of the game. Also, Proving Ground is essentially Underground 3.
What I remember most from Project 8 was how difficult it felt to me at the time, as if I was actively fighting with the controls to not bail every couple minutes. I found it crushing in comparison to UG2 and American Wasteland, that were both my childhood TH games.
As a skater myself, I always liked to skate realistically in the Tony Hawk games, even way back to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 when I was a kid. I would only do the crazy arcade skating to complete the games and unlock levels and stuff. I don't know if you skate, but it gives a different perspective on these games when you skate in real life. I remember getting Project 8 long ago for PS2 because that's all I had at the time and I thought it was a fun game. I liked the graphics and the motion and tricks looked a little more realistic than the previous game. I quite liked the game. I paid attention to little details like how the the skater sort of stays upright when going up ramps. In the other games, there was no physics for that, the skater would just be exactly perpendicular to whatever inclined or declined surface they were on. See, those are the things I appreciated. When you play these Tony Hawk games, you have to play it as a skater, not really as a gamer. A gamer would just rate this game simply as a game and of course it's going to look stinky. But if you actually skate or at least have some kind of hobby similar to skateboarding, it helps to appreciate these games more. I'm currently playing THAW and I think it's a pretty fun game! It's like a Hollywood movie! When I was young, I used to just skip all the story stuff and didn't pay attention to the story, I just got through it to skate realistically. But now I'm 29 and I'm actually appreciating the stories of these games. It's like watching a movie! I've played games that I can truly say are not great and I can tell by the way it makes me feel. If I feel bored and dissatisfied, I turn it off. But I've had fun playing every Tony Hawk game up to Project 8, I never found myself complaining about frame rates, control schemes, story elements, level design, or anything really. I was too busy just having fun skating in an imaginary world! So that's just my take on it, it's a fine game. I've never played the 360 or Ps3 version, but all I can say is that I really had fun with the PS2 version when I was younger. As for the skate games, every gameplay video I see is players doing these crazy Tony Hawk Pro Skater Styled tricks and lines. I never understood that, it just makes the game look cheap. Skateboarding is art, and you can make skateboarding look good even in the video games. Like for the Tony Hawk games, when I'm doing the goals, I try to make the combos and stuff look stylish. Remember, it's a skateboarding game, try to play it with the perspective of a skateboarder. If you've got a board, go skate it! Get into it! Then come back and play the Tony Hawk games, you may come to appreciate this game a lot more. Now I will say that the previous Tony Hawk games were way more fun and had awesome stories, but Project 8 still has some coolness to it. It's a classic game now. My favorite Tony Hawk game of all time is the N64 Pro skater 2. Man I used to thrive with that game as a kid back in 2002-2003. I started skateboarding during that time, so I immediately saw that game as a dream come true. I stopped skating for a long time but got back into it last summer, it's still in me.
As an actual skater you missed out by not playing the 360/PS3 version. Along with the better visuals and physics, you actually had to think about whether or not you over or under rotated a flip. When you disable all of the hud elements, you can make it look insanely good. That said, if you're going for realism and not trying to throw down crazy video game stuff, I could also see Project 8 PS2 also being a lot better. My complaints mostly come from the crazy video game side of the Tony Hawk series. Awesome that you got back into skating.
@@RedBerylFTW Yeah, I guess there is much I've missed out on. But I do have a 360, so it's never too late! I like mixing both realism and that crazy line stuff. So, I'm not completely for realism, that would be boring. I like a little over the topness, then I throw down some realistic stuff here and there. So project 8 PS2 has a good balance of both worlds. Like GTA Vice City. It's obviously over the top at times but it's got some realism to it that makes it a great gaming experience. I've also missed out on the later GTA games. I'm still stuck in Vice and San Andreas lol. I've always enjoyed games that have a good balance of realism and over the top stuff. But I do enjoy fantasy games that have a lot of magic like stuff, but that's a different world of gaming. I'm an old school gamer. N64, ps2, and 360 are what I play.
Personally I loved P8. It was the first Tony hawk game on the PS3 and I put a lot of time into it. The only reason I “quit” after project 8 was because the next installment came out alongside EA Skate. And as a real life skater I was far more drawn to that game and I never gave Proving Ground the time of day.
Hahaha i remember getting the PS2 version of the game and being so disappointed by how weak it was. It wasn't til I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas and THP8 AGAIN until i realized the PS2 version of the game was definitely not how the game was intended to be played. Great video dude! Got my sub for sure!
Finally a reviewer that praises Nail the Trick. That was a fun addition. Also, this was the first game that made me realize the difference between console generations. I primarily played this game on ps3 at my grandma's house for a year or so. I visit my cousin one day and he shows me the copy he got for his OG Xbox. I started a new save file and man it felt like a whole different game. Naive and blunt me said something like "it's like the PS3 version but worse" I'm so sorry cousin 😅
Always have thought this is sorta kinda the 1st overall blunder of the Tony Hawk series at the time, while not extremely horrible sucks to see for every good new thing added there's something bad/weird to offset it, back in the day I regretted not picking this up, nowadays I'm ok I did not pick it up
@@dafffodil Yeah, just the weird movement off board threw me off so much from liking thaw. Plus the story was just so boring. P8 was like at least had something going that didn't seem so bad and try-hard lol
I remember buying Project 8 for the PS2 (you poor, poor soul, past me) and.. I was disappointed. I thought the levels were cool, but, I ultimately got fooled. I bought the 360 version years later, and that.. I thought it was rather awesome! I think it even runs slightly better than the PS3 version, and, it even had online support, unlike the PS3 version. The PSP version is the only version to have Classic Mode as a separate mode. It also has Hawaii and The Ruins from THUG and THAW, respectively. Great video!
I still consider the 7th Generation version of THP8 to be superior to the 6th Generation version, as someone who grew up playing the two generations. But THUG2 is still my favorite Tony Hawk game, to this day.
