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Dom Robinson reviews
Activision 
- Price: £49.99
- Players: Offline 1-2, Online 2-8
- Widescreen: Yes
- Dolby Digital 5.1: Yes
- Xbox Live content: Yes
- 60 Hz: Yes (only)
When you load up a game from this professional skater you know what to expect and TonyHawk’s Proving Ground is no exception. It does exactly what it says on the tin.
One of the first things you get to attempt is build tracks and then riding through them. This is known as’Rigging’. No, it’s got nothing to do with pirates on the South Seas, ooh me hearty, it’s about rigging kit tobuild ramps etc. to complete a stunt. The ‘Career’ mode includes learning how to grind, including a section calledNail The Trick, such as going down a stair rail.
The ‘Hardcore’ teaches you how to perform the Aggro trick and overall there’s all manner of other challenges toaccomplish.
As you progress you’ll unlock bonus movies and pro footage, as well as new gear, new skills and skillpoints. Basically, if you’re a fan of this type of game then there’s a shedload of achievements to accomplish andalong the way you’ll see training videos from real stars of the sport. For me, I’m not massively into it but it’sstill a daft bit of fun.
The graphics of the environments look okay but don’t feel anything much improved upon the original Xbox ones.Sound is perfectly reasonable for atmosphere as it goes round all your speakers, but there’s nothing outstandingfor your aural senses other than it simply being loud. The movement of your character as you walk about is alittle bit erratic as well. Get a trick badly wrong and your man really does look like he’s in need of a newspine as he lies in a crumpled heap on the ground! 🙂
The groovy music you can play in the background includes that of the Rolling Stones’ Sympathy For TheDevil and Xbox Live gameplay is available if that’s your bag but I don’t have a Gold subscription.Another addition, albeit not a Tony Hawk one, is to play a demo of Guitar Hero 3(see an amusing demo of this on Something for the Weekend)
I was hoping to put some footage online of this game, but it’s 60Hz-only so I can’t, even though the box doesn’tmention this.
SOUND EFFECTS AND MUSIC
GAMEPLAY
ENJOYMENT
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.