After being the world’s worst-kept gaming secret for weeks, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 has finally been confirmed for general release on July 11. I’ve never been so convinced that it’ll be among the most well-received games of the year — and maybe even the best remake — but it has form on its side.
I don’t often make “eat my hat” statements (especially as I have about 55 baseball caps on hand to chew through if I’m wrong), but THPS 3 + 4 will deliver what its target audience wants, needs, and expects. No-one can even guess if we can say the same about the other massive remake frontrunner, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, helmed by an unpredictable Konami and supported by Virtuos, whose contributions are to games as varied in quality as Horizon Forbidden West, 2023’s Modern Warfare 3, Outcast: A New Beginning, and South Park: Snow Day!.
When I covered THPS 1 + 2 back in September 2020, I said it was the best-ever remake to date. Nearly five years later, it felt like it needed to be put into context. It dropped during COVID, when anything vaguely positive seemed like the most exciting thing ever; I also grew up with the originals. Even I wondered in retrospect that I might’ve been a bit glassy-eyed and overnostalgic.
All it took was replaying Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 for a few hours last weekend. It’s just as fun, satisfying, effortless, and respectful of its source material nearly five years on. We always knew 3 + 4 would follow, but after nearly half a decade, the trailer will have put thousands of viewers on the edge of happy tears — it certainly did for me.
The launch announcement was limited, but it already sounds like it’s doing everything right. First and foremost is the tremendous and entirely unsurprising news for Xbox One/Series and PC owners that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will be on Game Pass from day one — the first Activision-Blizzard launch-day drop that isn’t a Call of Duty. Of course, it’s also coming to PS4, PS5, Steam, Battle.net, and Nintendo Switch.
If you’re buying, all pre-orders of any game edition will get access to a Foundry Demo in June, as well as a “Wireframe Tony Shader” at launch (“Alexa, insert Alan Partridge shrug GIF”). Things get a bit spicier with digital deluxe and collector’s editions.
Buying either of these grants three-day early access from July 8 — a bonus I’ll never understand — but the additional content kinda seems good and might be worth the money to some. In true crossover fashion, it gives a DOOM-themed pack featuring Doomguy and Revenant characters, an Unmakyr board and, perhaps most importantly, music from the series. The Collector’s Edition takes things one step further, with a limited-edition full-size Birdhouse skateboard deck with a printed Tony Hawk autograph. If I wasn’t in my late 30s, I might’ve fallen for that one.
Ticking three massive boxes
Then, there’s excellent news for the big three: music, skaters, and levels.
Confirmed throwback tracks include “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead, “Amoeba” by Adolescents, “Mass Appeal” by Gang Starr, “96 Quite Bitter Beings ” by CKY, “Not the Same” by Bodyjar, and KRS-One’s “Outta Here,” alongside new songs. Hopefully, Activision also got the rights to “Fight Like a Brave,” “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Cut Chemist Suite,” “TNT,” and “My Adidas,” but a mix of old and new keeps the Tony Hawk legacy alive, introducing all players to something different.
Then, there’s everyone you want on the board, and more: alumni include Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Chad Muska, Bucky Lasek, Kareem Campbell, Steve Caballero, Geoff Rowley, Andrew Reynolds, Elissa Steamer, Eric Koston, Rodney Mullen, Jamie Thomas, and Rune Glifberg; new skaters include Rayssa Leal, Chloe Covell, Jamie Foy, Zion Wright, and Yuto Horigome. Interestingly, there’s no mention yet of Forbes 2024 30 Under 30 Tyshawn Jones, who revealed in the Breakfast Club podcast that he was part of a new THPS title; his name was conspicuously absent on initial release materials.
Finally, on top of all the returning levels, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 introduces “new ones” (plural), including the abandoned-looking Waterpark, shown in the reveal trailer; set in the Mojave Desert, it looks about as safe as the ill-fated real-life Action Park, but at least you can respawn after suffering a serious injury. It leaves the door wide open for DLC, too — though if Waterpark is seemingly free, maybe we’ll get lucky.
Just one more thing
Despite all this excitement, all is not quite guaranteed, as there’s one small snag to report in the development — and perhaps a reason as to why it’s nearly five years since this sewn-on sequel.
THPS 1 + 2 was Vicarious Visions’ last-ever solo project under its old moniker; the studio has since been consumed by Blizzard and now works on Diablo IV. Instead, Iron Galaxy Studios, a game porting specialist that worked on the Windows release of Tony Hawk 1 + 2 is “seamlessly” picking up the slack — though that presumably means they’re working with the same engine, which is a very good thing to hear.
While I’ll still inventorize my hat collection from least to most chewy in case of an unforeseen calamity, there’s every reason to believe that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 will relive the glory days in the same way THPS 1 + 2 did: with arcadey, silly self-awareness, new objectives, punishingly fun challenges, a banging soundtrack, and the airport many of us have spent more time inside than any other.