I remember watching the trailers and commercials for this game and being so hyped on a true open world TH game. But then I got the PS2 and PSP versions of the game, feeling like i got cheated because it looked and felt like I was playing a slightly polished version of THAW with some of the old gameplay mechanics you mentioned now gone. I was pissed lol but played it nonetheless because I actually enjoyed the game. It wasnt till a lot later in life that I played the rea version of the game on my friend’s Xbox 360 and truly got to admire what Project 8 was meant to be and loved it. My main gripe I’d say is that the 360/PS3 versions looked so grey and almost washed out, with the only things making it feel like a bright and vibrant Tony Hawk game being the skate brand logos plastered on walls and buildings; that I believe is something the PS2 version did better by upping the colors and keeping the more cartoony look of things. Maybe it was designed that way by the technology of the consoles at the time, idk. Overall, even back then I thought it was a nice breakaway from TH x Jackass titles; finally playing a game with a more realistic approach to skating that didnt involve letting a bull loose in Barcelona or destroying the Santa Monica pier for tiny piece of the ferris wheel.
As someone who's never once played the 360/ps3 versions of Project 8 I personally love it and have nothing but great memories. The ps2 and psp versions were the shit and definitely dont deserve the hate they get
Loved the video, I personally love this game for the sheer fact that it was a launch game for the PS3, would you ever make a review for Tony Hawks Ride and Shred though?
love the content brother i played the tony hawk games religiously growing up thug is my favorite as an overall experience, but thaw is my favorite in terms of art direction such a great series!
I feel that Project 8 is what started the downfall of this series. It wasn't THUG 2 or THAW that made this series go into a downward spiral, it was this game. Also I genuinely do not understand why some people think that Project 8 is an S tier game or the best game in the series.
Interesting you didn't talk about the PSP version's exclusive classic mode, which is the only official time that Hawaii from THUG 1 reappeared, and only the second time Alcatraz from THPS4 reappeared.
There was another comment about that. I didn't even notice it wasn't mixed into the career mode, I really couldn't play the PSP port for long without frustrating myself
Just come across this in my recommendations. Ive been dabbling in the Psp version of P8. Theres actually a Project 8 Mod that has most maps from THPS1 through till AW. Its decent and i highly recommend it as a die hard Tony Hawk fan. 👍
For me, the challenges were a little too challenging it's good, especially getting to #1. Nonetheless, it's a good game, but I probably won't play it again til further notice. P.S. the soundtrack is pretty good
A few others mentioned that too. I didn't even notice it wasn't just a career goal. I didn't play the PSP port beyond Main St. The controls drove me nuts.
Having played a ton of Tony Hawk back in the day, I can say that, (in my experience) as far as framerate and input lag go, the XBOX and XBOX 360 versions of Project 8 both played quite a bit better than the PS2 and PS3 versions.
I put the ads for this game in my brain yet I didn't know what a PS3 even was and that I wasn't getting what I was seeing. Too naive to care when I was younger
This was my last Tony Hawk game. I was too poor for the 360 and bought the xbox original version. It was like buying your uncles civic when all your friends had Lamborghini's. I ended up getting my hands on a 360 by the time Skate came out. We all know what happened to Tony Hawk games after that.
From what another comment told me, Hawaii and The Ruins got added to that port specifically. Honestly, I completely forgot I missed classic mode because I thought it was a goal like the other ports. Overall I think classic mode is always good even in the games I don't like as much, but it's definitely sad that it isn't just fused into the career like the others.
Appreciated the Hollywood Undead: Notes from the Underground song. I only played the PS2 version, hated how classic mode was implemented though. Oh and "Nail the Trick" probably because I had a scratch disc, the animations for flipping the board was broken, flicking the sticks wouldn't either move the legs or flip the board. It just makes me worried that when I finally fo play skate, the learning curve is going to take way too long.
I really want to get into this game because it's based in my area (Philly, Baltimore) and the nail the trick stuff is kinda fun, but i can only emulate the PS2 version, and it feels super janky. Edit: Might be thinking of Proving Ground
For 1-4 I agree. But since the story is there, I have to look at it and factor that in. I also hear the xbox 360 has better performance, so that probably deserves a rating one point higher.
I'm curious as to what you think about this game. I recall it being so nothingy and dull, with a mostly "meh" soundtrack. I think it's the only main game in the THPS series I got farted on about halfway through
This game is in my top 3 worst Tony Hawk's games (out of all mainline titles), right up there alongside Proving Ground (which is somehow worse than this one) and THPS5 which is... oof! Every single reason you cited as positives for this game are the reasons I really hate Project 8 (and later Proving Ground). And what makes it even worse for me is that this game is the follow up to my favorite Tony Hawk game, American Wasteland. I'd put it in my top 3, with THPS2 and THPS3 (on PS1). Anyway, now I'm gonna watch the rest of your videos 😅
I played the 360 version when it came out and its pretty good. I recently played the PS2 version all these years later. I agree its not a good game but it was kind of cool to see how they handled a PS2 version. I didn't hate it but it wasn't as good. Shaba did do some cool stuff though like they usually do with ports. I want to give credit to the Car Factory level on PS2. Its unrecognizable compared to the 360 version and imo better. I wonder why the Car Factory was the level they got freedom to make different. I like the skatepark too since it has an extra area.
The animations in this game look lush! Especially the grabs and flatland at least they tried to make the tricks look realistic. I'm sick of people shitting on this game just cos skate 1 came out and every one somehow hated tony hawk when that came out, overlooking anything great about this franchise, no one wanted unrealistic games skating games, but after THPS1+2 we all know it's bullshit. Project 8 is the real Pro Skater 5, but I'm kinda sick of the parroting opinions of this game on YT! It's boring. Radrat's opinion on this game sucks too, I wish neversoft/activison kept on this trajectory after THPG. but nah they fucked it, they wanted to make every skater skate like how they do IRL, they needed way more than 1 year of dev time. Imagine a fleshed out sim mode. Imagine a mode that played like ea skate but controlled like tony hawk, that's what this trajectory could have led to. And yes they removed a lot that was in American Wasteland and THUG (the things everyone complained about, yet moaned when they took it away) but at the same time EVERY video game of this gen was doing this, dropping scope and features for realism and graphics. GTA4 did this after San Andreas. The only main issue with this game is the framerate and how poorly it runs! A patch for the emu version or even a pc version would have been amazing but during that time they'd only put last gen version of games on pc, so if they did the PC version would have been the PS2 version which I didn't like, I felt ripped off by the ps2 version. They never told us it's not the same game as the 360 version and they still could have connected the levels via tunnels or lanes/streets. So I spend a year playing the ps2 version wanting the 360 version but not being on 7th gen yet cos I wasnt a spoilt rich kid and had to wait 3 years to get a 360 after release. I actually played this and ea skate back to back as a kid, and I gravitated towards the gameplay of this for the longest time. Oh I am a skateboarder btw, so I have strong opinions on this shit.
