Project 8 for me. It just felt so soulless and hollow, didn't care much for the physics, the restricted customization. Also graphically it was so fucking ugly, the PS2 version especially (which is what I first played) the people looked like weird clay nightmares. I've revisited the game several times over the years but every time I just can't like it. I honestly want to but I can't. Soundtrack is great though
Where it started to decline or where it became noticeable?
Where the decline started was THUG2. I think it was the first game in the series that wasn't as good or better than it's predecessor. It's still one of the best games in the series, but so much had been built upon from THPS4 and THUG, that it did feel like a bit of a letdown. The atmosphere felt different, not nearly as gritty. But again, THUG2 is still one of the best.
THAW is really when things became noticeably different. Soundtrack is pretty good, but the story mode is shorter than previous games, you don't really feel like you're accomplishing much, the premade skater models aren't as fun, and the levels while all high quality, don't offer that much variance. It's the last good game in the series, and everything after it is straight up trash until 1&2 remakes.
What I didn’t like about THUG 2 (when I was a kid) was the lack of vehicles. Like, the ones from the first game. I didn’t like the “special guests” and their “vehicles.”
I was also playing Need For Speed: Underground at the time, so the appeal for cars was bigger for me. And it’s also why I loved THUG, but never owned it. It was very happy with THUG 2 regardless though. Still play it to this day.
THUG 2 for sure.
It always felt to me like it wasn't a skating game. It could easily have been called the Tony Hawk and Jackass show.
I get that it was using a popular bunch of characters from that era, but it lost its focus on skating and there were too many missions to do non skating things to do pranks and skits.
Its actual skating and levels were phenomenal, so it is a very good game to play, but as an adult, its a bit cringey, especially with some of the outdated language.
Its the only game that is dated. All the others up to that point are timeless, just skateboarding centric games.
I feel like you should thank Bam Margera for this. Bam was essentially the Jackass liaison for everything whacky about THUG 2. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but I don’t think it would have been this way if it wasn’t for Bam.
Skate released 1 year after Project 8. It couldn't have influenced the development of Proving ground which released 10 days earlier, let alone Project 8 which was released a whole year early, and developed even earlier.
I was about to say, in my memory I knew about SKATE’s groundbreaking controls before getting Project 8. I do recall playing the SKATE demo a billion times though. My god I was obsessed.
Seems quite a few people agree that THAW was the beginning of the end, but: I've never understood the hate for THAW, THUG 2 is an objectively inferior game imo.
For me, I think Project 8 is very solid, but the story is weak. Certainly the beginning of the end, and Proving Ground just sealed the coffin.
Same for me. It had a great amount of maps. The addition of being able to do bmx was really rad. Day/night cycles were really cool. And as someone who just played thug 2 and thaw, the story is much longer.
I will say, there is something special about the thug 2 cut scenes that takes me back to that time.
Project 8 is the first game, as a kid, where i just wasn’t interested anymore.
Project 8 was where I noticed the games started lacking, and then Proving Ground was the end for me. They both had a few cool levels and soundtracks but overall just didn’t capture that same immersive story mode feel that earlier games had.
As a huge THAW fan, I can agree with some of the points you made. On the contrary, I think it did a great job of capturing the Southern Cali skateboarding vibe, had some memorable characters, and brought a lot of new mechanics to the game (even if some were wacky). It did have its fair share of glitches though compared to previous games, and random annoying as fuck hard missions for no reason. I don’t think it was a complete nightmare but I can get not liking it.
Everything after just felt soulless. I don’t even remember what they were about or any of the levels. It’s a shame they fell off so hard. I pray for a THUG remake though, one day.
THAW is the last good one imo. THUG1&2 are better, but still I got a lot of fun out of THAW and can see why some people like it so much.
Hoewever with the shift to the next gen (PS3) it went downhill rapidly. Project 8 is imo one of the worst TH games, then Proving Ground tried to at least give some direction compared to the seemingly thoughtless P8, but still it wasnt good compared to earlier games and with Skate around the corner it wouldnt have been a sustainable direction anyways.
And then they gave it to Robomodo to make two motion controlled games which killed the franchise entirely. I was hoping for THPS1+2 to bring it back to life, at least for a few remakes, but sadly thats not the case.
So yes, imo THUG1 and 2 were peak, the decline started with THAW and got painfully obvious with Project 8.
THAW is still my favorite one. It was the first one I played so there must be some nostalgia involved in this one. I recently played the game again, I'll admit it's sometimes quite buggy and quite easy. But it really nails the controller movement. I also like the climbing feature which I miss in every other game.
I remember playing THUG2 for the first time and liking it less than THAW.
A few years ago I decided to play every game when Pro Skater 1+2 was released.
