Review: Tony Hawk's Project 8 for PlayStation 3

Since 1999 Tony Hawk's games have been stalwarts in the gaming industry and there's no surprise that one would be available with the launch of the PlayStation 3. The only question was if the game would live up to the quality found in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 3 or would it be a down point along the lines of American Wasteland? The answer is actually somewhere lost in the middle.

GAMEPLAY
The strong point in every Tony Hawk game, any gamer simply looking for an enjoyable skateboarding experience will not have to look any further, but this also is where the problems begin. The PlayStation 2 heralded a new direction for Tony Hawk games, in being able to go online with a custom skater and simply enjoy a welcoming community. Tony Hawk's Project 8 lacks an online feature for the PlayStation 3, while it mysteriously shows up for the Xbox 360. While the 360 will support an entirely new mode and leader boards, the Playstation 3 will have none of these features, leaving veterans and newcomers alike extremely disappointed with this outing. The six axis controls are used to perfection with the new nail the trick mode and can also be used to balance, all that the user's discretion, though for the sake of comfort and precision, many people will find themselves using the D-Pad. The story mode, revolving around Tony Hawk searching for the top eight skaters, is very friendly and lacks needless sequences that have been known to plague previous titles.

GRAPHICS
At this point in gaming, it will take some effort for a game not to look good, but technical errors and glitches may still rear their ugly head and provide some discomfort for our eyes. Project 8 manages to include those glitches in the game's frame rate, which plagues the Playstation 3 version more so than the Xbox 360 version. Besides a choppy frame rate, the game looks as sharp as ever and will provide enough eye candy as the city opens up to keep anyone happy.