My first goal when I downloaded the Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 Warehouse Demo was to break 200,000 points. After about an hour of constant swearing and drinking, I was able to obtain that. I was pretty happy with myself and bragged about my accomplishment to my fiancé. She, too, was proud of me. God bless her.
Just don’t tell her that in the grand scheme of things, I absolutely suck at this game.
Take this video that discusses how to obtain one million points:
By using the game’s mechanics to constantly rail grind, wall jump, and manual your way to a never-ending combo, you can break the 1,000,000-point barrier in no time.
By why stop there? Why not, say, 100 million?
Or how about 500 million!
Or maybe, a chance at upwards to 800 million!
Normally, I’d feel inadequate in the face of these absolutely gigantic scores. I’m a pretty competitive person in just about every aspect of life, so you’d figure I’d be heartbroken over how bad I am at this game. With Tony Hawk, however, I’m finding a surprising amount of enjoyment in failing.
Well, failing to the standards of the “world’s best,” that is. I’m pretty sure that these do not include people in my immediate friend group.
The magic of classic-era Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is that its gameplay is a throwback to the arcades. You weren’t trying to progress through a cinematic narrative, and you weren’t looking to obtain a Platinum Trophy to show off to your PSN followers. You were just having fun and trying to do the best you could each and every time. You maybe had some friends on the couch and a cold beer in your hand.
Tony Hawk’s pick-up-and-play formula is perfect for this mindset. You have two minutes to do as much shredding as you possibly can. Mess up? That’s okay. Restarting is just a button press away. No progress lost and no time is wasted; just reset and try it all over again.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is a game that I fell in love with as a kid, and I’m prepared to fall in love with this new version of it all over again, no matter how many (or few) combos I can rack up.
If the Warehouse Demo has been any indication, the only world record I’ll be eligible for is the amount of times a level has to be restarted because I mess something up. Or maybe for the amount of swearing in a single match. Either way, though, I promise to do it all with a smile on my face.