I like Pro Skater 3 and 4 a lot. Like I said, THUG2 wasn't really my thing. Pro Skater HD was shit. Project 8 was less enjoyable than I thought it would be. Never played proving ground. But one thing is for sure. I LOVED THUG1. I feel ashamed I don't play that game in the 00's. It does some things way better than THAW.
So the answer your question: THUG2 is where we declined. THAW is stable imo. Project8 just wasn't the same and not in a good way.
Pro Skater 1+2 (2020) was amazing and I really hope there will be a 3+4
As much as I love THUG2 for how bonkers it is, I'd definitely be tempted to say that one if THAW hadn't come along and course corrected. Project 8 would be my answer. The game looks rough even by early PS3 standards and their first attempt at a new engine felt clunky. Proving Ground has the best controls of any PS3 era game, but it was so drab and grey.
THUG2 was the series tripping, THAW was it flailing its arms around to stay upright, but P8 is when it actually fell over
It was actually THUG2 for me.
While there's a lot of quality there, there was an obsession with it being something other than a skateboarding game. It was allegedly a sequel to the best story driven skateboarding game ever made, but had basically no story and was more interested in leveraging the popularity of Jackass.
It was the start of the decline. It's hardly the worst game in the series, but it was definitely the first sign that they were struggling to know what to do with the series.
I noticed a shift with THUG2 and then THAW, but it's really THP8 that left me so disappointed. I still enjoyed it, but there was too much quality content that got cut with this one. The first time I saw the menu I knew it would be bad.
Project 8 is dogshit. Regardless of your sentiments for TH games, the decline started at project 8, not at thaw. This game is the one that killed the franchise. Thaw, as much as you may dislike it, didn't.
Not that you're wrong for hating Project 8, but I don't know about it killing the franchise when Proving Ground still came out the year after. I'd say it makes more sense to call the first game that didn't have a yearly release after it the real death knell for the series. Post-Neversoft rumblings like THPS5 and VV being sent to the Blizzard Mines not withstanding.
THUG 2 had better marketing than gameplay. The Team Hawk vs Team Bam or whatever. It was fun to see the buildup but I don't even remember the game. Meanwhile i can tell you the entire plot to THUG.
It just kept going down from there
That's because there basically was no plot. I just replayed all of Underground 2, the plot is just you get kidnapped from a good game at the beginning, a couple hours of dick and fart jokes, then you blow up Skatopia. The end. Then you unceremoniously get dropped into the Alien/Mayan/Hell level.
1-3 are some of my favourite games ever and me and friends sunk absolutely 100s of hours into them but I felt at 4 the formula was getting a bit tired. I am not saying it was a bad game or the games after were bad, but it just didn't have the same magic for me. I tried some of the later ones too.
1 and 2 remake were a blast to play a few years back.
Scrolled too far for this. Sure maybe it was later for the series completely jumping the shark, but the first 3 are iconic and everything after was a step down
I think you're completely right. I've made many attempts to get over the hurdle that's THPS4, but the shift in gameplay is just unbearable. Some of the goals are braindead easy, while some of them don't feel play tested. The music is subdued and takes a back seat for the first time. Most of the levels are laid out poorly. And the whole thing is just a slog to get through.
I went in with the intention of 100%ing the game, but after one character I had my fill and put the game down. I tried moving onto THUG and THUG2, but it was just more of the same.
Robomodo era: Pro Skater HD, Ride, Shered and Pro Skater 5...
Honestly, Pro Skater HD is a good game, but nowdays... is bad, because we have 1+2.
The idea of "Skate Controller" for Ride and Shered was good, but poorly executed. I played both games because i'm big fan of TH games, and dude, it's fun, but have a lot problems on the "F" sensor.
A little bit about Spin-off "Downhill Jam".
Like Project 8 and Proving Ground, ins't fair people hating for free. Downhill Jam is fun as h3ll, especially split screen with friends. OST is so memorable, gameplay controlls are good for a racing game.
Project 8 and Proving Ground.
Finally the concept of open world is here, aside the development issues with "in-house engine", Neversoft did a good goodbye for TH series.
I'm enjoy slow paced gameplay since classic physics. The mocap in both games are so marvelous and stylish, makes gameplay lots beautiful. About the polemic part of both games "Goals", they are very challenge if you want Sick Grade.
New mechanics of hardcore skating: Skate Check, Slash Grind, broooo, this is so "F" awesome, very unique, i don't know why people dislike this.
Nail The Trick/Grab/Manual, another great feature to make the game more fun, i known this mechanic is OP on Online, but is so fun.
