Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 is a 2015

As the licensing deal between Tony Hawk and Activision was set to expire by the end of 2015, the game was hastily developed within a few months and released unfinished, with most content contained in a large day-one patch. As a result, the game was panned heavily by critics upon release, with criticism centering on its graphics, bugs and glitches, controls, and lack of design, although slight praise fell toward the game's soundtrack. It became Robomodo's final game, as the company went out of business in August 2016.

To date, it is the most recent original console title in the series, and the last major console entry as a whole until Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, a remake of the first two games, was released in 2020.

Gameplay

Like most other games in the series, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 oriented its gameplay to classic

^a Added with a post-release patch ^b Leonardo, Raphael, Micheangelo, and Donatello are presented as a single character, and can be individually selected via changing his outfit.

Development

In 2008,

Because the licensing deal between Activision and Tony Hawk was set to expire by the end of 2015, the game was hastily developed within a few months and released unfinished with little promotion.[22]^[23] The game was so rushed to release that it was unplayable without an 8GB day one patch, with only the tutorial and park creator being accessible; essentially, the patch was what contained the full game.^[24][25] After initial footage received negative feedback by fans and commentators alike for its outdated graphics, Robomodo made a departure from the attempted realistic look to a cel-shaded style two months prior to the game's release. Activision marketed this as a conscious stylistic decision unrelated to the feedback and solely owing to allow a consistent frame rate.^[26][27] Additional development was done by Disruptive Games, who assisted in developing the multiplayer mode,^[5] while Romanian studio Fun Labs co-developed the ports for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.^[6]

Reception

Critical reception

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 was released on September 29, 2015, for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and on December 15 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Both eighth-generation versions were panned heavily by critics upon release.^[24][39][40] On aggregating review website Metacritic, the Xbox One version has a score of 38% based on 18 reviews^[28] and the PlayStation 4 version has a score of 32% based on 43 reviews,^[29] both indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews. It has the fourth-lowest average score of any PlayStation 4 title^[41] and the fifth-lowest average score of any Xbox One title.^[42]

Most critics noted that the graphics were inferior even to the games released on the PlayStation 2, while the gameplay barely resembled previous releases and the fact that the game was rendered almost unplayable by numerous bugs. Furthermore, the simplistic, bland environments and missions, as well as the complete absence of non-player characters (NPCs) were noted, while some critics pointed out that better levels could have been designed with the Create-a-Park feature of previous games, whereas most levels were simply inferior copies of levels from the original games.^[24][39][40] Edge even went so far to call Pro Skater 5 "an insult to its history, to its licensed skaters and sponsors, to modern hardware, and to anyone who plays it".^[31]

Marty Sliva of IGN awarded it a score of 3.5 out of 10, saying that "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5's rare moments of nostalgic joy are drowned out by its abundance of faults".^[9] He was critical of the newly adjusted control scheme, especially the new stomp function that was using the same button as grind, thus interfering with combos more often than not. Also, the sheer abundance of bugs and framerate drops rendered the game unplayable, especially online. Furthermore, he found the levels to be inferior copies of levels from previous games, thus "lack[ing] any sort of charm or identity".^[9] Lastly, he characterized the challenges in the level as a chore, as they were extremely repetitive, bland, and questioned the decision of making them unskippable even when the objective was completed.

Peter Brown of GameSpot gave the game a 3/10, saying that the game was "riddled with technical glitches and design missteps, making it a huge step back for the series", naming his article "cheap skate".^[34] Like Sliva, he criticized the level design, as he deemed the levels to be small, ugly, boring, and lacking clever combo elements found in earlier entries of the series. He too was critical of the new stomping mechanic, while finding the online gameplay to be a hindrance, as it not only slowed down the frame rate, but also required constant connection to a server, which failed more often than not and could only be solved by disconnecting the console from the internet. Unlike Sliva, he noted the soundtrack as a positive aspect of the game.^[34]

Jeff Gerstmann of Giant Bomb opened his review of the game with the phrase "Don't play this game".^[35] As for the levels, he noted that they "have no character and feel slapped together, like someone was in a hurry",^[35] referencing the short development time. He was especially critical of the Rooftop level, stating that it "might be the worst level this franchise has ever produced".^[35] He went into detail criticizing the new trick system, especially the changed mechanics of double and triple flips, absence of branching and flatland tricks, and the new special meter, which essentially boiled down to attaining a higher multiplier. All in all, he found the level and controls to lack flow. He also called the game out for its inability to skip tasks once completed and the abundance of different loading screens and loading time when starting an objective.^[35] He ultimately gave the game 1 out of 5 stars.^[35] Metro GameCentral gave the game a similar score of a 2 out of 10, calling it "a sad, pathetic end to a classic games franchise" and stating that "the lack of ambition – and budget – is painfully obvious at every turn".^[37]

Legacy

It was named the "Worst Video Game of 2015" by Entertainment Weekly.^[43] Polygon named Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 one of the worst games of 2015, writing that it was "so broken, so garish and so grim that reformed Tony Hawk lovers rue the day they first laid eyes on the franchise. Sometimes, it's better to leave what's past in the past".^[44] Similarly, GameSpot included the game in its "Worst Reviewed Games of 2015" list, noting that "within THPS5 lies a basic skating game that's difficult to enjoy, because you have to jump over numerous hoops and ignore a plethora of obvious issues to find the smallest amount of fun".^[45] Following the disastrous release of Pro Skater 5, developer Robomodo went out of business eleven months after the game's release, while Hawk's licensing deal with Activision was not renewed.^[46] In 2019, the game was named one of the worst video game sequels of the decade by GameRant.^[47]

With the release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, a remaster of the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and its first sequel in 2020, several critics pointed out the stark contrast in quality,^[48][49] with IGN noting it was "difficult to believe that they share even a shred of DNA".^[50] Also, reviewers pointed out that the 2013 fan-made Tony Hawk's Underground 2 mod THUG Pro offered a more enjoyable and affordable Pro Skater experience.^[51][52][53]

Notes

References