Can feel the passion in this comment. I relate, it took a while to get better hardware for better games. Was already 2013 by the time I got to this, and I didn't get to some of the earlier games until many years later. With a better story and a better framerate, I would probably like this game a lot more. Hope you stick around for the Proving Ground video. I don't think anybody will be expecting what I've got to say about that.
Yeah I remember getting the PS2 version of the game for Christmas and 11 year old me despised it. I remember clearing Suburbia, loading the town level and just turning the console off. It was the first game I ever brought back to the shop even though I'm a THPS fanboy. Looking back it's hard to say exactly why but I think it was the motion sickness from how the camera controls and the weird frame blur affect that happens EVERYTIME you bail are a big issue. Also the fact that the game just feels really off from THAW and THUG 2, and really comes off as a spinoff title rather than the next entry in the series. I do love the ranking system in the next gen version. It has an RPG feel where even small things you do like gaps or skill marker challenges make you one digit closer to being number 1. However the PS3 version's performance is genuinely unacceptable for this type of game, it'd be like releasing a fighting game that has sub 30 FPS that stutters and freezes constantly. The world design is quite strange. It feels like a theme-park that's parodying a small town in the USA, and when you really look at the layout, it makes zero sense. Like the tram section exists for a tiny section of road then just stops abruptly. I remember seeing an interview with Brian Bright who was a lead dev behind P8 ( and also made the sick menu music for the first game), basically say that the P8 world is supposed to represent a generic small town that players could relate to, which is why there are no real life skate spots or locations. I think they pushed the satire too far like the huge tacky shop's signs in the town just makes everything feel fake, which destroys the immersion that it's supposed to represent YOUR hometown that all these pros are visiting. And the boundaries of each level feels thrown together and doesn't flow as well as it should. I have a lot of mixed opinions about P8 but without it Proving Ground wouldn't exist which is the dark horse of the series imo. Looking forward to the next video, also since you're in PS3 era, I recommend Shaun White's Skateboarding, which is unapologetically video-gamey and bizarre but still worth giving a go. Cheers!
They both got the same rating. But I also said P8 is a better experience in an emulator and would get an extra point if played that way. A few people also said the xbox 360 port was more stable, so that would also get that extra point.
When you get to Proving Ground, I hope you get into how TERRIBLE the Wii version is. I mean, personally, I can forgive a lot of the short comings of the Wii version, because I know it's not working with the most powerful hardware. But those damn forced motion controls. I still complain about it to this day. Why wouldn't they let you use GameCube controls‽ They could have supported it easily if they wanted. When that game came out, I had been playing Tony Hawk on a GameCube controller for years. And now they want to shoehorn needless motion controls‽ Just let me plug in the controller I've been using forever!
When Tony Hawk started to try and copy Skate, it killed itself. They literally set themselves up for failure. You can't beat somebody by literally copying them, you'll always end up in 2nd place
@@kylespevak6781 its what anyone in there right mind would think you obviously were trying to apply being what the video is a about and proving ground or whatever isnt even the topic of discussion. All good though
As bad as THAW's story is, i feel it would have fit better with the mechanics of this game. Doing an NBD with Nail the Trick seems like something the player in THAW would have been all about. Doing bigger and more impressive goals to prove you're the shit would be something the player in THAW would be all about. It's just a shame P8's story is such a drastic (and likely unintentional) overcorrection away from the chaos because it's otherwise solid. Side note for those who own xboxs, i remember the 360 version being far more performant and stable than the PS3 version, and likewise the Xbox version being higher res and more stable than the PS2 version. It's a shame it's not backwards compatible on Series/One or emulatable with Xenia (yet). Between the performance issues on 7th gen, the bugginess in gameplay on 6th gen, and the writing in general, this game desperately needed a break from the relentless 1 year dev cycle. It sucks to see that other Activision franchises like CoD also struggle with this "string of good games and one that makes you question why the franchise exists" syndrome.
I couldn't care less about writing in a Tony Hawk game. I really like that the story takes a backseat in this game. It is not what I play these games for and I generally dismiss anyone who wants to tell me a Tony Hawk game is "bad" due to the story. think the game has a good premise and leveling through the ranks of a fake leaderboard activates my neurons. Most of the goals are fun and relatively easy to achieve a Sick score on for someone of my skill level but some goals are really frustrating and not for the right reasons. I'm talking about the bail goals. If this game didn't have performance issues, the bail goals would easily take the cake as the worst part of the game. They are entirely dependant on luck and are insanely hard to control. I have gotten to rank 1 at least 10 times and I still don't know how you achieve a Sick ranking on some of these bail goals. Thankfully you only need to Sick 95% of all goals to get to number 1. I don't like Nail the Trick. Not only does it interrupt the gameplay flow but it's so poorly balanced. You can start a combo with a +400k base score by simply spamming the same NTT combos which aren't hard to pull off. In previous games it would take time and effort to even get to that level of base score. Now you just pop 1 NTT air and you're probably almost there. I never use it when I just skate around for fun but if you need to score for a goal or simply attempting serious high scores, you HAVE to use it. The reason being is that the multiplier has been heavily nerfed (only granting 0.5 after 20x, 0.2 after 40x and 0.1 after 60x) as well as the base score gain of spins and flips so you have to get your base score really high because you're essentially softcapped at 60x multiplier. I still wouldn't remove NTT because it is a cool concept. Instead I'd make it so NTT is only available in the NTT goals. Restore the old multiplier system and make spins, flips and special tricks worth more to compensate for the loss of NTT. Despite this, THP8 is actually one of my favorite games in the franchise as it is very similar to THPS4 in a lot of ways. I don't understand the needless hate for it. Some people say it's "too slow" and duh.. if you're just rolling around you're pretty slow but comboing makes you go *a lot* faster which I like. The game actively encourages you to do grinds, manuals and jumps to go faster. Sorry for the essay. lol
Hey man, I was wondering what happened to your THAW review? Was it deleted due to copyrights? In that case, could you reupload it with adjusted soundtrack? Anyway, thanks for the thorough in-depth reviews of these games, THPS3 is by far my favorite one. Also, would you make a review of THPS3 on PS1? Thanks again!
