Activision threw its latest installement of the Tony Hawk series at us in a brand new jacket: Underground. They went with the (very "original") skategame without major changes and added a much bigger storyline than in the previous versions.

The Storymode allows you to be one of the many pre-made famous skaters or one that you create yourself. After that it's the tried and true cocktail of taking on challenges to unlock new areas in the game and skating around in the town for your leisure. The story is as interesting and captivating as watching a plant grow. One would expect from a name like Activision, who probably spent enough moolah for the rights of all the music of the soundtrack, would pay a bit more to a (perhaps even student) writer to write something decent. I wish I could tell you more about the story, but I'm going to spare everybody the pain of pure crap that is shot into your brains with high speed. I wouldn't be so offended if they had called it challengde-mode and not story-mode.

Skating is quite fun in Tony Hawk games, but let's face it: it is not a realistic simulation but rather an arcade style over-exagerated game. This is not a bad thing per se and the coolness and beauty of some of the moves that the skaters perform are awesome, but after seeing it for the umphteend time (in this and previous games) it kind of loses its glamour. Skating on powerlines dangling over rooftops has something to it, but I'll pass. The option that allows you to design your own moves might prolong the life of the game, but there are already so many moves that by the time you've seen 'em all you probably won't be playing THU any longer.

Previous Tony Hawk games already had pretty extensive character/deck design options which is kept in THU too. It's fun to create silly skaters, but in the end it won't make you want to play the game for a longer time than without that option because it's a game about skating and not about dressing dolls or creating decks. Then there's the well known skatepark creator. This allows you to make amateuristisc skateparks that probably nobody will want to skate on because the included levels already have every imaginable type of skateable surface/object in it.

The multiplayer options (2 players) are extensive and are mainly about doing better combos than your opponent in a given amount of time. There is however a fireball mode. Yes, a fireball mode, where fireballs are shot from underneath your deck. The Goal? Shoot your opponent several times.

The music is okay if you're into the genre and there's an editable playlist. Well known punk/hiphop artists add the musical touch to the pretty good sound effects of the game. I'm not a real life skater but I find the skate sounds to be quite realistic (which isn't really an advantage since the older Tony Hawk games had those too).

In essence there is nothing, absolutely nothing, new about the game. Actvision is milking the Tony Hawk cow, not because they love gamers but because they smell cheap bucks. Adding completely useless options to the game really doesn't make it "new". Gamers should watch out for pirate companies like this. If you really like Tony Hawk games you might enjoy the big levels and the details that have been changed otherwise I would not recommend this game to people who have already purchased THPS3 or THPS4.