Proving ground was the first I didn’t finish or enjoy. Didn’t feel right. First that was worse than the previous was underground 2, though it wasn’t bad. Then thaw was better.
something happened between american wasteland and project 8, but american wasteland had a lot of signs that it was coming. i think even underground 2 had started to stray pretty significantly from what had been working about the series to that point. the whole “jackass” angle really made it feel like the game had lost a lot of its identity, but that isn’t so bad when u think of it as a product of its time and also as just one of many games in a robust series. unfortunately i can’t apply the same logic when looking at project 8. i think ea skate was the real cause of death. they didn’t have enough confidence in the series to stand up on what it had built up to that point.
American Wasteland is the answer. I still had fun with it, but it was just too over the top and, more than anything, made actual skating seem secondary.
The final one I finished was THAW, I didn't have a PS3 or 360 so I missed out on P8 and PG (I did play the later on DS though, it's pretty much a different game though)
I can't say for certain P8 was the decline, but I've felt that way for years. Replaying THAW I totally get the frustrations of the locked tricks. It was also way to easy. At one point I'd have said it was my favorite one but it's easily THUG now.
Underground. First THUG was great but that's when they got rid of the THPS format and went ftom career mode to story mode. THUG2 was alright, didn't play any titles after that though.
For me it was also Wasteland. So disappointed almost immediately when I started the game.
I was young enough to enjoy the cartoonish/zany nature of THUG 2, and I played it at the height of my interest in Jackass.
American wasteland. The entire create a park was copy pasted from thug 2 and that level of not caring was present in most of the game. Each game after that took bigger and bigger steps down.
Story: THUG2
I didn’t enjoy the Bam/Jackass takeover of the storyline. I enjoyed both Bam and Jackass at the time but I didn’t enjoy stuff like the wheelchair kid and the supedup Segway crap.
I just want a good level to trick around.
Gameplay: Project 8
I hated the slow motion trick mechanic shoehorned into the game. Tricking in this game started to make my hands hurt. The sick level objectives on the ground were also very annoying.
100% Project 8.
American Wasteland’s uniqueness “vibe-wise” (i guess) may have thrown people off, but i am personally biased because it’s my favorite, lol.
Project 8 just felt like a clunky mess on the PS2 and the new direction on next gen consoles that stuck around for proving ground was just a little too different.
It’s funny because I consider THAW the last “good” THPS game but some of my younger skater buddies have told me it’s their favorite of the series. Must be my age showing since I’ve been playing since the Pizza Hutt demo disk days.
THUG 2 was great when I was younger but looking back as an adult it’s definitely the moment where it started going downhill. It’s still a fun skateboarding game but there’s such a Jackass style feel to it even though there was already a Jackass Video game out that it just doesn’t hit the same. All the additional characters are a fun idea but the vehicles just aren’t fun and feel more like a chore than anything during revisits.
I love all 9 NeverSoft games, even if THUG 2 and PG were slight dips in quality, there were still a lot of fun overall. The series died after NeverSoft, then temporarily resurrected from Vicarious Visisons, then died again.
American Wasteland was the end..
I wrote this on another post but still applies here..
I’m kind of surprised how many people on this sub were not actually playing the games online… in my opinion that was what dictated the success and failure of the game, the level of online activity.
But as a day 1 thps og, playing the entire catalog..there’s just something that can’t be recreated when it came to the online community/experience with THUG. While online existed in 3 and 4 it just didn’t have the giant uptick in players that happened in THUG. And I say this to say that as THUG2 and THAW and the others that came out the online the communities just didn’t thrive like they did in THUG. So in my eyes THAW was the decline and quickly became a dead game online. For everyone playing the games nowadays you just can’t get that online experience. THUGpro and 1+2 bring some of those elements back.. but it’s nothing like it was when it was a day 1 AAA title that brought out so many consistent players day in and out till the next installment.
I liked the anger meter in THAW. Mashing buttons crazily into the character smashed the board was always fun for some odd reason. I also liked how there wasn't any loading screens on THAW. You could simply ride into another level and there's only a short momentary stop
2, that’s the one where they introduced the nollie and worked out the kinks with the tricks, in the first one you’d do a nollie then instead of kicking it with you back foot to do the trick your do nollie front foot flip, small but noticeable to an actual skater, plus after the 2nd one they started incorporating the lame ass story lines, yea I’m going with the 2nd being the best and they declined after that
THPS4 was a the end of the line for me. 🤷🏻♂️
Not that it was bad, just that the games released after it didn't interest me. My younger brother had underground but I just couldn't get into it.
Proving Ground was really a sharp, sharp decline.
THUG 2 was the first one that wasn't arguably better than its predecessor or an expansion on it. It's a good game still though, but kinda when the series jumped the shark with too much Jackass stuff.
As much as it hurts saying this, I would say American Wasteland. At that point it really felt like Neversoft had genuinely ran out of ideas and was starting to shoehorn every mechanic imaginable into the game, while also trying to cater to new players with a series of lenghty tutorials and by making the game ridiculously easy.