That review is still live. Depending on your country, it may be unavailable. I don't have the project file anymore to readjust the soundtrack so if it ever gets taken down, it's gone. I plan on going covering a bunch of the ports I missed, so I'll def get to THPS3 on PS1.
Nail the sh*t was the absolute worst they could have introduced and even made it worse in PG. Besides that, I think the framerate is much better on 360. Because of nail the trick, the poor writing and the many poor decisions of gameplay and mission structure I played PG much much later and even prefer both PS2 versions, just because it felt better overall. PG is even more boring storywise, it was just an evolution of the bad writing in 8. Project 8 and Proving Ground have the worst levels of any TH title imho. I replay every entry from 1 to THAW really often, P8 and PG almost never. They just feel meh.
Don't have to worry about strikes if it's a big band either. The deal is we can use copyrighted music, and the copyright owner can claim it and put their own ads on the video. Copyright claims are different than copyright strikes.
I love this game but I have to say. Never play the PS3 version. In the 360 you can skip the intro. Yes. This is a thing you can do here. Real talk though. I love this game. The models and faces are dogshit but they always had a more realistic cartoony type then full on humans in these games so whatever. To me. What set this apart was just ball bustingly hard this game is. Like this game going for Tony's Sick challenge is impossible but it will always be that thing I have on my bucket list.
@@RedBerylFTW Maybe in Xbox lingo. They were "shoulder buttons" first. "Trigger" got popular in this gen since the popularity of Call of Duty, but Xbox 360 was the first controller with what could be considered a trigger.
Random thought but i kinda think these games partly suffered from not having DLC. Ok maybe not as unlocking skaters/boards/maybe even tricks would have been awful, but the option to download more maps would have been crazy. Like thug2 remixed is such a great game imo just because it had santa cruz and kyoto. Im like trying to imagine what these games would have been like if they had a dedicated (and talented) mapping staff churning out maps even close to the amount of fun those two were, or maps in regular thug1, 2, and thaw. I think it would have prolonged the lifecycle of the games and given the devs more time and money to develop the following games and make them more interesting, rather than coming up with kind of lame novelty things like biking in thaw lol.
I can see that. Or even something as simple as uploading created parks and stuff, like 1+2. I didn't think the world map was bad, but fallout style DLC with a few more open worlds would have been awesome
@@RedBerylFTW Oh damn, for sure. More hub levels like LA and just other big cities turned into hubs man that would have been cool. I guess create a park would have been cool too if the limitations weren't so excessive. I mean, it wasn't bad, but if they released a separate disk with just a very detailed level editor with the ability to make giant levels and play them that would have been fire
get some kind of free VST Compressor, most video editing software support vst plugins and maybe your editing software already has a native compressor effect in your audio effect category, watch a video on how to use it to balance background and voice audio levels, i bet there is ton of tutorials on this ( a properly set compressor will lower the volume of the background music depending on the audio level of your voice, so when you speak there is less audible background music and your voice is leveled, even if your recording has a lot of ups and downs in the volume this is something i experience too, the background music is really overstimulating and nauseating for me @@RedBerylFTW
Project 8 and thug 2 are my favorite Tony hawk games 😂😂
I don't know why they ever decided that a fun arcade game like Tony Hawk needs a story mode. Open world was definitely a good idea but then they ditched that once the technology was actually able to make open worlds easily. I still think something like a Tony Hawk underground 3 that takes place in an open world would be amazing, especially if it feels anything like Pro Skater 1+2
I actually agree
American wasteland story was cool.
UG 1 & 2 we’re goated and WA was a pretty wild twist but I loved it something open would w The Remake Gameplay would woulda like a Fever Dream 😂😩
Underground had a really good story though, it gave it more substance
They had to reinvent the franchise to stay relevant. That's why they did it.
I personally like the classic approach more but Underground wasn't bad. It was a decent yet goofy story mode that worked. THUG2 and THAW heavily dropped the ball on the writing, though. I still really like the games because gameplay is king and they always nailed that part of the game.
Also, Proving Ground is essentially Underground 3.
What I remember most from Project 8 was how difficult it felt to me at the time, as if I was actively fighting with the controls to not bail every couple minutes. I found it crushing in comparison to UG2 and American Wasteland, that were both my childhood TH games.
I've played a lot of Pro Skater 1, and this has moments where it's even more difficult than that
As a skater myself, I always liked to skate realistically in the Tony Hawk games, even way back to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 when I was a kid. I would only do the crazy arcade skating to complete the games and unlock levels and stuff. I don't know if you skate, but it gives a different perspective on these games when you skate in real life. I remember getting Project 8 long ago for PS2 because that's all I had at the time and I thought it was a fun game. I liked the graphics and the motion and tricks looked a little more realistic than the previous game. I quite liked the game. I paid attention to little details like how the the skater sort of stays upright when going up ramps. In the other games, there was no physics for that, the skater would just be exactly perpendicular to whatever inclined or declined surface they were on. See, those are the things I appreciated. When you play these Tony Hawk games, you have to play it as a skater, not really as a gamer. A gamer would just rate this game simply as a game and of course it's going to look stinky. But if you actually skate or at least have some kind of hobby similar to skateboarding, it helps to appreciate these games more. I'm currently playing THAW and I think it's a pretty fun game! It's like a Hollywood movie! When I was young, I used to just skip all the story stuff and didn't pay attention to the story, I just got through it to skate realistically. But now I'm 29 and I'm actually appreciating the stories of these games. It's like watching a movie! I've played games that I can truly say are not great and I can tell by the way it makes me feel. If I feel bored and dissatisfied, I turn it off. But I've had fun playing every Tony Hawk game up to Project 8, I never found myself complaining about frame rates, control schemes, story elements, level design, or anything really. I was too busy just having fun skating in an imaginary world! So that's just my take on it, it's a fine game. I've never played the 360 or Ps3 version, but all I can say is that I really had fun with the PS2 version when I was younger. As for the skate games, every gameplay video I see is players doing these crazy Tony Hawk Pro Skater Styled tricks and lines. I never understood that, it just makes the game look cheap. Skateboarding is art, and you can make skateboarding look good even in the video games. Like for the Tony Hawk games, when I'm doing the goals, I try to make the combos and stuff look stylish. Remember, it's a skateboarding game, try to play it with the perspective of a skateboarder. If you've got a board, go skate it! Get into it! Then come back and play the Tony Hawk games, you may come to appreciate this game a lot more. Now I will say that the previous Tony Hawk games were way more fun and had awesome stories, but Project 8 still has some coolness to it. It's a classic game now. My favorite Tony Hawk game of all time is the N64 Pro skater 2. Man I used to thrive with that game as a kid back in 2002-2003. I started skateboarding during that time, so I immediately saw that game as a dream come true. I stopped skating for a long time but got back into it last summer, it's still in me.
