In many ways, if you played the last game in this popular skateboarding series, Tony Hawk's Underground, then you've already played the new one, not surprisingly titled Tony Hawk's Underground 2. Most of the gameplay has remained the same, the graphics have improved ever so slightly, and the types of goals are a lot like its predecessor. Basically, it's more of the same, wrapped up in a slightly more sophomoric, mean-spirited package, thanks to the ubiquitous prescence of MTV bad boy Bam Margera. That's not a bad thing, of course, as the game is still the best way to get the ollies out of your system without risking a broken ankle.

While the last game was an engrossing, Rocky-esque story of a skater (created and played by you, of course) making his way from the suburbs of New Jersey to the top of the skating world, THUG 2 takes a decidedly different approach. As the game begins, your skater is tossed into a black van, taken to an abandoned garage, and threatened by a bunch of madmen wearing hockey masks. Not surprisingly, those madmen turn out to be Bam and Tony, and they tell you that you've be chosen to join them on the Worldwide Destruction Tour, in which their two teams will span the globe, causing mayhem and behaving like, well, Jackasses.


After Tony chooses you for his team, you've got a chance to hone your skills by training in the old garage. While most of the moves and tricks are the same, there have been a few additions to spice things up this time around. The biggest (and most useful) new trick is the sticker slap, which allows you to jump against a wall, slap on your team's sticker, then push off to reverse direction. This really comes in handy when riding a rail, as you can continue your combo by reversing, racking up major points by heading back the way you came. You'll also use it at times to break through walls or glass, depending on the goal at hand.

For those moments when a sticker simply isn't a big enough mark on the world, you can hop off your board and whip out the cans of spray paint for a little fun with graffiti. Chances are good that you won't really use this very much, except for when it's called for in the level's goals. For all of the budding taggers out there, you can also create your own graphic, using a tool that will allow you to layer different elements on top of each other, tweaking the colors, sizes, or orientations with a series of sliders. It's a fun tool to play with for a while, but you can have a great time with the game without even touching it.

The last big change allows you to "focus" on the tricks at hand when your Special meter is filled up. By simply pressing a button, everything will slow down, making it easier for you land tricks perfectly or keep your balance when sliding on a rail. Again, this is a nice little addition, but I found that I really didn't need to use it during the game, except for those moments when a goal required me to utilize it. While it might help newcomers keep their combos going longer, experienced players probably won't need the aid.


Once you're done checking out the new tricks and gameplay additions at the garage, it's time to head out into the real world, smashing stuff in cities spanning the globe from Boston to Barcelona. The object of the game is simple: make your way through the city, reaching goals and gaining points, until you've gotten enough to move on to the next stop on the tour. At the start of the level, you'll be given a laundry list of goals to accomplish, either as your skater, or as one of the thrashers hidden in the stage. You get to choose one Pro skater to help you, and there are two other special characters to be found while exploring the area. Each of the 4 characters has their own list of goals, although most of them can be crossed off by any of them. Most of the hidden skaters have a gimmicky mode of transport, including a mechanical bull riding Steve-O, and Jesse James (from TV's Monster Garage) riding a souped-up Segway.

In the last game, finding goals was as easy as skating up to a person on the street and talking to them, at which point you could start trying to pass the task at hand. Now that everything can be viewed in the pause menu, things have changed a bit, for both better and worse. All of the goals can be accomplished in any order, and you don't necessarily need to concentrate on achieving one at a time, as many of them involve doing things in different parts of the level. Unfortunately, this also means that you can't simply hit the start menu to restart the current goal as you could before. Now, if you mess up that long combo, you'll have to skate back to the beginning and try again, which can be a pain at times. Also, if you have trouble finding the goals in the level, there's a good chance you'll spend a lot of time pausing and reading the description, which sometimes takes you out of the game for too long.


For the purists out there who long for the good old days when Tony Hawk's Pro Skater ruled the roost, there is now a classic mode that lets you play the game in the traditional manner. You get two minutes to achieve the goals that are laid out for you, and most of them will be instantly familiar to longtime fans of the series. Spell out the word "SKATE", grab all of the "COMBO" letters in one extended rail, or get the requisite number of points in one run. While it's a fun way to spend your time with the game, it made me realize what great strides the team has made in recent years. While THUG 2 might not be as free-roaming as the latest Grand Theft Auto title, it still feels like you can take your time and do whatever you want, which is a lot of fun.

There's a lot of people who prefer to make their own game, and THUG 2 has a wide range of Create-a-Modes that will allow them to completely customize their experience. The excellent Create-a-Skater and Create-a-Park modes have returned, as has the Create-a-Trick system that lets you use a timeline to set up spins, rotations, and grabs. However, there's one addition that finally lets you tie everything together. Called Create-a-Goal, it allows you place a person in the level, edit the type of goal requirements, the text, and even the reward messages. Adding the goals to your created parks makes it easy for gamers to challenge their friends more than even the single player game.

Though many were hoping that THUG 2 would utilize Xbox Live for online play, it didn't happen. However, you can once again battle a buddy in splitscreen multiplayer mode. In addition to the modes that were in last year's game (Slap! and HORSE being two of my favorites), there is a new mode to try out. It's called Scavenger Hunt, and it starts out with the two players skating around the level, hiding coins in various places. After the time runs down, the players race to see who can find the most coins. The multiplayer can be fun, and you can change splitscreen views (horizontal or vertical), but it won't be complete until you can play online.

Graphically, the game really hasn't changed very much since the last game. The animations seem just a bit smoother, and everything looks slightly nicer, but it still looks a lot like the last game. One place that I did notice a difference, however, was in the cutscenes, which now have a slightly exagerrated look. They fit perfectly with the over-the-top characters that dominate this game, and Bam Margera comes off particularly well, even as he's launching tennis balls into his friends' family jewels.


Fans of the series have come to expect top-notch voiceovers and a varied soundtrack, and they won't be disappointed with this year's iteration. All of the voices are well done and fit in perfectly with the crazy cutscenes, though Eric Sparrow still sounds just as annoying as he did last time out. The soundtrack is extremely impressive, sporting enough tunes to make anyone happy. Basically, if you like music of any kind (well, except classical), there's a song here for you. There are over 50 tracks in the game, including old school hits by Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra, as well as plenty of hip-hop and metal songs from artists like Brand Nubian, Metallica, and The Distillers. Of course, if there's a song you don't like, you can just take it off the playlist. Don't like any of the choices? Just import your own playlist onto the Xbox's hard drive and play away!

If you're a devotee of Tony's series, you'll be happy with the new game, but you might come away feeling like it's more of the same. Still, as I said before, that's not a bad thing. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is the best skating game ever made, and while it isn't nearly as groundbreaking as the previous game, it takes everything that made it great and adds some new tricks and a dash of juvenile potty humor, leaving you with the best time you'll have at a skate park this year. Best of all, you don't have to worry about Bam going after your family jewels



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