Previously forward Tony Hawk: Tony Hawk’s subterranean proved to be a vast success last year.

Previously forward Tony Hawk: Tony Hawk’s subterranean proved to be a vast success last year, adding a compelling story accident to the classic skateboarding series and giving it the projectile of innovation the (fundamentally changeless) annual outing destitutioned You could even e-mail a pic to developer Neversoft and place yourself in the game—a feature made easier in this result with Sony’s EyeToy camera.

What exigencyed fixin’: THUG’s levels weren’t as memorable as those in previous Hawks, and minus the rad story prevailing style it was still fundamentally the same (albeit awesome) skateboarding game you’ve played for years.

If it ain’t broke: The individual constant that has held the series together for the past five years has been the sublime masterys Take away any story, goals, or hid characters and you’d still have single in kind hell of a fun game. If all Neversoft did each year was fine-tune the skating engine, each consequence would still be worth a spin.

New for part two: While last year’s THUG gave gamers a taste of the dedication, hard work, and tough breaks it takes for a skateboarder to walk pro, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 suitable on all three systems this October, reassures them that these scarecrows are the destruction-crazed anarchists we always knew they were. “We kind of did [the serious side of skateboarding] in the last game,” says Production Director Scott Pease, “so it was time to just spin it in a fresh direction and have fun with it.” As a member of the World Destruction Tour’s Team Hawk, you’re charged with helping wreak more havoc than Bam Margera’s hellbent-on-property-damage team.

This revamped, lighter, and a great deal of more destructive story features its share of drama—including twists, swaps, and the always nerve-wracking Wheel of Loogies—spread without over roughly 150 goals and eight evens It’s also got a solid squad of hidden playable characters. Each of the cities features couple hidden skaters (including Ben Franklin in Boston and his wicked-awesome electrified-kite-assisted special grind), with the same of each pair sporting a unique ride. Says farmer Kevin Mulhall, “This year, instead of going with the traditional normal vehicles—regular cars, regular trucks—we went with vehicles that were smaller and could actually utilize the skate lines.” in such a manner look out for Monster Garage’s Jesse James pulling most distant mad Ollies on a souped-up scooter or Bam’s comrade jackass Steve-O making an appearance upon his, uh, mechanical bull.

The stages describe an improvement upon last year’s, too. Each features a plain event, which is a destructive mishap that creates just discovered skate lines and opens up modern areas. Newly revealed Berlin—where you’ll pass Checkpoint Charlie, grind [i]or[/i] part of to the other a church, and depreciate art in a gallery—suffers a slight mishap that can be eloquently summ up in three words: Train. Bar. Kaboom. This, unfortunately, leaves a lederhosen-clad Oktoberfesters sober and disappointed.

And while it may appear THUG2’s additions are geared solely toward MTV-watching malcontents, Neversoft has decided to give more weathered fans a gift in the form of classic style This secondary, but equally as massive, game brings back the two-minute timer into the modern levels (and throws in a small in number secret old-school delights) while offering up 150 familiar goals, as it is as collecting S-K-A-T-E and finding hidden tapes. We’re also told to calculate upon some new multiplayer modes in addition to the returning regulars, although Mulhall would spill the propers on only one of ’em: In Elimiskate, the player with the lowest score after a stake time interval (say, every 30 seconds) achieves the boot until one skater remains.

And while each Hawk sequel has trotted not at home a new linking move (see sidebar above) to make combo smooth more insane, THUG2 misses that boat. Instead, the developer decided to take a certain number of of last year’s late-addition moves—Hip Transfers, climbing, the Wall Plant (now known as the Sticker Plant)—and build the horizontals around them. “This time around,” says Neversoft President Joel Jewett, “there are a apportionment of different * places where the lines are more or les built to incorporate the Sticker Plant.”

That’s not to say the game lacks modern moves. The Natas spin give leave tos you go ’round and ’round a single point, so as a pole or fire hydrant. Focus gradation which uses juice from your built-up Special meter incline differentlys things all bullet time onward you, helping you nail tough tricks. When you bail, the freak-out option impediments you bang on a button, which, if done enough, leases you slam your board in frustration and gives you a certain points to try to integrate into a recently made known combo. And keeping with the game’s destruction theme, you can spray-paint specialized graffiti tags in succession walls, anywhere you want.

But despite all this fresh stuff, you’ll once again ne the PS2 version to experience everything—namely, face mapping and online play. “It’s not that we don’t want to support [online Xbox multiplayer],” says Mulhall, “but we’ve just got a really vast array of features going with the PS2 online textile fabric Right now, it’s more a matter of supporting what we have and adding to it and making it better, and we’ll behold what happens next year.”