KrobelustheMedavan
No Longer a Noob
After spending time with Proving Ground it's pretty obvious to me that there are just alot of minor issues with the series that could be fixed...it'll never top Skate or be a sales juggernaut again..but I don't think respectability is too much to expect. This'll never happen because Neversoft and Activision in general don't care about quality games and just look for quick ways to boost sales..but I can't help but think these ideas might work and provide an alternative to Skate for those who can't get into the super realism..
1.Stop Trying to Compete With Skate
Skate does what it does far better than the Tony Hawk series ever has. In the realm of super realism it's pretty likely to never be topped. The entire Ride endeavor was a horrendously misguided attempt to out-do Skate in the realm of realism. The "Nail The Trick" feature in Proving Ground was much the same, a half-assed attempt to mimmick what has made Skate so succesful. Without blatantly ripping off the control scheme there isn't a way to reasonably compete with Skate.
Instead this series should focus on what made it succesful that being bridging the gap between the real and the unreal. Not an outright sim like Skate, but not the over the top arcade affair of THUG2 or American Wasteland. This is one of the few things Proving Ground did spot on.
2.Over-haul the games engine
Proving Ground and Project 8 basically felt just like the Underground series and American Wasteland...a PS3/360 Game should not feel identical to its last gen counterparts. Update the physics engine at least...as opposed to trying to throw Skate controls in the Tony Hawk arcade phsyics engine...add sim style physics; Make the game play faster, reduce air..do something to make things compelling again.
3.Stop with these stupid stories
The First Underground story is the only one that made sense...you went from unknown to pro skater and the interactions and respect followed with it. THUG2 was illogical to begin with..an underground tour bent on destroying stuff? and they just happen to recruit two unknowns(Player character and Eric Sparrow) and a 10 Year old Kid in a body cast? American Wasteland was chock full of sterotypes most of which were annoying...even worse wasthe fact that the angry old man who let skater punks hang out on his property just happens to be some unknown legendary figure? The Proving Ground stories were all terrible....local philly punks just happen to be hanging out with pro skaters? Bam borrows money from...some guy? Stevie Williams and his photographer invite some random guy to shoot for their magazine? Honestly they got it right one time. Just drop the over arching storyline and go back to a Tony Hawk 4 type career levels full of different kinds of goals that unlock harder goals when completed..it might not be pushing anything forward but the stories are lame.
4/Level Variety
Maybe it's just me but I feel like the levels have been going downhill since THUG2...the need to connect them logically ina storyline seems to be part of the problem...so does the Open World level structure they've been using since American Wasteland./ I miss the imagintive levels like the Hangar in THPS2, The Zoo in THPS4, and the LA Earthquake level from THPS3. I'd rather see 16-20 well thought out levels than one big continous generic level. Open world is the trend now and it works in Skate...but it hasn't worked in this series so far. I also miss the crazy secret levels like the Carnival in THPS4, andand even the concert from THUG and the huge alien ship level from THUG2..
5.Create Options
The create-a-skater has become pathetically stale and hasn't progressed since the first Underground...it's actually degresed. Give the option to actually tweak the Skater's body type and face complexion..as well as more than a few hair styles...bring back female skaters..there are so many simple fixes to turn this dated create-a-skater feature into something respectable
What the hell happned to create a park/level? bring that back and give enough memory so that both skate parks and full levels can be created..again there are so many easy fixes it's not funny
I also miss the option to tweak the pro-skater attires from THPS4..why in the world this was never brought back is still a mistory to me.
.6.Let the rsoter span generations
One thing this series has always done well is to mesh current skaters,main stream skaters, and old school skaters together . This is kind of something that needs to happen so that the game can appeal to many different kinds of people. When this sereis first came out up until about 2003 I was actually a pretty big skating fan..for reasons I neverunderstood though I kind of grew out of it...I don't hate skating, but alot of the newer faces are almost unknown to me..likewise there are eople who don't recognize any of the mid 90's names..so why not include skaters from lots of different generations?
