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Tony Hawks Underground 2 Remix Review
If it hasn’t hit you by now, then listen up. Tony Hawk isn’t going anywhere. No matter how much anyone tries, the only way to stop the barrage of Tony Hawk is to stop buying the games. Will that happen? No, not anytime soon anyway. You would think the quality of these games would suffer by the sixth installment, but unfortunately for sequel bashers out there, the game is very good, just like every single one before it. It’s the skating game for skaters and non skaters alike. If you’ve never played a skating game before, you could very well pick this up and enjoy it.
Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix is the “remixed” (duh) version of the game that was released on the Xbox, Playstation 2 and GameCube last year. Aside from being on a smaller screen and having four brand new environments to skate it, the game is pretty much the same. You are an amateur skater that has been picked by Tony Hawk to compete in a contest against his rival Bam Margera. This contest will take you through numerous environments completing insane and wacky goals that range from letting a bull loose on public streets to scaring the crap out of seagulls by grinding on the port rails. If you have played any Tony Hawk game before this, it will come naturally to you because each game in the series has been consistently excellent and have only added more and more features. 
After you are picked by Tony Hawk to join his team you are thrown into Santa Cruz and are given a bunch of missions to complete. The missions range from sensible to being outright insane. Some are pretty easy while others are mind numbingly difficult. Skating around the environments is easy thanks to the comfortable PSP. Just like in the first Underground you can get off your board and run around, climb and jump to reach new areas from which to skate on. Each environment is large and features secret characters, goals and gaps to find.
If you are new to skating, simply play around for a few minutes and you will get the knack of it quickly, the game is very accessible. Achieving the higher scores and pulling off the bigger moves is a very difficult but rewarding task that is part of the reason why the game is so popular. There is almost always something that you can do differently. 
Aside from simply skating there will be some instances where you will ride other vehicles and perform different tasks. There are quite a few levels so the variety is very surprising and can keep you busy for hours. Grinding, manuals, switching, these are all skate heavy terms that you will become more familiar with after playing and the single player mode is very good at not forcing you to be a master skater from the get go. If you skate well, learn new combos and master maneuvering, you can become a very good player.
Outside of the single player story mode there are quite a few things you can do. You are able to create your own character, customize its features and even graph your face onto your creation. You are able to make graphics and create tricks, but unlike the other versions, you can’t create your own skate park. This is a shocking omission because all of the “create a” modes were fathered from the park creator.
For fans of the original three games, the developers have included a classic mode which adds a timer, specific goals and even the secret taps and letters to find. After story mode is completed, this blast from the past is a great challenge to delve into.
Remix’s new PSP exclusive maps are all well designed and I think that this port was handled with care. Pretty much every feature from the console versions have returned with the notable exception of the park creator. Even multiplayer is back. While not online, you can use the wi-fi ad-hoc to play your favorite game modes with your friends and just as in every other version, the different modes like horse and tag are really fun to play. With a single player mode lasting upwards of twenty hours and tons of other features, the game is one that will keep owners busy for months.
As far as presentation is the visual and audio areas go, Remix is nothing short of impressive. While the game does look slightly less sharp and detailed than the Playstation 2 version, the game is a sight to behold. It is a true testament of what the system is capable of. With very little slowdown, detailed animations and in-game cut scenes, Underground 2 is undoubtedly the best Hawk game out there, portable or console. The draw distance is impressive and the new levels were designed with this hardware in mind and it shows they weren’t going to brush us off with filler. Sound wise, the voice acting is pretty funny with the only weak award going to Tony Hawk who is understandably new to it. Bam Margera, love him or hate him does make up the bulk of the game’s sometimes sick humor and it’s nice to see the game take on a more comedic tone rather than the original Underground’s soap opera “grand adventure of a lifetime” plot. The music is as varied as the game’s features with songs new and old of many different genres filling it out. Some songs you will love and others you will hate with a passion, that’s just how life is.
So there you have it, the undefeatable and monopolistic skating franchise has done it again with an excellent handheld adaptation that will please both fans and curious souls. If you already have Underground 2 for the consoles, the decision is a bit tougher. Aside from the four new environments there isn’t anything different, so it is up to you to warrant the price tag. Otherwise, shine the wheels, plant your feet and enjoy what Remix has to offer, which is a whole lot.
Written by Joseph Bennett. Posted year 2005.
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Released on
March 18, 2005
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