As an actual skater you missed out by not playing the 360/PS3 version. Along with the better visuals and physics, you actually had to think about whether or not you over or under rotated a flip. When you disable all of the hud elements, you can make it look insanely good. That said, if you're going for realism and not trying to throw down crazy video game stuff, I could also see Project 8 PS2 also being a lot better. My complaints mostly come from the crazy video game side of the Tony Hawk series. Awesome that you got back into skating.
@@RedBerylFTW Yeah, I guess there is much I've missed out on. But I do have a 360, so it's never too late! I like mixing both realism and that crazy line stuff. So, I'm not completely for realism, that would be boring. I like a little over the topness, then I throw down some realistic stuff here and there. So project 8 PS2 has a good balance of both worlds. Like GTA Vice City. It's obviously over the top at times but it's got some realism to it that makes it a great gaming experience. I've also missed out on the later GTA games. I'm still stuck in Vice and San Andreas lol. I've always enjoyed games that have a good balance of realism and over the top stuff. But I do enjoy fantasy games that have a lot of magic like stuff, but that's a different world of gaming. I'm an old school gamer. N64, ps2, and 360 are what I play.
Personally I loved P8. It was the first Tony hawk game on the PS3 and I put a lot of time into it. The only reason I “quit” after project 8 was because the next installment came out alongside EA Skate. And as a real life skater I was far more drawn to that game and I never gave Proving Ground the time of day.
Interesting perspective, and understandable. Skate hit the scene pretty hard.
Hahaha i remember getting the PS2 version of the game and being so disappointed by how weak it was. It wasn't til I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas and THP8 AGAIN until i realized the PS2 version of the game was definitely not how the game was intended to be played. Great video dude! Got my sub for sure!
I loved Project 8 honestly
The character model for the created skater looks straight out of Guitar Hero
Same engine
Finally a reviewer that praises Nail the Trick. That was a fun addition.
Also, this was the first game that made me realize the difference between console generations. I primarily played this game on ps3 at my grandma's house for a year or so. I visit my cousin one day and he shows me the copy he got for his OG Xbox. I started a new save file and man it felt like a whole different game. Naive and blunt me said something like "it's like the PS3 version but worse" I'm so sorry cousin 😅
Always have thought this is sorta kinda the 1st overall blunder of the Tony Hawk series at the time, while not extremely horrible sucks to see for every good new thing added there's something bad/weird to offset it, back in the day I regretted not picking this up, nowadays I'm ok I did not pick it up
I definitely prefer this to THAW IMO
@@dafffodil Yeah, just the weird movement off board threw me off so much from liking thaw. Plus the story was just so boring. P8 was like at least had something going that didn't seem so bad and try-hard lol
I remember buying Project 8 for the PS2 (you poor, poor soul, past me) and.. I was disappointed. I thought the levels were cool, but, I ultimately got fooled. I bought the 360 version years later, and that.. I thought it was rather awesome! I think it even runs slightly better than the PS3 version, and, it even had online support, unlike the PS3 version. The PSP version is the only version to have Classic Mode as a separate mode. It also has Hawaii and The Ruins from THUG and THAW, respectively. Great video!
Bro you have some GOOD music taste! Definitely gonna subscribe
YESS!! Good!! Cant wait to watch this one, Project 8 kinda rocks IMO
I still consider the 7th Generation version of THP8 to be superior to the 6th Generation version, as someone who grew up playing the two generations. But THUG2 is still my favorite Tony Hawk game, to this day.
I remember watching the trailers and commercials for this game and being so hyped on a true open world TH game.
But then I got the PS2 and PSP versions of the game, feeling like i got cheated because it looked and felt like I was playing a slightly polished version of THAW with some of the old gameplay mechanics you mentioned now gone.
I was pissed lol but played it nonetheless because I actually enjoyed the game. It wasnt till a lot later in life that I played the rea version of the game on my friend’s Xbox 360 and truly got to admire what Project 8 was meant to be and loved it.
My main gripe I’d say is that the 360/PS3 versions looked so grey and almost washed out, with the only things making it feel like a bright and vibrant Tony Hawk game being the skate brand logos plastered on walls and buildings; that I believe is something the PS2 version did better by upping the colors and keeping the more cartoony look of things. Maybe it was designed that way by the technology of the consoles at the time, idk.
Overall, even back then I thought it was a nice breakaway from TH x Jackass titles; finally playing a game with a more realistic approach to skating that didnt involve letting a bull loose in Barcelona or destroying the Santa Monica pier for tiny piece of the ferris wheel.
Just found your channel and been watching all your reviews! Great content man!
Thank you, I appreciate that
As someone who's never once played the 360/ps3 versions of Project 8 I personally love it and have nothing but great memories. The ps2 and psp versions were the shit and definitely dont deserve the hate they get
I certainly don't hate any of them. A low rating is better than no rating. Skateboard Madness is the only game I genuinely hate.
Speed becoming an option is really weird because speed basically determines how easy the game will be
I mean, beforehand it was a stat and in pretty much all the previous games it is adjustable.
Loved the video, I personally love this game for the sheer fact that it was a launch game for the PS3, would you ever make a review for Tony Hawks Ride and Shred though?
Should have a board for that soon
love the content brother i played the tony hawk games religiously growing up thug is my favorite as an overall experience, but thaw is my favorite in terms of art direction such a great series!
