Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5
Developers	Robomodo Disruptive Games Fun Labs
Publishers	Activision
Platforms	PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One
Rating(s)	ESRB: T PEGI: 12 USK: 6 ACB: PG
Release Dates
First release date	September 29, 2015 (North America) October 1, 2015 (Australia) October 2, 2015 (Europe)
PlayStation 4	September 29, 2015 (North America) October 1, 2015 (Australia) October 2, 2015 (Europe)
PlayStation 3	December 15, 2015
Xbox One	September 29, 2015 (North America) October 1, 2015 (Australia) October 2, 2015 (Europe)
Xbox 360	December 15, 2015

“A new era of skating begins.”
—Game slogan

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, is a skateboarding video game, originally developed by Robomodo and Disruptive Games, and published by Activision. It is the tenth of the Tony Hawk video game series, and the first 'Pro Skater entry since 2002's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4.

It was released on September 29, 2015 on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and was released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on December 15, 2015.

The game marked the final entry to be developed by Robomodo, as the company went defunct in August 2016, and Vicarious Visions would develop the next title.

Game features

As indicated by the title, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 was intended to be a return to the series' roots. The gameplay is taken from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, where the player explores a Level to complete Goals to move onto the next Level.

Sharing the same engine as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, developed in Unreal Engine 3, it inherits a lot of controversal features from the game, such as the physics, animations and bail fadeouts. The gameplay itself became faster.

New to this game are Powerups, which grants the player abilities in various Levels, also creating Goals around them. Another feature is Slam, where the player can drop to the ground without bailing.

The game also featured a focus on online multiplayer, though the servers for the game have since been taken offline.

Development

Pre-release events

In November 2014, Tony Hawk revealed that there is another title in works to be released in 2015 on PS4.

On April 9th, Tony Hawk's caterer uploaded a photo on Instagram, leaking the Tony Hawk 5 logo. Activision spokesman had to confirm that this is the working title for the upcoming game.

GameInformer Reveal

In a May 5th, 2015 article, Game Informer revealed that Activision and Robomodo were indeed working on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, an official successor to the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series. The game was slated to release on Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later that year. PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were also planned.

The name was chosen to suggest a return to the franchise's roots, being a numbered sequel to 2002's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. The series had departed from its original style with the release of Tony Hawk's Underground and subsequent titles, adding many features and tweaks that some fans considered unnecessary. Pro Skater 5 promised to couple the tight mechanics of the original series with a variety of new ideas, including the addition of power-ups and projectiles.

The game featured a new set of levels, each sporting a set of missions to be completed by the player to unlock new characters and items, in a setup similar to the original series. The game also touted an online mode. Players were able to play in both competitive and cooperative game modes with friends online, prior to the server's shutdown. Character development in online and offline modes was said to be linked.

It was later revealed that the last-gen versions would only be available via UK retailer GAME.

E3 2015

During E3 2015, a demo of the game was showcased to attendees, some of whom noted a variety of changes from Robomodo's previous instalment, THPSHD. Players can now push off with their feet, allowing them to slowly coast around areas, instead of trying to jump around or use other unusual mechanisms to maintain speed. Secondly, normal grinding has been replaced with a new Slam feature. This ability has you dropping to the ground quickly, and if there is a pole or other grindable object beneath you, your character will grind on it.

Another new feature is the online component. When loading up the game, you are placed in a world with other skaters, whom you can ignore if you wish, or play missions and compete in events with them at any time. Along with this, Create A Park mode returns with all new features so you can design and share creations with friends online. The king of the vert ramp returns in this revival of the blockbuster THPS skateboarding franchise.

Patches

Zero-day patch

The vanilla game at the release date was reported as unplayable. It only allowed to skate the initial level. Original game files occupied 4.3GB of disk space, while the size of the patch itself was 7.6GB.