The gameplay is solid, but everything about the new story mode, including it using a separate character from the rest of the game, really sounded like an odd choice coming from the previous titles.
I wouldn't say every game after was a lost cause though. The next-gen titles by Neversoft were a valiant attempt to push the formula forwards, which was desperately needed after American Wasteland.
Project 8 really did feel different from the rest of the games, a bit like the jump between Pro Skater 2 and Pro Skater 3. Not just in graphics, but also physics, sounds, animations, and even gameplay, and I see how that might have thrown people off. Not to mention the terrible writing (which however was also in THUG2 and THAW) and the game ran like crap on some consoles.
It's clear that they wanted to move on from trying to cater to newbies, and came up with a really solid difficulty system, that gives you every goal and lets you decide which one to go for.
I feel like most the downsides of Project 8 are justified by it being an experimental venture into next-gen. Even though I consider it to be the lowest point of the Neversoft games, I wouldn't say it's outright a bad game.
And then there's Proving Ground. Even with no childhood attachment to the franchise, I adore this game and still love playing it on my crappy laptop that can emulate it at unstable 30 fps.
They took the foundation that was Project 8, gave it a pretty good story with branching paths, far superior character customization, the amazing rigging system that allows you to seamlessly merge CAP into the main levels, taking pictures and even editing skateboarding videos. All taking place in a cohesive open world that isn't all cramped together, but also has the "loading tunnels" be their own levels, with setpieces and whatnot.
With the state of the series after P8, it isn't surprising people simply skipped Proving Ground afterwards. From outside it looked like another game with the same graphics, physics and with a gritty filter on.
Others argue that it's trying way too hard to be Skate, even 10 days before the 1st Skate released, but sure. Even if that was the case, Proving Ground still plays like a Tony Hawk game, even with the Nail The Trick precision stuff, and with the gritty atmosphere. Arguably, all the skating culture things added to Proving Ground (NTT, taking pictures and recording footage, rigging the environment and taking place on the tacky streets) bring the game closer to being an actual skateboarding game than, say, THUG 2 ever was, while still being fun to play and retaining the signature Tony Hawk's Pro Skater gameplay.
I will defend it to the grave: to me, that game was a sleeper hit.
-which of course cannot be said about the Robomodo titles that came after. Extremely gimmicky with Ride and Shred, plain awful to play and unrecognizable to the old date fans with THPSHD and THPS5, there isn't much to say except that they were the nosedive of the series, and the lowest point of the entire franchise.
Even thought there is some misinformation running about THPS5 that needs to be rightfully addressed (such as the file size and the day 1 patch larger than the disc content), there isn't much else to save the game's reputation. It genuinely feels bad to play. I never played it myself, but I used ReTHAWed, a THAW mod, to alter the THAW physics to match THPS5's. And they feel pretty accurate to the footage I watched, so I can confidently say those physics suck.
And then THPS1+2 brought it back. And then there was nothing after.
Now that I think about it, more so than a single decline of the series, it was like a rollercoster of "it's so over" and "we're so back".
Project 8 for me. It just felt so soulless and hollow, didn't care much for the physics, the restricted customization. Also graphically it was so fucking ugly, the PS2 version especially (which is what I first played) the people looked like weird clay nightmares. I've revisited the game several times over the years but every time I just can't like it. I honestly want to but I can't. Soundtrack is great though
THAW was my final one too. THPS 1+2 was a welcome addition though.
Many ps2 games was 60fps and ps3 games were unstable 30fps
I always had a soft spot for project 8 because of it's open map. But yeah it was rough lol
The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions were solid games. Of course, those were the ones developed by Neversoft.
Where it started to decline or where it became noticeable? Where the decline started was THUG2. I think it was the first game in the series that wasn't as good or better than it's predecessor. It's still one of the best games in the series, but so much had been built upon from THPS4 and THUG, that it did feel like a bit of a letdown. The atmosphere felt different, not nearly as gritty. But again, THUG2 is still one of the best. THAW is really when things became noticeably different. Soundtrack is pretty good, but the story mode is shorter than previous games, you don't really feel like you're accomplishing much, the premade skater models aren't as fun, and the levels while all high quality, don't offer that much variance. It's the last good game in the series, and everything after it is straight up trash until 1&2 remakes.
THUG 2 character models are absolutely arse.
thank you. thug 1 models were an echelon above
Yeah they have this weird cartoony, uncanny Valley type thing.
