Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 PS2

It's fair to say that the fourth instalment in NeverSoft's seminal skate series brings the least to the table, in terms of innovation, concept and gameplay and yet strangely, it's the best to grace a console since Tony got himself a PA and sold himself to a man named Chad. The long-avoided (or should that be best-avoided) career mode has finally squeezed itself into the impeccable format of the earlier games. This pits you as an amateur skater trying to break your way into the world of the pro, as is/was the dream of every be-hooded rider of the polyurethane the world over. The process involves taking a skater with exceptionally low skill-points, and building him up to gain sponsorship, thus entering the pro circuits. Now, although this is an honourable and time-served game filler, it has absolutely no appeal for the seasoned Pro Skater player. Having empowered and combo'ed far superior riders, to take such a drastic step down from this level is frustrating and largely unappealing. This is because by this stage in the game, anyone inclined to play a skateboarding game already has done, and more than likely, played it to death. And, unless they were one of the unfortunate few who invested in Thrasher: Skate and Destroy, that game will have been a Tony Hawk title. Graphically, Tony 4 is a shining example of latter-day PlayStation 2 development. NeverSoft has managed to fill the screen with detailed, high-polygon objects whist bringing life to the proceedings with an array of textures and mapping that surpasses any requirement the genre may demand. And there's no pop-up, which is a bonus. The size of the environments in the fourth game is unrivalled in any pervious release in the series, both deep and varied, and surprisingly interactive. The third game came in for slight criticism in that it failed to fully take advantage of the power offered by next-gen consoles. As you will know if you've followed the progression of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, the third game made one very important gamepl