The most surprising element of THAW's gameplay is what's improved. One of the main gimmicks that separated THUG from THPS was the "Caveman" feature. It also seemed to be a breaking point for many Hawk fans, splitting people into camps who either loved or hated it. In the first game, it was touted as a big deal, although it worked less of the time than it made an excellent addition. In THUG 2, it was still intact, but wasn't heavily built upon and seemed relegated to being a side perk of gameplay. It seems that Neversoft has taken it upon itself to tweak the hell out of it so that it feels as natural as pulling off a grind or a manual. More than just a means to run around and explore, it now flows very smoothly into combos. Plus, it's been fleshed out into the ability to perform front flips, back flips, and vault off a wall onto a ledge. No one's going to ditch their board to take up jogging, but it's substantially better than what players have experienced in the past.
In addition, another trick that didn't really have its potential tapped as much in its THUG debut (THUG 2, for those of your keeping count) was the Natas spin. It's back, and now you can do Natas handstands. It seems as though there are map points that just feel much more intuitively friendly to perform it than there were in THUG 2. One-footed grinds and manuals are also in order, too; that's right -- they're not confined to specials anymore. Players will also be able to pause a grind and stop on a dime. It's a nice way of racking up some more multipliers while you're up on a limb. One of the coolest new tricks, though, is the Bert Slide. It gives skaters a little more rotational leverage, and it looks extremely cool. The Bert Slide enables players to rotate in a full, 360-degree range with handplant, and come out of it in a movement that can only be described as b-boy. It's almost like break-dancing on a board, and it's great for linking combos.
Another feature that works really nicely is the addition of BMX biking into the fold. It's definitely a split from past Hawk games, but like the tweaked Caveman, it's coming along nicely. At first, I had some initial concern that it was nothing but a re-warmed Mat Hoffman feature from the Activision O2 line, but it incorporates into the LA landscape with ease. It's got a different control scheme and dynamic to it that makes it a welcome diversion from board-related activities. In addition to the grinds and manuals that most players would expect, a great amount of trickery involves the Whip maneuver, in which a skater whips the entire bike under them. It's a simple flick of the right analog stick, and it incorporates something into gameplay outside of the kickflips and grabs that one would likely expect.