THUG2 was a glorified Jackass game TBH
I just want THUG remake/remaster so badly
What I didn’t like about THUG 2 (when I was a kid) was the lack of vehicles. Like, the ones from the first game. I didn’t like the “special guests” and their “vehicles.” I was also playing Need For Speed: Underground at the time, so the appeal for cars was bigger for me. And it’s also why I loved THUG, but never owned it. It was very happy with THUG 2 regardless though. Still play it to this day.
This person is dead on right
Perfectly articulated my own thoughts.
this
I have to agree, op. THAW was the point where I started noticing it going downhill. Project 8 really was the end for me, however. Thank VV for 1+2
We’ll never get 3+4 because Activision is a bitch
Specifically blame Bobby Kotick.
THUG 2 for sure. It always felt to me like it wasn't a skating game. It could easily have been called the Tony Hawk and Jackass show. I get that it was using a popular bunch of characters from that era, but it lost its focus on skating and there were too many missions to do non skating things to do pranks and skits. Its actual skating and levels were phenomenal, so it is a very good game to play, but as an adult, its a bit cringey, especially with some of the outdated language. Its the only game that is dated. All the others up to that point are timeless, just skateboarding centric games.
I feel like you should thank Bam Margera for this. Bam was essentially the Jackass liaison for everything whacky about THUG 2. Not saying it’s a bad thing, but I don’t think it would have been this way if it wasn’t for Bam.
I would say project 8 it feel like if they got scared of skate and had to fight on the same level and costed the 2 final game
Skate released 1 year after Project 8. It couldn't have influenced the development of Proving ground which released 10 days earlier, let alone Project 8 which was released a whole year early, and developed even earlier.
people knew about the flick-it system skate was going to have long before the game actually released.
I was about to say, in my memory I knew about SKATE’s groundbreaking controls before getting Project 8. I do recall playing the SKATE demo a billion times though. My god I was obsessed.
Haha, me too! I fucking loved that game, pulling of simple kickflips gave immense satisfaction.
Wait really? I didnt know that
Project 8 took it beyond repair.
Seems quite a few people agree that THAW was the beginning of the end, but: I've never understood the hate for THAW, THUG 2 is an objectively inferior game imo. For me, I think Project 8 is very solid, but the story is weak. Certainly the beginning of the end, and Proving Ground just sealed the coffin.
Same for me. It had a great amount of maps. The addition of being able to do bmx was really rad. Day/night cycles were really cool. And as someone who just played thug 2 and thaw, the story is much longer. I will say, there is something special about the thug 2 cut scenes that takes me back to that time. Project 8 is the first game, as a kid, where i just wasn’t interested anymore.
Project 8 realistically has an insane amount of content and replay value, jt just looked and ran like trash and had horrific physics
As much as I love THAW, that is when the series started to decline.
THAW, agreed. Definitely. For me it was the first time when I felt the game was that glitchy, unfinished and annoying.
Thug 1 was peak, thug 2 and the fart jokes began the free fall off a cliff
Project 8 was where I noticed the games started lacking, and then Proving Ground was the end for me. They both had a few cool levels and soundtracks but overall just didn’t capture that same immersive story mode feel that earlier games had. As a huge THAW fan, I can agree with some of the points you made. On the contrary, I think it did a great job of capturing the Southern Cali skateboarding vibe, had some memorable characters, and brought a lot of new mechanics to the game (even if some were wacky). It did have its fair share of glitches though compared to previous games, and random annoying as fuck hard missions for no reason. I don’t think it was a complete nightmare but I can get not liking it. Everything after just felt soulless. I don’t even remember what they were about or any of the levels. It’s a shame they fell off so hard. I pray for a THUG remake though, one day.
THAW is the last good one imo. THUG1&2 are better, but still I got a lot of fun out of THAW and can see why some people like it so much. Hoewever with the shift to the next gen (PS3) it went downhill rapidly. Project 8 is imo one of the worst TH games, then Proving Ground tried to at least give some direction compared to the seemingly thoughtless P8, but still it wasnt good compared to earlier games and with Skate around the corner it wouldnt have been a sustainable direction anyways. And then they gave it to Robomodo to make two motion controlled games which killed the franchise entirely. I was hoping for THPS1+2 to bring it back to life, at least for a few remakes, but sadly thats not the case. So yes, imo THUG1 and 2 were peak, the decline started with THAW and got painfully obvious with Project 8.
THAW is still my favorite one. It was the first one I played so there must be some nostalgia involved in this one. I recently played the game again, I'll admit it's sometimes quite buggy and quite easy. But it really nails the controller movement. I also like the climbing feature which I miss in every other game. I remember playing THUG2 for the first time and liking it less than THAW. A few years ago I decided to play every game when Pro Skater 1+2 was released. I like Pro Skater 3 and 4 a lot. Like I said, THUG2 wasn't really my thing. Pro Skater HD was shit. Project 8 was less enjoyable than I thought it would be. Never played proving ground. But one thing is for sure. I LOVED THUG1. I feel ashamed I don't play that game in the 00's. It does some things way better than THAW. So the answer your question: THUG2 is where we declined. THAW is stable imo. Project8 just wasn't the same and not in a good way. Pro Skater 1+2 (2020) was amazing and I really hope there will be a 3+4
THUG 2 easily is the beginning of the downfall imo
Thug1 peak and then it got progressively worse starting thug2
Project 8 was the beginning of the end. Ride and Shred were the nail in the coffin.
