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Dreamcast Tony Hawk's Pro Skater Developer: Neversoft | Publisher: Crave
Rating: B+Idgaba-X
Type: Skateboarding Skill Level: Advanced
Players: 1-2 Available: Now

From the creators of Tony Hawk for the PlayStation, Tony Hawk for the N64, and Tony Hawk for the Gameboy (don't ask me why) comes: Tony Hawk for the Dreamcast? That's right, Crave and Activision are proud to give all you Sega lovers the skateboarding title you've been waiting for. Now, all they need to do now is release it for the defunct Neo Geo Pocket and their plans for system domination would be complete! Digressing here, the Dreamcast version is fantastic.

In essence, the Dreamcast counterpart is among the same formula seen in the model developed for PlayStation. Players can choose from a group of professional skaters and make your way through a number of areas from a school to San Francisco. During each stage, you have to fufill the specified criterias: collecting tapes or objects in order to establish an high score). Upon mastering one skater, you can advance to another player, being each possesses unique attributes. Once you've completed this task, you and a friend can jump on the two player mode for a game of "H-O-R-S-E"; adding additional incentive of addictiveness and the urge to achieve higher scores.

So what is it about this version of the game that vies for your time, and makes it worth playing over the other editions? Well, nothing substantial. This version takes the graphics from the N64 edition, and ups the polygon count a bit, and jacks up the resolution and load times; that's really about it. Graphically, the increased resolution greatly improves the experience, but it's still a little disappointing that Crave didn't take it further than that. Thankfully, with THPS 2 on the horizon, I can't say I'm surprised to see this path taken. Neversoft did a terrific job on creating the game engine that will be used with future games in development.

Looking at this from a marketable angle, Crave basically ported the game to the DC to cover all system ends. However, they should have added extras; more soundtracks, new hidden stages or even a few hidden characters. Admittedly, the sharper graphics makes it easier to pull off tricks combos once you've established the basics. Overall, the Dreamcast conversion takes the cake due to its superior graphics alone, as the control and gameplay remained untouched.

When you break it down ,THPS for the DC is the version to get without a second thought. Combining the great gameplay and uniqueness, along with the upgraded graphic engine version; resulting in what possibly can be touted as one of the the most addictive and graphically intense games on the Dreamcast platform.

· · · Idgaba-X


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Rating: B+Idgaba-X
Graphics: 9 Sound: 9
Gameplay: 8 Replay: 8
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