Platform: XBX, GC, PS2
When you see a commercial for a new game in the "Pro" lines (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX, Sean Palmer's Pro Snowboarder, etc.) you wonder how can they make so many games that must be exactly alike and still have fans? Well you'd be suprised.
Offering up a crew of the world's best skateboarders, THPS is back for round 4, the best one yet. Activision has provided bigger levels; a huge, customizable playlist of hit music; tricked out new goals and... tricks... and a new free-roaming system in which you pick your career mode challenges while you freely skate around the level.
THPS4 doesn't offer a lot in the way of originality considering that it is the third sequel to its original spawning game which was the real groundbreaker. However I find endless joy in it, despite that I tend to find codes neccesary to beat some of the goals.
Graphics: Your skater's outfit is limited only to your tweaked out imagination, and with an insane list of tricks to pull off, the game's visuals rank highly, however with nothing truly new we can't call it spectacular....
8.0
Sound: I don't care for the playlist provided, but you can customize it to pull out the needless crap that burns your ears, and for us proud Xbox owners who have placed soundtracks on our hard drives, THPS4 lets you play back any of them at will.
10.0
Control: The controls are simple, but I find issues with both the standard Xbox controller and the Xbox controller-S with this game. On the standard, it is easy to roll your thumb to the wrong button while pulling off a rather simple combo, and the controller-S has the black button positioned near the base of the right thumb and so while you may be trying to trick off a half-pipe you may end up flying into an unwanted spine transfer.
7.5
Worth: This game may not be worth the full 50 dollars but definately give it a look, it's long-term playability may find its place in your sicked up tricked out brain.
9.5