Yet another sequel to the long running Tony Hawk franchise. Like the previous games they are released onto all available formats and show little difference across the range of hardware. Tony Hawk’s 4 for Xbox is a slightly improved version of the game which was developed for Playstation 2.

Gameplay:
The same gameplay remains and still has the revert move that was put into Tony Hawk’s 3. The controls are exactly the same so you will be able to pick up the game and play straight out of the box. You will find though to start off with when your skater is inexperienced that you can fall off easily when attempting any of the tricks. There is quite a good selection of levels each one a lot larger than before and without a time limit to aid exploration. A number of people around the level, which are indicated by small arrows above their heads, will set you challenges you have to complete to gain pro points, money and stat points. This aspect is slightly like the challenges in JSRF to collect the graffiti souls, except there are many more challenges and some can be difficult.

Graphics:
Yes the graphics do improve on the last game and are smooth, but they do not show off the power of the Xbox. Activision 02 has done little work to improve the game for Xbox which spoils he game slightly. Character models are detailed and smooth, the backgrounds are large and are of lower quality than that of the skater.

Sound:
Sound quality is really good here, the game supports Dolby Digital 5.1 and has some great voice samples. With the inclusion of skaters you can talk to many voice samples have recorded, as you will see in one of the bonus videos. Whilst you skate you can listen to a wide range of tracks, you don’t notice them very much on some levels so try turning up the sound levels in the options menu.

Longevity:
I would say rent it, unless you haven’t got number 3. It is a good game and improves on areas in previous titles, but there is not enough new here to really excite players. They removed the time limit so you could free roam but as soon as you start a challenge a two-minute timer starts. I was disappointed by this and thought they would do something more radical.

Round Up:
If you don’t own many or any Tony Hawks games then this may be something fresh for you, but for a lot of people it is more of the same. You wouldn’t eat four bowls of toffee ice cream would you? You may have one toffee, then a chocolate. If they are to make another game, which they most likely will, it would have to be more revolutionary than this effort.