One would previously be foolish to speak against a Tony Hawk Pro Skater game; such ridicule of an outstanding new franchise may as well be blasphemy. After Neversoft had bequeathed upon Hawk the apparent credit for fathering skateboarding as we know it, he became an ultra-popular icon of ESPN’s interpretation of “Xtreme Sports.” He was the face that accompanied the image of skateboarding; the Michael Jordan of the game, at least from a marketing standpoint. Yes, skaters had a role model, and gamers had an addictive, complex video game.

Feel pity for the bumbling fool who goes out and purchases installment number 3 with his hard earned dollars, expecting an enthralling, flavorful new edition after having pounded away at previous versions for months on end. He may just come away a disappointed individual. While the gameplay need not solidify itself further, other elements seem to be a bit lacking; uninteresting objectives throughout under whelming settings can be deadly, especially when compared to the previous games’.

Tony Hawk’s world is based on the principle of continuous combos. By linking all of the types of tricks available to skateboarders – air tricks, grinds, manuals, reverts, lip tricks, and the like – you can work up extremely high scores. One type of trick will, if all goes according to plan, link into the next. Manuals can be used from a regular, standing position, and can lead to the use of simple moves, like kick flips, which can then be comboed back into another manual. The player can ride this manual to the nearest object that allows grinding – namely any ledge, pipe, or railing – to build up speed, and to, ultimately, keep the trick going.

The newest maneuver to the series is the revert. This technique allows the player to complete a trick on a sloped surface – say, going up a half-pipe – and then land without ending the trick. Instead of the combo ending with the air trick, the revert – a quick, 180 degree turn – is used, which is capable of linking to a manual to continue the combo. Then, of course, the manual can be used to link to other manuals and to begin grinds and lip tricks and what have you. It is this semi-complex system that the latest Hawk thrives on. As long as you can keep your balance and work your way around to the necessary tools, huge tricks can be pulled off. The key is to keep it going.

The beef of the game is the career mode, in which you’re thrown into a number of levels with certain goals to accomplish. In the beginning, just one stage will be unlocked; but by completing a certain number of goals, eventually more stages will open. Objectives range from simply achieving a certain score within the time limit, to jumping gaps, to somehow inflicting harm onto pedestrians throughout the stages. In the first level, the foundry, it is a goal to dunk the foreman into a vat of liquid. For the most part, these goals seem a bit ridiculous, if not pointless. I don’t find it too engulfing to have to roam around, looking for pumpkins to smash, or finding floating letters that spell out the word “skate.”

Unfortunately, TH3 is home to only a handful of levels, and only about 2 or 3 of which are of any interest. None of them are exceedingly large or complicated, and, for the most part, they look like they were made with the Park Editor that comes with the game. The horrendous Suburbia level is so lackluster that just comparing it to the Ship or Airport stages would make you think that it were a different game entirely. Some of the locales are based on competition and not completing goals – such as Skater Island, a bland-looking, annoying indoor park, and the visually deafening Tokyo, which is unorthodox for skateboarding anyway. Clearly, the stages are uneven in quality. Thankfully, though, you can always make your own stages, no matter how small they are.

Note, though, that these environments are extremely appealing from a graphical standpoint. Although the tones of stages in an overall sense can be ugly, each individual object is realistic looking, and, for the most part, colorful. The Rio level offers you huge skylines and buildings leading all the way down inaccessible streets. It is these surrounding areas that are especially well done. The Airport has tons of escalators and people movers and the like. The attention to detail on the better stages is incredible.

The soundtracks that come with TH3 are a mixture of annoying punk, rap, and other assorted garbage from artists such as Alien Ant Farm, Xzibit, and the Ramones. Thankfully, though, should you not enjoy this music, you are provided with the option of creating and using your own tracks from CDs. If it weren’t for this saving grace of the XBOX, I’m sure someone besides myself would be disappointed – the provided music is just a collection of irritating noise.

Perhaps the single most nauseating aspect of your experience is that a ludicrous number of game completions are required to unlock all of the extra features. There is a pile of goods to get from beating the game with a pro skater, such as videos, secret characters, and the hidden, XBOX-exclusive Oil Rig stage. However, to think that you would have to complete every goal for every stage with every featured pro skater to unlock all of these extras is just unacceptable. This is simply a forceful way to make the game last longer. Beat it more than 5 times. Give me a break. Add in the fact that you will go unrewarded for the use of a created skater, and anyone uninitiated with and uninterested in the pro roster will be even more annoyed.

All of these complaints, though – the bland stages, annoying music, and repetitive gameplay – are mostly based on how much of the previous Hawk incarnations you have played. If you are either fairly new to the series or hopelessly hardcore, TH3 is probably going to be of interest to you. The music isn’t even really a problem for XBOX owners, and a few of the stages are beautiful. Compared to TH2, though, it almost appears that some aspects have taken a step backward. I’m waiting for something truly new and innovative