Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. This franchise will stay in my memory for as long as I live. Possibly, anyway. I say this because I have such a love/hate relationship with it; it's going to take a lot of harrowing experiences in my future to erase such a big part of my life from my mind. To make a game that in itself has spawned a new genre, let alone recreate the magic for two more titles is a staggering prospect but the guys and gals at Neversoft have gone and done it. Yet again, the game is an absolute scorcher and improves and refines the control system over the previous titles in its short but distinguished history. This game should have a government health warning stamped on the box; it's that goddamn addictive.

If you've played a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game before, you'll feel right at home and start racking up some huge scores soon enough, especially with the use of the all-new 'Revert' trick. All that is needed is a touch of the R button when landing from a halfpipe/quarterpipe and you'll be able to manual out and continue with your combo of tricks. New players to the series will find the control system intuitive and very easy to get into after an hour or so of playing. Believe me, that hour will turn into the rest of the day to the night etcà There are over 20 characters to play with and the ability to create your own is all included in the game with much more enhanced features than before. Equally impressive is the level count and the quality therein. Luckily for us X-Boxer's we have a special bonus level to play in (presumably because we've had to wait so long!) and each is created with so much care and attention that you won't get bored with them for a loooong time. You have a series of objectives in each level to complete and these in turn open up more levels to skate in. There's also a hidden deck to find and stat points to collect to boost your skater's balance/air/ollie etc. Also included are three competitions to take part in and have three attempts to get the highest score possible with the best two runs taken into account and added up to put you in the rankings, hopefully picking up a gold medal along the way.

Graphically, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 is not all that different from the other platforms but it does feel a lot smoother and the framerate issue has thankfully been addressed. It wasn't that it interfered with the gameplay before, it was just a touch annoying at times. The animation on the skaters is wonderful and the colours used give the game a very natural feel and adds to the illusion of skating round real cities doing things you'd never be able to pull off in a million years in your real life. The textures and graphics aren't stunning, but they do the job adequately and when the game plays as good as this, who really gives a toss? The cities and levels have a ton of stuff going on in them with cars driving by and loads of pedestrians just milling around, laughing at you when you fall off or showing their appreciation when you do something stunning, this all goes in to make a much more 'living' feel to the game and it's a nice touch. All sound effects are as accurate as dammit, and it add a lot of weight to the game when you hear the sweet 'pop' of an ollie or the metal on metal grinding sound down a handrail. The music is firmly in the obligatory 'Extreme Sports Title' mould but admittedly, the first Tony game pretty much started this all off. The tunes are great and if you don't like them, you can add your own soundtracks and skate to whatever you like.

Neversoft still obviously have a lot of passion for the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series and consistently put in fresh ideas to improve and refine the franchise. If the passion and drive ever slows, please stop making the game because I want to remember it how it is today: One of the best sports games, nay one of the best games around. I urge you to invest in this game because there is a staggering amount of gameplay contained within this one disc and you will have one of the best experiences available to you for quite a while. Until number four that is.