1.03 Patch

The 1.03 Patch was released on November 27, 2015, fixing many bugs and glitches in the game. It also added "double tap to slam," added quickturn, flipped the balance meter, added the Wild West and The Underground Levels to next-gen versions, added new playable skaters, updated visuals and some Pro Skater's sponsors. The overall patch size is 7.8GB.

Pre-Order Bonus Content

Gamestop's Totally Rad 80s Pack

• 80s Tony Hawk character skin
• 80s inspired Birdhouse board
• Tony Hawk's anti-gravity board

Best Buy's Eagle Shield Board

• Eagle Shield Board

Amazon's Hawk Skull Board

• Hawk Skull Board

PlayStation 3/4

• Sackboy head
• Sweet Tooth head
• Ratchet head

Xbox 360/One

• Cuphead head
• Mugman head
• Sunset Overdrive head

Skaters

• Tony Hawk
• Lizzie Armanto
• Leticia Bufoni
• Chris Cole
• David Gonzalez
• Riley Hawk
• Aaron Homoki
• Nyjah Huston
• Andrew Reynolds
• Ishod Wair

Secret Skaters

All versions:

• King Graham

PS4/One exclusive:

• Lil Wayne
• Tyler, The Creator
• TMNT

Levels

• The Berrics, Los Angeles, California
• Bonfire Beach, Huntington Beach, California
• School III, Northern CA
• Mega Park, California
• Rooftops, Detroit, Michigan
• The Bunker, Chicago, Illinois
• Asteroid Belt, Outer Space

PS4/Xbox One exclusive:

• Mountain, Canada
• Wild West, Texas
• The Underground, London, England

Achievements

Full article: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5/Achievements

Soundtrack

Full article: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 Soundtrack

Platform Differences

Due to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 being released the seventh and eighth console generations, there are some differences to be found.

• The game runs around 30FPs on last-generation versions, while it runs at a 60FPs on next-generation versions.
• The button prompts are smaller on next-generation versions.
• Star counts are displayed next to Level names only if they are selected in last-generation versions, whereas in next-generation versions, they are displayed at all times.
• The texture resolution is blurry on last-generation versions while it is high-res on next-generation versions.
• Last-generation versions have a blurry draw distance while it is hardly present on next-generation versions.
• The flavor text on the right side during gameplay is slightly cut off at the bottom in last-generation versions, which isn't the case in next-generation versions.

Reception

The game received extremely negative feedback upon launch. Review aggregate site Metacritic scored the PlayStation 4 version of the game 32/100, based on the average score from 28 critics. The user score shortly after launch was around 1.6/10, based on 274 reviews.

The game was mostly criticized for the new Slam feature and new Special bar functionality. The former was criticized for being as the same button command as Grinding, causing a confusion between the two moves and for interrupting Combos. Another point that was criticized were the glitches.

It was also criticized for its poor level design, where Peter Brown of GameSpot described it as "too small, lacking in interesting opportunities". It was also criticized for recycling elements from previous Tony Hawk games.

The physics were also criticized, where players noted had not been improved from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. Another element that was criticized were the Missions and Challenges, pointing out the repetition and not being able to quit them unless if one were to go back to the main menu.

Eurogamer published a video called "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 is a glitchy mess", showing the glitchy physics of the game and furthered the furthered the negative perception.

Matthew Kato of GameInformer gave the game a 6.5 out of 10, giving praise to the vibrant graphics and soundtrack, but criticized the repetition of the Missions to unlock Levels. It was further described as "a no-man's-land between not being good enough to replicate the past nor ambitious enough to move the franchise forward".

External links

• Official THPS5 promo site
• Trailer on YouTube
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 on Activision.com
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 on IGN
• Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 on GameSpot
• Article at Polygon.com
• Tony Hawk 5 leak reviewed at Polygon.com
• THPS5 first look on Gameinformer

Gallery

Tony Hawk 5 leak

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 levels
The Berrics • Bonfire Beach • School III • Mega Park • Rooftops • The Bunker • Asteroid Belt • Mountain* • Wild West** • The Underground** *Exclusive to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions **Also later added in 1.03 Patch