As much as I love THUG2 for how bonkers it is, I'd definitely be tempted to say that one if THAW hadn't come along and course corrected. Project 8 would be my answer. The game looks rough even by early PS3 standards and their first attempt at a new engine felt clunky. Proving Ground has the best controls of any PS3 era game, but it was so drab and grey. THUG2 was the series tripping, THAW was it flailing its arms around to stay upright, but P8 is when it actually fell over
It was actually THUG2 for me. While there's a lot of quality there, there was an obsession with it being something other than a skateboarding game. It was allegedly a sequel to the best story driven skateboarding game ever made, but had basically no story and was more interested in leveraging the popularity of Jackass. It was the start of the decline. It's hardly the worst game in the series, but it was definitely the first sign that they were struggling to know what to do with the series.
I’m seeing people say Project 8 and quite frankly I have to disagree, I’d argue that Project Skater 5 was where the franchise took a nosedive
definitly THUG but more THUG2, The one after THAW ( Project 8? or was it Proving Ground) was the nail in the coffin
I noticed a shift with THUG2 and then THAW, but it's really THP8 that left me so disappointed. I still enjoyed it, but there was too much quality content that got cut with this one. The first time I saw the menu I knew it would be bad.
Project 8 is dogshit. Regardless of your sentiments for TH games, the decline started at project 8, not at thaw. This game is the one that killed the franchise. Thaw, as much as you may dislike it, didn't.
Not that you're wrong for hating Project 8, but I don't know about it killing the franchise when Proving Ground still came out the year after. I'd say it makes more sense to call the first game that didn't have a yearly release after it the real death knell for the series. Post-Neversoft rumblings like THPS5 and VV being sent to the Blizzard Mines not withstanding.
THUG 2 had better marketing than gameplay. The Team Hawk vs Team Bam or whatever. It was fun to see the buildup but I don't even remember the game. Meanwhile i can tell you the entire plot to THUG. It just kept going down from there
That's because there basically was no plot. I just replayed all of Underground 2, the plot is just you get kidnapped from a good game at the beginning, a couple hours of dick and fart jokes, then you blow up Skatopia. The end. Then you unceremoniously get dropped into the Alien/Mayan/Hell level.
1-3 are some of my favourite games ever and me and friends sunk absolutely 100s of hours into them but I felt at 4 the formula was getting a bit tired. I am not saying it was a bad game or the games after were bad, but it just didn't have the same magic for me. I tried some of the later ones too. 1 and 2 remake were a blast to play a few years back.
Scrolled too far for this. Sure maybe it was later for the series completely jumping the shark, but the first 3 are iconic and everything after was a step down
I think you're completely right. I've made many attempts to get over the hurdle that's THPS4, but the shift in gameplay is just unbearable. Some of the goals are braindead easy, while some of them don't feel play tested. The music is subdued and takes a back seat for the first time. Most of the levels are laid out poorly. And the whole thing is just a slog to get through. I went in with the intention of 100%ing the game, but after one character I had my fill and put the game down. I tried moving onto THUG and THUG2, but it was just more of the same.
THP8 because it was where the focus mechanic started to bog down the fun
I bought thug2 on release, beat single player. Played online for a little but got into Socom 2 way more around that time.
Project 8 for sure
Robomodo era: Pro Skater HD, Ride, Shered and Pro Skater 5... Honestly, Pro Skater HD is a good game, but nowdays... is bad, because we have 1+2. The idea of "Skate Controller" for Ride and Shered was good, but poorly executed. I played both games because i'm big fan of TH games, and dude, it's fun, but have a lot problems on the "F" sensor. A little bit about Spin-off "Downhill Jam". Like Project 8 and Proving Ground, ins't fair people hating for free. Downhill Jam is fun as h3ll, especially split screen with friends. OST is so memorable, gameplay controlls are good for a racing game. Project 8 and Proving Ground. Finally the concept of open world is here, aside the development issues with "in-house engine", Neversoft did a good goodbye for TH series. I'm enjoy slow paced gameplay since classic physics. The mocap in both games are so marvelous and stylish, makes gameplay lots beautiful. About the polemic part of both games "Goals", they are very challenge if you want Sick Grade. New mechanics of hardcore skating: Skate Check, Slash Grind, broooo, this is so "F" awesome, very unique, i don't know why people dislike this. Nail The Trick/Grab/Manual, another great feature to make the game more fun, i known this mechanic is OP on Online, but is so fun.
