Muscle memory, or to give it its more scientific name motor learning, is a fascinating thing. It's the thing that gives you the seemingly supernatural ability to touch type, ride a bike or play guitar with practically zero conscious effort, but it's also the thing that could cause you to dopily wash your hair twice during your morning shower because you can't remember doing it the first time.
Muscle memory still has the capacity to surprise us. No sooner had we rolled into Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD's iconic warehouse level, our thumbs took over, reeling off a sequence of grabs, grinds and manuals we had no idea had been recorded and stored somewhere deep in our nervous system. The awakening of those long-forgotten skills is as much an element of the game's assault on your nostalgia nodes as the classic level layouts and the tunes from the late 90s punk soundtrack.
What's offered up is both a control system from the generally accepted zenith of the series and the potential for new lines and routes through beloved levels. The Mall level for example, which debuted in the manual-free THPS1, is an entirely different beast now that you can hypothetically string together a combo that runs the entire length of the course.
Further freshness comes from the addition of online multiplayer to these classic levels. You might have been king of your cul-de-sac when it came to Graffiti on School II back in the year 2000, but opening competition up to the wider world of Live, both in direct competition and the leaderboards, adds a degree of longevity the original two games couldn't possibly have matched.
8 comments so far...
Clanger67 on 18 Jul '12 said:
Great stuff was hoping it would score highly.Agree and thought before i read the review that already knowing the Lvls and them being nowhere near as vast as later games it wouldn't take long to open up the secret parts etc.Still,a trip down memory lane for me and i always did have a fondness for some of the Lvls in the first two.
Bezza89 on 18 Jul '12 said:
TBH I only played TH Underground 2 to hell, played ProSk2 but only got to the final level through luck, and it was so long ago that it didn't really matter - my point is, the downsides to this game would probably be non-existant with me as I'm not overly familiar, and trusting Mike about 10x more than cvg, I'm more inclined to go with Mike. Will purchase soonish, will see how Deadlight is first.
SidTheSloth on 18 Jul '12 said:
I was absolutely addicted to all of the Tony Hawk games back in the day, but am i being overly stingy or is 1200 for a game we've already mostly played just not a bit too rich?
I think of Trials Evo which was the same price, and that seems far better value? People even complained about Dawnguard being dear, seems like a steal in comparison to this?
Don't know why i'm surprised as the price on XBLA keeps going up and up but i'd subconsciously expected this to be 800 which i'd have probably paid, but the 1200 has annoyed me to the point i'll be cutting my nose off, sorry Tony, sure your game is still awesome, but im out...!
Bezza89 on 18 Jul '12 said:
That's a good point, but remember buy 3 games out of the summer sale and get 400 back! or 300...
SidTheSloth on 18 Jul '12 said:
That's how they get you though, you buy a game you don't really want for 800+ and you get 400 back. Bargain!
Decent_Jam on 18 Jul '12 said:
Agreed on pricing, though I'm not surprised. Pro Skater 3 was my era though so I can wait.
Bezza89 on 19 Jul '12 said:
I don't know, three look pretty cool - this, Deadlight (Limbo Shadow Complex) and Jet Set Radio... Should be around 900 each maybe?
PCG The_B on 19 Jul '12 said:
Jet Set isn't in the SoA sadly.