The first two THPS games were as much a culture as they were a videogame. Although I was a wee sk8r boy in my teens, these games coming along at the height of that was perfect timing. Giving me accessible content to this culture that up until then was only really seen in magazines or the odd TV show and niche sky TV channel. And it was a culture embraced by those around me too.
And the games were awesome. The only thing is, I could never beat them. I don't recall unlocking Roswell on the first game (though I might have done, as once 2 came out, 1 was more of a novelty to revisit for a few minutes from time to time). I definitely unlocked the chopper drop level on 2, but only ever saw skate heaven thanks to a cheat code.
20 odd years later, I'm no longer an edgy teen rocking baggy jeans and listening to most of the bands off the soundtrack. However I have been enjoying the remake of these landmark, formative videogames. And for the first time I've 100% completed all of the challenges. And I put this down to the addition of the revert. I remember getting up a fair amount of combo points in the original THPS2 thanks to the addition of the manual function, but as the revert wasn't introduced until 3, I never got too many big combos, and I could never get the sick scores in the later levels. Nor did I get gold on the skate parks. The revert changed everything and I'm stringing together 100,000+ point combos at a time, making those goals much more achievable.
Much like Crash and Spyro before this, its good to see that not too many liberties have been taken in the updating of the ps1 classics. It feels like the originals. It adds a feature that makes it even more fun and I had a great time again.
I haven't played any of the fancy new sims that are around today, but I don't think that skateboard games have been bettered.
And the games were awesome. The only thing is, I could never beat them. I don't recall unlocking Roswell on the first game (though I might have done, as once 2 came out, 1 was more of a novelty to revisit for a few minutes from time to time). I definitely unlocked the chopper drop level on 2, but only ever saw skate heaven thanks to a cheat code.
20 odd years later, I'm no longer an edgy teen rocking baggy jeans and listening to most of the bands off the soundtrack. However I have been enjoying the remake of these landmark, formative videogames. And for the first time I've 100% completed all of the challenges. And I put this down to the addition of the revert. I remember getting up a fair amount of combo points in the original THPS2 thanks to the addition of the manual function, but as the revert wasn't introduced until 3, I never got too many big combos, and I could never get the sick scores in the later levels. Nor did I get gold on the skate parks. The revert changed everything and I'm stringing together 100,000+ point combos at a time, making those goals much more achievable.
Much like Crash and Spyro before this, its good to see that not too many liberties have been taken in the updating of the ps1 classics. It feels like the originals. It adds a feature that makes it even more fun and I had a great time again.
I haven't played any of the fancy new sims that are around today, but I don't think that skateboard games have been bettered.