This is precisely why fans have a lot to look forward to in the upcoming Tony Hawk's Project 8. Not only is it specifically built to take real advantage of the powerful new console hardware, it looks to earlier Hawk games for inspiration, rather than building further on the flawed foundation of more recent outings. Project 8 seeks to recapture the series' glory days, and a recent sneak peek at Activision gave me a few hints as to how it'll do so.
Great Taste, Less Filler
Perhaps the biggest break from American Wasteland and the like will be a decreased emphasis on plot and story. There's still some, but the designers found that pushing too much plot had a negative impact on player freedom. Neversoft's designers would rather have you skating around a large world (with no load times, now) and taking on the challenges you want rather than forcing you into a more linear path dotted with fixed events.
The best example of this new philosophy comes in what they call "ambient challenges." These are over 200 mini-events you can find throughout the environment that challenge you to perform specific feats. One might be to grind a certain distance, or maybe pull off a certain type of combo in a fixed time. The neat part is that each one will have three levels of accomplishment. You can squeak by with just hitting the amateur goal -- the shortest grind, say. If you can stick it out further you'll meet the pro requirement, and if you're totally awesome, you'll get the sick one.
Your progress in the game will partially depend on what types of ranks you earn on these. It's cool for novices because even they'll be able to make progress and feel satisfied in doing so. Meanwhile, better players can concentrate on racking up those "sicks," which is one requirement to get the best ending. Activision reports that it took their best testers 25 hours to achieve the sick ending, so I can only imagine how long it could take a normal-level player.
Of course, there'll also be some changes to the actual skateboarding action to help keep things feeling fresh. One big addition is the new Nail the Trick mode. Basically, whenever you get big air, you now have the option of taking your feet off the board, letting it twirl, and reconnecting with it before you land. To do so you just click and hold both analog sticks while in the air; the game will go into slo-mo. Each stick represents one of your skater's legs, and the direction you hold each will be mirrored onscreen. The trick is to return the sticks to neutral just when the board flips back around; do it too soon and you'll bail. You can make it flip faster by precisely hitting straight up, down, left or right, and the faster it's going the more separate flips can fit into a single jump. I was happy just to nail one such trick, but a skilled demo player got well over a half-dozen in one big leap. Crazy stuff.