Can’t wait for the Tony Hawks Ride video
Should have a board for that soon 👀
Man I love your videos
🍻
i loved project 8 on the ps2 😬
I feel that Project 8 is what started the downfall of this series. It wasn't THUG 2 or THAW that made this series go into a downward spiral, it was this game.
Also I genuinely do not understand why some people think that Project 8 is an S tier game or the best game in the series.
Interesting you didn't talk about the PSP version's exclusive classic mode, which is the only official time that Hawaii from THUG 1 reappeared, and only the second time Alcatraz from THPS4 reappeared.
There was another comment about that. I didn't even notice it wasn't mixed into the career mode, I really couldn't play the PSP port for long without frustrating myself
Just come across this in my recommendations. Ive been dabbling in the Psp version of P8. Theres actually a Project 8 Mod that has most maps from THPS1 through till AW. Its decent and i highly recommend it as a die hard Tony Hawk fan. 👍
are the dedicated spin buttons(usually the bumpers I think)faster than the joy stick spinning?
Yeah, it's that way in pretty much all of them except for the DS games and the PSP version of PG
For me, the challenges were a little too challenging it's good, especially getting to #1.
Nonetheless, it's a good game, but I probably won't play it again til further notice.
P.S. the soundtrack is pretty good
good stuff I'll admit that i expected you talking about classic mode that is exclusive to the PSP version.
A few others mentioned that too. I didn't even notice it wasn't just a career goal. I didn't play the PSP port beyond Main St. The controls drove me nuts.
Having played a ton of Tony Hawk back in the day, I can say that, (in my experience) as far as framerate and input lag go, the XBOX and XBOX 360 versions of Project 8 both played quite a bit better than the PS2 and PS3 versions.
I've heard that a few times now. Might have to see about getting an Xbox 360 copy
Idk why but I love project 8 and proving grounds but aye pick your poison do proving grounds next 👁️
Didn't know until watching andy play but the ps2 version caveman meter doesn't even work and always fails your combos
Damn I didn't notice, but with how broken the rest is it makes sense
I put the ads for this game in my brain yet I didn't know what a PS3 even was and that I wasn't getting what I was seeing. Too naive to care when I was younger
Love the soundtrack to your videos 🤘🤘🤘
This was my last Tony Hawk game. I was too poor for the 360 and bought the xbox original version. It was like buying your uncles civic when all your friends had Lamborghini's. I ended up getting my hands on a 360 by the time Skate came out. We all know what happened to Tony Hawk games after that.
You didn't mention the classic mode on the psp version, I was interested in hearing your thoughts on that?
Bump on this, I was about to comment the same thing
From what another comment told me, Hawaii and The Ruins got added to that port specifically. Honestly, I completely forgot I missed classic mode because I thought it was a goal like the other ports. Overall I think classic mode is always good even in the games I don't like as much, but it's definitely sad that it isn't just fused into the career like the others.
Appreciated the Hollywood Undead: Notes from the Underground song.
I only played the PS2 version, hated how classic mode was implemented though.
Oh and "Nail the Trick" probably because I had a scratch disc, the animations for flipping the board was broken, flicking the sticks wouldn't either move the legs or flip the board.
It just makes me worried that when I finally fo play skate, the learning curve is going to take way too long.
I really want to get into this game because it's based in my area (Philly, Baltimore) and the nail the trick stuff is kinda fun, but i can only emulate the PS2 version, and it feels super janky.
Edit: Might be thinking of Proving Ground
Yeah this game isn't based on a real city, but PG is.
You ever tried that mtv skateboarding game? Super jank but it seems interesting, i picked it up but cant get past the first map 😭
I tried it not long ago, need to make a video on all 3 of the MTV games
@RedBerylFTW Aw hell yeah man, looking forward to the vid!
when we gonna see the redberylftw street part????
Might just have to consider that
If you are playing Tony Hawk games for the story then you are doing it wrong.
For 1-4 I agree. But since the story is there, I have to look at it and factor that in. I also hear the xbox 360 has better performance, so that probably deserves a rating one point higher.
I'm curious as to what you think about this game. I recall it being so nothingy and dull, with a mostly "meh" soundtrack. I think it's the only main game in the THPS series I got farted on about halfway through
This game is in my top 3 worst Tony Hawk's games (out of all mainline titles), right up there alongside Proving Ground (which is somehow worse than this one) and THPS5 which is... oof! Every single reason you cited as positives for this game are the reasons I really hate Project 8 (and later Proving Ground).
And what makes it even worse for me is that this game is the follow up to my favorite Tony Hawk game, American Wasteland. I'd put it in my top 3, with THPS2 and THPS3 (on PS1).
Anyway, now I'm gonna watch the rest of your videos 😅
I grew up with an Xbox 360 so maybe it's just taste tuned to the era. Thank you for watching regardless 🍻
Wanna turn your mic up a little when editing? Gotta blast my TV just to hear ya (ie: most videos 10 yours 40).
I played the 360 version when it came out and its pretty good. I recently played the PS2 version all these years later. I agree its not a good game but it was kind of cool to see how they handled a PS2 version. I didn't hate it but it wasn't as good. Shaba did do some cool stuff though like they usually do with ports. I want to give credit to the Car Factory level on PS2. Its unrecognizable compared to the 360 version and imo better. I wonder why the Car Factory was the level they got freedom to make different. I like the skatepark too since it has an extra area.
I barely remember this game but that name sounds like a housing program from the city 😂
Another grate video
I never played this, but its sounds like they took this and fixed most of the issue with proving ground
Yeah that's at least how my experience went
yeah man this game is a big stink pile but ill be damned if i dont load up that ps2 version and skate around a fucking jeep factory
The animations in this game look lush! Especially the grabs and flatland at least they tried to make the tricks look realistic. I'm sick of people shitting on this game just cos skate 1 came out and every one somehow hated tony hawk when that came out, overlooking anything great about this franchise, no one wanted unrealistic games skating games, but after THPS1+2 we all know it's bullshit.
Project 8 is the real Pro Skater 5, but I'm kinda sick of the parroting opinions of this game on YT! It's boring. Radrat's opinion on this game sucks too, I wish neversoft/activison kept on this trajectory after THPG. but nah they fucked it, they wanted to make every skater skate like how they do IRL, they needed way more than 1 year of dev time. Imagine a fleshed out sim mode. Imagine a mode that played like ea skate but controlled like tony hawk, that's what this trajectory could have led to.