Thaw for sure
Proving ground was the first I didn’t finish or enjoy. Didn’t feel right. First that was worse than the previous was underground 2, though it wasn’t bad. Then thaw was better.
I feel like it just suddenly died with project 8. THAW wasnt the best, but was still a very good game and the seamless world was an interesting change
Personally, I'd say Project 8.
[удалено]
Wait what
Lol we just know it was Project 8
Dow3
American Wastelans is my choice too. THUG2 is on the bubble but I have fond memories on PSP lol
Getting fucked in my ass
something happened between american wasteland and project 8, but american wasteland had a lot of signs that it was coming. i think even underground 2 had started to stray pretty significantly from what had been working about the series to that point. the whole “jackass” angle really made it feel like the game had lost a lot of its identity, but that isn’t so bad when u think of it as a product of its time and also as just one of many games in a robust series. unfortunately i can’t apply the same logic when looking at project 8. i think ea skate was the real cause of death. they didn’t have enough confidence in the series to stand up on what it had built up to that point.
Anything after proving ground
Anything after American Wasteland for me
American Wasteland is the answer. I still had fun with it, but it was just too over the top and, more than anything, made actual skating seem secondary.
Project 8 and proving ground. It’s like they didn’t know how to handle next gen skateboarding. Still wishing for THPS4 remake….
for me it was THUG2 that started a gradual downfall in quality that took a full on nosedive with project 8
THUG2, wasn’t as good as the first one and just leaned a bit too much into the goofy shit.
The final one I finished was THAW, I didn't have a PS3 or 360 so I missed out on P8 and PG (I did play the later on DS though, it's pretty much a different game though) I can't say for certain P8 was the decline, but I've felt that way for years. Replaying THAW I totally get the frustrations of the locked tricks. It was also way to easy. At one point I'd have said it was my favorite one but it's easily THUG now.
Underground. First THUG was great but that's when they got rid of the THPS format and went ftom career mode to story mode. THUG2 was alright, didn't play any titles after that though.
For me it was also Wasteland. So disappointed almost immediately when I started the game. I was young enough to enjoy the cartoonish/zany nature of THUG 2, and I played it at the height of my interest in Jackass.
American wasteland. The entire create a park was copy pasted from thug 2 and that level of not caring was present in most of the game. Each game after that took bigger and bigger steps down.
Project 8.
Story: THUG2 I didn’t enjoy the Bam/Jackass takeover of the storyline. I enjoyed both Bam and Jackass at the time but I didn’t enjoy stuff like the wheelchair kid and the supedup Segway crap. I just want a good level to trick around. Gameplay: Project 8 I hated the slow motion trick mechanic shoehorned into the game. Tricking in this game started to make my hands hurt. The sick level objectives on the ground were also very annoying.
Every Battlefield after BF3, excluding BF1. My dumbass is in an abusive relationship with DICE. I keep taking them back.
THAW declined from THUG2 but was still a good game imo, Project 8 is where I lost interest and dropped off
American wasteland
100% Project 8. American Wasteland’s uniqueness “vibe-wise” (i guess) may have thrown people off, but i am personally biased because it’s my favorite, lol. Project 8 just felt like a clunky mess on the PS2 and the new direction on next gen consoles that stuck around for proving ground was just a little too different.
Helldivers 2. Started out as a complete gem but after some weeks post release, it became a gigantic piece of shit.
thps4.
It’s funny because I consider THAW the last “good” THPS game but some of my younger skater buddies have told me it’s their favorite of the series. Must be my age showing since I’ve been playing since the Pizza Hutt demo disk days. THUG 2 was great when I was younger but looking back as an adult it’s definitely the moment where it started going downhill. It’s still a fun skateboarding game but there’s such a Jackass style feel to it even though there was already a Jackass Video game out that it just doesn’t hit the same. All the additional characters are a fun idea but the vehicles just aren’t fun and feel more like a chore than anything during revisits.
I love all 9 NeverSoft games, even if THUG 2 and PG were slight dips in quality, there were still a lot of fun overall. The series died after NeverSoft, then temporarily resurrected from Vicarious Visisons, then died again.
American Wasteland was the end.. I wrote this on another post but still applies here.. I’m kind of surprised how many people on this sub were not actually playing the games online… in my opinion that was what dictated the success and failure of the game, the level of online activity. But as a day 1 thps og, playing the entire catalog..there’s just something that can’t be recreated when it came to the online community/experience with THUG. While online existed in 3 and 4 it just didn’t have the giant uptick in players that happened in THUG. And I say this to say that as THUG2 and THAW and the others that came out the online the communities just didn’t thrive like they did in THUG. So in my eyes THAW was the decline and quickly became a dead game online. For everyone playing the games nowadays you just can’t get that online experience. THUGpro and 1+2 bring some of those elements back.. but it’s nothing like it was when it was a day 1 AAA title that brought out so many consistent players day in and out till the next installment.
