Editor’s Note: Patrick Bonk — great gaming name, by the way — explains why he feels Tony Hawk: Ride just might be the game that gets him back into the series he once loved so much. And actually, I’m hoping for a similar bounceback for this once-proud series. -Greg
It’s funny. Out of all the things that could and did capture my imagination at E3, I did not think that Tony Hawk: Ride would have stuck with me the most. I remember when I first heard about a Tony Hawk reboot with a skateboard peripheral, I wasn’t interested in the least. Now, after seeing the Microsoft press conference and Tony Hawk’s all-too-brief presentation of the game and its unique peripheral, it is firmly on my radar, all $120 of it.
Though it has been a few years, I once was heavily into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games. In fact, even though I have been a gamer for over 30 years, I don’t think it would be a stretch for me to say that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 were the games that truly ushered me into “hardcore gamerdom.” I played and played those games until I literally hurt from the strain I was placing on myself trying to better my runs. And though I hurt, it hurt so good that I kept coming back for more. Tony Hawk was owning my gamerspace.
Once the third and fourth iterations hit, I found myself loosing interest in the series as the games began to feel less and less like the games I fell in love with. I had a brief fling with Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland on the DS a couple of years ago, but other than that, Tony Hawk has been a gaming wasteland for me.
So why Tony Hawk: Ride? If I am to examine my personal sensibilities toward the series and superfluous peripherals it would seem that I wouldn’t give this game a second glance, especially in a year where its later half is choked with must-have, must-play games. I do not know how to express my interest other than it looks like fun and I want to play it. Now that can change if the game comes out and it is a complete dog, but I suspect that will not be the case. My wish is that Ride will take me back to that place in the late ’90s when I discovered how much fun a skateboarding game can be.
Source: SUPERGHOST’s Haunted House of Xbox
Twitter: @superghost