And yes they removed a lot that was in American Wasteland and THUG (the things everyone complained about, yet moaned when they took it away) but at the same time EVERY video game of this gen was doing this, dropping scope and features for realism and graphics. GTA4 did this after San Andreas.
The only main issue with this game is the framerate and how poorly it runs! A patch for the emu version or even a pc version would have been amazing but during that time they'd only put last gen version of games on pc, so if they did the PC version would have been the PS2 version which I didn't like, I felt ripped off by the ps2 version. They never told us it's not the same game as the 360 version and they still could have connected the levels via tunnels or lanes/streets.
So I spend a year playing the ps2 version wanting the 360 version but not being on 7th gen yet cos I wasnt a spoilt rich kid and had to wait 3 years to get a 360 after release.
I actually played this and ea skate back to back as a kid, and I gravitated towards the gameplay of this for the longest time. Oh I am a skateboarder btw, so I have strong opinions on this shit.
Can feel the passion in this comment. I relate, it took a while to get better hardware for better games. Was already 2013 by the time I got to this, and I didn't get to some of the earlier games until many years later. With a better story and a better framerate, I would probably like this game a lot more. Hope you stick around for the Proving Ground video. I don't think anybody will be expecting what I've got to say about that.
That gta 4 example was terrible just not true
Yeah I remember getting the PS2 version of the game for Christmas and 11 year old me despised it. I remember clearing Suburbia, loading the town level and just turning the console off. It was the first game I ever brought back to the shop even though I'm a THPS fanboy. Looking back it's hard to say exactly why but I think it was the motion sickness from how the camera controls and the weird frame blur affect that happens EVERYTIME you bail are a big issue. Also the fact that the game just feels really off from THAW and THUG 2, and really comes off as a spinoff title rather than the next entry in the series.
I do love the ranking system in the next gen version. It has an RPG feel where even small things you do like gaps or skill marker challenges make you one digit closer to being number 1. However the PS3 version's performance is genuinely unacceptable for this type of game, it'd be like releasing a fighting game that has sub 30 FPS that stutters and freezes constantly.
The world design is quite strange. It feels like a theme-park that's parodying a small town in the USA, and when you really look at the layout, it makes zero sense. Like the tram section exists for a tiny section of road then just stops abruptly. I remember seeing an interview with Brian Bright who was a lead dev behind P8 ( and also made the sick menu music for the first game), basically say that the P8 world is supposed to represent a generic small town that players could relate to, which is why there are no real life skate spots or locations. I think they pushed the satire too far like the huge tacky shop's signs in the town just makes everything feel fake, which destroys the immersion that it's supposed to represent YOUR hometown that all these pros are visiting. And the boundaries of each level feels thrown together and doesn't flow as well as it should.
I have a lot of mixed opinions about P8 but without it Proving Ground wouldn't exist which is the dark horse of the series imo. Looking forward to the next video, also since you're in PS3 era, I recommend Shaun White's Skateboarding, which is unapologetically video-gamey and bizarre but still worth giving a go. Cheers!
Cheers, man these comments are always fun to read
I am loving these videos, but man, you have some takes that I wouldn't have expected. Project 8 is bad, but THPS5 is ok 😳 lol
They both got the same rating. But I also said P8 is a better experience in an emulator and would get an extra point if played that way. A few people also said the xbox 360 port was more stable, so that would also get that extra point.
@@RedBerylFTW oh, interesting. Yeah, I always played P8 on the 360
this was my fav one lol i like all of them tbh
When you get to Proving Ground, I hope you get into how TERRIBLE the Wii version is. I mean, personally, I can forgive a lot of the short comings of the Wii version, because I know it's not working with the most powerful hardware. But those damn forced motion controls. I still complain about it to this day. Why wouldn't they let you use GameCube controls‽ They could have supported it easily if they wanted. When that game came out, I had been playing Tony Hawk on a GameCube controller for years. And now they want to shoehorn needless motion controls‽ Just let me plug in the controller I've been using forever!
Bro I just tried playing the og Xbox version and couldn’t do it.
Looking forward to hearing your opinion.
If it's anything like the PS2 version, it'll probably just make me sad lmao
When Tony Hawk started to try and copy Skate, it killed itself. They literally set themselves up for failure. You can't beat somebody by literally copying them, you'll always end up in 2nd place
You know this dropped before the original skate tho right cuh
@@dougashby5679 I didn't say this game
@@kylespevak6781 its what anyone in there right mind would think you obviously were trying to apply being what the video is a about and proving ground or whatever isnt even the topic of discussion. All good though
@@dougashby5679 I usually say exactly what I mean. Double talk and implications just lead to misunderstandings
@@kylespevak6781 or 10 comments on one video
My version of Project 8 that I play is a psp Mod called Tony Hawk's Project MOD! Check that out! Its by an awesome team called Iron Hawk.
As bad as THAW's story is, i feel it would have fit better with the mechanics of this game. Doing an NBD with Nail the Trick seems like something the player in THAW would have been all about. Doing bigger and more impressive goals to prove you're the shit would be something the player in THAW would be all about. It's just a shame P8's story is such a drastic (and likely unintentional) overcorrection away from the chaos because it's otherwise solid.
Side note for those who own xboxs, i remember the 360 version being far more performant and stable than the PS3 version, and likewise the Xbox version being higher res and more stable than the PS2 version. It's a shame it's not backwards compatible on Series/One or emulatable with Xenia (yet). Between the performance issues on 7th gen, the bugginess in gameplay on 6th gen, and the writing in general, this game desperately needed a break from the relentless 1 year dev cycle. It sucks to see that other Activision franchises like CoD also struggle with this "string of good games and one that makes you question why the franchise exists" syndrome.
I couldn't care less about writing in a Tony Hawk game. I really like that the story takes a backseat in this game. It is not what I play these games for and I generally dismiss anyone who wants to tell me a Tony Hawk game is "bad" due to the story. think the game has a good premise and leveling through the ranks of a fake leaderboard activates my neurons.
