Nintendophiles have gotten to play Tony Hawk Pro Skater, and THPS2 on the N64, and the Game Boy Advance, but overall we’ve always gotten the game late, as well as not the best graphical version. This time around, we get THPS3 right at launch—just weeks after the Playstation 2 version shipped. I’ve sunk about 2 hours into the game, and I’m more than impressed with Neversoft’s skills once again.

To put it bluntly, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 is one bad ass game.

I’ve played the first two levels, and I’m working on opening up the third. Graphically THPS3 is very good. The animations are superbly done, and the environments are highly detailed. Everything can be tricked off of. The first level is “Foundry”, where you skate around a huge warehouse where there are workers melting steel. You’ll see molten steel get poured, moving platforms and the like. The second level, “Canada” is more of an open skate park/nature area. Huge tree stumps, wooden bridges, and massive pools. It’s pretty neat when you’re pulling a sweet grab, and you see birds flying off in the distance. Wiping out is almost as much fun as surviving. Why? Because there’s BLOOD! Beautiful blood! If you wreck real good, there’ll be blood splattered on the pavement. If you’ve ever skated before, you know it’s a blood drawing sport. With the amount of bails you’ll have learning all the tricks, expect to see loads of blood.

The gameplay is purely Tony Hawk. Points and tricks count, but you’ll have to perform a lot of different actions to advance. One of the things I like is the fact that’s there’s less of a scavenger hunt going on in THPS3. You still have to find that secret tape, but level goals are more about actual actions you have to do. For example some of the things you’ll have to accomplish are impressing skaters, knocking a foreman into a water tank, take out a bully…and of course getting those massive high scores.

Also, one thing to do if you play this, is turn up the stereo. Hearing the Ramones do Blitzkrieg Bop made me bounce around on my couch while thrashin’ in the skate park. There’s plenty of rockin’ tunes to crank up while you’re playing. Not just 2 or 3. The sound effects, and the voices are also well done, but the music is what I think really adds to the intensity of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3. Oh, I almost forgot…you can customize the play list as well. Want to hear the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then the House of Pain? No problem!

There’s plenty of multiplayer options as well, but I haven’t had time to try them out. I’m just having fun skating around, and trying to unlock more stages. If you’ve liked the previous version of Tony Hawk, get ready for a real treat. Neversoft has delivered a solid game.