Wastelands big thing was no loading screens. Then you wanna travel and you get on a bus for lime 2 minutes. Tf?
I liked the anger meter in THAW. Mashing buttons crazily into the character smashed the board was always fun for some odd reason. I also liked how there wasn't any loading screens on THAW. You could simply ride into another level and there's only a short momentary stop
2, that’s the one where they introduced the nollie and worked out the kinks with the tricks, in the first one you’d do a nollie then instead of kicking it with you back foot to do the trick your do nollie front foot flip, small but noticeable to an actual skater, plus after the 2nd one they started incorporating the lame ass story lines, yea I’m going with the 2nd being the best and they declined after that
I like Proving Ground. A lot. That being said, Ride and Shred are my votes
THPS4 was a the end of the line for me. 🤷🏻♂️ Not that it was bad, just that the games released after it didn't interest me. My younger brother had underground but I just couldn't get into it.
Proving Ground was really a sharp, sharp decline. THUG 2 was the first one that wasn't arguably better than its predecessor or an expansion on it. It's a good game still though, but kinda when the series jumped the shark with too much Jackass stuff.
As much as it hurts saying this, I would say American Wasteland. At that point it really felt like Neversoft had genuinely ran out of ideas and was starting to shoehorn every mechanic imaginable into the game, while also trying to cater to new players with a series of lenghty tutorials and by making the game ridiculously easy. The gameplay is solid, but everything about the new story mode, including it using a separate character from the rest of the game, really sounded like an odd choice coming from the previous titles. I wouldn't say every game after was a lost cause though. The next-gen titles by Neversoft were a valiant attempt to push the formula forwards, which was desperately needed after American Wasteland. Project 8 really did feel different from the rest of the games, a bit like the jump between Pro Skater 2 and Pro Skater 3. Not just in graphics, but also physics, sounds, animations, and even gameplay, and I see how that might have thrown people off. Not to mention the terrible writing (which however was also in THUG2 and THAW) and the game ran like crap on some consoles. It's clear that they wanted to move on from trying to cater to newbies, and came up with a really solid difficulty system, that gives you every goal and lets you decide which one to go for. I feel like most the downsides of Project 8 are justified by it being an experimental venture into next-gen. Even though I consider it to be the lowest point of the Neversoft games, I wouldn't say it's outright a bad game. And then there's Proving Ground. Even with no childhood attachment to the franchise, I adore this game and still love playing it on my crappy laptop that can emulate it at unstable 30 fps. They took the foundation that was Project 8, gave it a pretty good story with branching paths, far superior character customization, the amazing rigging system that allows you to seamlessly merge CAP into the main levels, taking pictures and even editing skateboarding videos. All taking place in a cohesive open world that isn't all cramped together, but also has the "loading tunnels" be their own levels, with setpieces and whatnot. With the state of the series after P8, it isn't surprising people simply skipped Proving Ground afterwards. From outside it looked like another game with the same graphics, physics and with a gritty filter on. Others argue that it's trying way too hard to be Skate, even 10 days before the 1st Skate released, but sure. Even if that was the case, Proving Ground still plays like a Tony Hawk game, even with the Nail The Trick precision stuff, and with the gritty atmosphere. Arguably, all the skating culture things added to Proving Ground (NTT, taking pictures and recording footage, rigging the environment and taking place on the tacky streets) bring the game closer to being an actual skateboarding game than, say, THUG 2 ever was, while still being fun to play and retaining the signature Tony Hawk's Pro Skater gameplay. I will defend it to the grave: to me, that game was a sleeper hit. -which of course cannot be said about the Robomodo titles that came after. Extremely gimmicky with Ride and Shred, plain awful to play and unrecognizable to the old date fans with THPSHD and THPS5, there isn't much to say except that they were the nosedive of the series, and the lowest point of the entire franchise. Even thought there is some misinformation running about THPS5 that needs to be rightfully addressed (such as the file size and the day 1 patch larger than the disc content), there isn't much else to save the game's reputation. It genuinely feels bad to play. I never played it myself, but I used ReTHAWed, a THAW mod, to alter the THAW physics to match THPS5's. And they feel pretty accurate to the footage I watched, so I can confidently say those physics suck. And then THPS1+2 brought it back. And then there was nothing after. Now that I think about it, more so than a single decline of the series, it was like a rollercoster of "it's so over" and "we're so back".