Most of the goals are fun and relatively easy to achieve a Sick score on for someone of my skill level but some goals are really frustrating and not for the right reasons. I'm talking about the bail goals. If this game didn't have performance issues, the bail goals would easily take the cake as the worst part of the game. They are entirely dependant on luck and are insanely hard to control. I have gotten to rank 1 at least 10 times and I still don't know how you achieve a Sick ranking on some of these bail goals. Thankfully you only need to Sick 95% of all goals to get to number 1.
I don't like Nail the Trick. Not only does it interrupt the gameplay flow but it's so poorly balanced. You can start a combo with a +400k base score by simply spamming the same NTT combos which aren't hard to pull off. In previous games it would take time and effort to even get to that level of base score. Now you just pop 1 NTT air and you're probably almost there.
I never use it when I just skate around for fun but if you need to score for a goal or simply attempting serious high scores, you HAVE to use it. The reason being is that the multiplier has been heavily nerfed (only granting 0.5 after 20x, 0.2 after 40x and 0.1 after 60x) as well as the base score gain of spins and flips so you have to get your base score really high because you're essentially softcapped at 60x multiplier.
I still wouldn't remove NTT because it is a cool concept. Instead I'd make it so NTT is only available in the NTT goals. Restore the old multiplier system and make spins, flips and special tricks worth more to compensate for the loss of NTT.
Despite this, THP8 is actually one of my favorite games in the franchise as it is very similar to THPS4 in a lot of ways. I don't understand the needless hate for it. Some people say it's "too slow" and duh.. if you're just rolling around you're pretty slow but comboing makes you go *a lot* faster which I like. The game actively encourages you to do grinds, manuals and jumps to go faster.
Sorry for the essay. lol
Playing this game always made me feel sick
Any particular reason?
@@RedBerylFTW idk if it was motion sickness or the dull color palette but everytime I tried playing this game I would feel nauseous after like 10 mins
@@Mellow-YT Wild. The game has super crazy motion blur, so it's not unlikely.
You forgot the classic mode on psp
im trying to beat the competition section of that Mike V challenge and im struggling
It's a long video, but you might be able to find a good strategy for it in this video
th-cam.com/video/Qhn8y9R4asI/w-d-xo.html
Hey man, I was wondering what happened to your THAW review? Was it deleted due to copyrights? In that case, could you reupload it with adjusted soundtrack? Anyway, thanks for the thorough in-depth reviews of these games, THPS3 is by far my favorite one. Also, would you make a review of THPS3 on PS1? Thanks again!
That review is still live. Depending on your country, it may be unavailable. I don't have the project file anymore to readjust the soundtrack so if it ever gets taken down, it's gone.
I plan on going covering a bunch of the ports I missed, so I'll def get to THPS3 on PS1.
You didn't cover the Xbox original and 360 versions? I played this only on Xbox and didn't like the flow of it cuz of how much of a mess it is.
That wouldn't have been much tbh. It's essentially the PS2 port with less input delay and the B/W buttons.
Fun fact about me this was my first th game on psp sad right?
Nail the sh*t was the absolute worst they could have introduced and even made it worse in PG. Besides that, I think the framerate is much better on 360. Because of nail the trick, the poor writing and the many poor decisions of gameplay and mission structure I played PG much much later and even prefer both PS2 versions, just because it felt better overall. PG is even more boring storywise, it was just an evolution of the bad writing in 8. Project 8 and Proving Ground have the worst levels of any TH title imho. I replay every entry from 1 to THAW really often, P8 and PG almost never. They just feel meh.
Can you do ssx for ps3/xbox360
I'll do the whole series at some point. Probably 1-3 together, On Tour and Blur together, and then that one by itself.
@@RedBerylFTW cool
So u juat use some extremely obscure punk band like the vandals and don't have to worry about copyright strikes?
Don't have to worry about strikes if it's a big band either. The deal is we can use copyrighted music, and the copyright owner can claim it and put their own ads on the video. Copyright claims are different than copyright strikes.
Comment
I love this game but I have to say. Never play the PS3 version. In the 360 you can skip the intro. Yes. This is a thing you can do here. Real talk though. I love this game. The models and faces are dogshit but they always had a more realistic cartoony type then full on humans in these games so whatever. To me. What set this apart was just ball bustingly hard this game is. Like this game going for Tony's Sick challenge is impossible but it will always be that thing I have on my bucket list.
7:49 "the left trigger" Isn't there two of them?
The top one is called a bumper
@@RedBerylFTW Maybe in Xbox lingo. They were "shoulder buttons" first. "Trigger" got popular in this gen since the popularity of Call of Duty, but Xbox 360 was the first controller with what could be considered a trigger.
@@kylespevak6781 I grew up with an Xbox 360 primarily lol
@@RedBerylFTW Called it 😃
Random thought but i kinda think these games partly suffered from not having DLC. Ok maybe not as unlocking skaters/boards/maybe even tricks would have been awful, but the option to download more maps would have been crazy. Like thug2 remixed is such a great game imo just because it had santa cruz and kyoto. Im like trying to imagine what these games would have been like if they had a dedicated (and talented) mapping staff churning out maps even close to the amount of fun those two were, or maps in regular thug1, 2, and thaw.
I think it would have prolonged the lifecycle of the games and given the devs more time and money to develop the following games and make them more interesting, rather than coming up with kind of lame novelty things like biking in thaw lol.
I can see that. Or even something as simple as uploading created parks and stuff, like 1+2. I didn't think the world map was bad, but fallout style DLC with a few more open worlds would have been awesome
@@RedBerylFTW Oh damn, for sure. More hub levels like LA and just other big cities turned into hubs man that would have been cool. I guess create a park would have been cool too if the limitations weren't so excessive. I mean, it wasn't bad, but if they released a separate disk with just a very detailed level editor with the ability to make giant levels and play them that would have been fire
Background music is way too loud again...gives me anxiety and can't finish the video in 1 sitting
Sorry about that, I lean away from my microphone a lot and need to work on that
get some kind of free VST Compressor, most video editing software support vst plugins and maybe your editing software already has a native compressor effect in your audio effect category, watch a video on how to use it to balance background and voice audio levels, i bet there is ton of tutorials on this ( a properly set compressor will lower the volume of the background music depending on the audio level of your voice, so when you speak there is less audible background music and your voice is leveled, even if your recording has a lot of ups and downs in the volume
this is something i experience too, the background music is really overstimulating and nauseating for me @@RedBerylFTW