Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 was among the 3rd party games playable at last week’s Gamer’s Summit. Having missed the chance to try the game at E3, I took the opportunity to see what to expect in this year’s installment of the king of extreme sports games. Two levels were available at the Gamer’s Summit, the zoo and the college campus, both of which were playable at E3.

On the whole, the game played very much like last year’s excellent THPS 3. It took only a few seconds for things to click and I was skating like a pro again. Two other notable changes became apparent after another few seconds of play. First, the levels are significantly larger than on previous games. There’s a lot more to see and do on these levels. The developers at Neversoft have done a nice job of expanding upon the living environments found in Tony Hawk 3. The other change is that there is no time limit while skating around a level. Objectives are timed, but the clock only starts once you receive that objective from one of the people within the level. This allows the player to take a more leisurely pace while playing the game, which seems like a very smart decision given the size of the levels. You need to have a lot of time to explore these massive levels.

I didn’t notice any major changes to the trick system, but given that it’s based off the model that started the recent extreme sports boom, that’s not a bad thing. One new cool move that I did try was skitching, which is grabbing on to the back of a moving car and riding with it. Riding the car is a fairly simple trick, requiring the player to push up when nearing the back of moving car. A balance meter comes up (just like grinds, manuals, etc.) when riding, and staying attached is just a matter keeping the meter centered...you just need to be extra careful when the car makes a turn.

So, overall, there were no real big surprises from THPS 4. I didn’t really expect any, though. I did expect to play a game with the same great gameplay that’s stood tall over numerous imitators, and the game did not disappoint in that area. Plus, with a fresh set of huge levels to explore, a new enhancement or two to the trick system, more time to explore the levels, and the return of Bob Burnquist, I’m looking forward to another turn with Tony and company.