The outlandish secret skaters would be a nice thing to have back as well...Jango Fett, Wolverine and Spider-Man were entertaining unlocks I thought
Really between Activision's laziness and this boards inactivity I feel like i've wasted my time..but I felt like I had to get these ideas out there...
1.Stop Trying to Compete With Skate
Skate does what it does far better than the Tony Hawk series ever has. In the realm of super realism it's pretty likely to never be topped. The entire Ride endeavor was a horrendously misguided attempt to out-do Skate in the realm of realism. The "Nail The Trick" feature in Proving Ground was much the same, a half-assed attempt to mimmick what has made Skate so succesful. Without blatantly ripping off the control scheme there isn't a way to reasonably compete with Skate.
Instead this series should focus on what made it succesful that being bridging the gap between the real and the unreal. Not an outright sim like Skate, but not the over the top arcade affair of THUG2 or American Wasteland. This is one of the few things Proving Ground did spot on.
2.Over-haul the games engine
Proving Ground and Project 8 basically felt just like the Underground series and American Wasteland...a PS3/360 Game should not feel identical to its last gen counterparts. Update the physics engine at least...as opposed to trying to throw Skate controls in the Tony Hawk arcade phsyics engine...add sim style physics; Make the game play faster, reduce air..do something to make things compelling again.
3.Stop with these stupid stories
The First Underground story is the only one that made sense...you went from unknown to pro skater and the interactions and respect followed with it. THUG2 was illogical to begin with..an underground tour bent on destroying stuff? and they just happen to recruit two unknowns(Player character and Eric Sparrow) and a 10 Year old Kid in a body cast? American Wasteland was chock full of sterotypes most of which were annoying...even worse wasthe fact that the angry old man who let skater punks hang out on his property just happens to be some unknown legendary figure? The Proving Ground stories were all terrible....local philly punks just happen to be hanging out with pro skaters? Bam borrows money from...some guy? Stevie Williams and his photographer invite some random guy to shoot for their magazine? Honestly they got it right one time. Just drop the over arching storyline and go back to a Tony Hawk 4 type career levels full of different kinds of goals that unlock harder goals when completed..it might not be pushing anything forward but the stories are lame.
4/Level Variety
Maybe it's just me but I feel like the levels have been going downhill since THUG2...the need to connect them logically ina storyline seems to be part of the problem...so does the Open World level structure they've been using since American Wasteland./ I miss the imagintive levels like the Hangar in THPS2, The Zoo in THPS4, and the LA Earthquake level from THPS3. I'd rather see 16-20 well thought out levels than one big continous generic level. Open world is the trend now and it works in Skate...but it hasn't worked in this series so far. I also miss the crazy secret levels like the Carnival in THPS4, andand even the concert from THUG and the huge alien ship level from THUG2..
5.Create Options
The create-a-skater has become pathetically stale and hasn't progressed since the first Underground...it's actually degresed. Give the option to actually tweak the Skater's body type and face complexion..as well as more than a few hair styles...bring back female skaters..there are so many simple fixes to turn this dated create-a-skater feature into something respectable
What the hell happned to create a park/level? bring that back and give enough memory so that both skate parks and full levels can be created..again there are so many easy fixes it's not funny
I also miss the option to tweak the pro-skater attires from THPS4..why in the world this was never brought back is still a mistory to me.
.6.Let the rsoter span generations
One thing this series has always done well is to mesh current skaters,main stream skaters, and old school skaters together . This is kind of something that needs to happen so that the game can appeal to many different kinds of people. When this sereis first came out up until about 2003 I was actually a pretty big skating fan..for reasons I neverunderstood though I kind of grew out of it...I don't hate skating, but alot of the newer faces are almost unknown to me..likewise there are eople who don't recognize any of the mid 90's names..so why not include skaters from lots of different generations?
The outlandish secret skaters would be a nice thing to have back as well...Jango Fett, Wolverine and Spider-Man were entertaining unlocks I thought
Really between Activision's laziness and this boards inactivity I feel like i've wasted my time..but I felt like I had to get these ideas out there...
