THUG 2 Remix
Remix or Re-run, it's still THUG, and it's still a blast.
Published: March 16, 2005
One of the coolest things about the PSP is just that it's more or less a portable PS2, performance-wise. Sure, it has less storage, but the guts certainly seem on paper to be enough to support the straight porting of plenty of big PS2 hits. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 Remix, in addition to being quite a mouthful in its more verbose incarnation, just happens to be one of those perfect port-ready games.
The gameplay transfers over seamlessly to handhelds, and the online options work just as well in wireless (though there are some performance issues, but more on that in a bit), plus, there's never been a proper Tony Hawk port that did the original 3D games justice (all due respect to the admittedly cool isometric 2D Game Boy versions, of course).
It's just that when all's said and done, it's a little hard to shake the feeling that you've played everything before. It's not that it's a bad thing, but after hundreds of goals and two full game modes, even the four new levels don't quite do enough to keep the hardcore Hawk players sated.
Don't misunderstand, this is a nearly pixel-perfect port, and one that best demonstrates how a talented team can cram an insane amount of content into a tiny little handheld. In fact, so long as you didn't already play the console version of THUG2 to death, there's plenty here to keep you entertained for literally weeks, making it easily the most bang for your launch PSP buck by a long shot.
So, barring the fact that you may have played these games until you knew every line in every course, there are a few little extras to keep the game interesting. Shaba Games did a bang-up job both porting the game and crafting their own levels, which in some cases are even larger real estate-wise than the levels Neversoft built.
They don't quite work height in as much as the Neversoft offerings, and when they do (such as in the case of Kyoto), it feels more like another plane of grindable objects, but there's still a ton to unlock in the way of secret goals, skaters and the oh so delicious level-changing events. Perhaps most impressive of all is that all of the Shaba-added levels and characters carry the same lighthearted feel of Neversoft's work, which was one of the best parts of THUG2's design.
The tweaks made to the controls (covered in our preview) take perhaps 5 minutes of re-adjustment and then it's business as usual, the same lines, goals and unlockables can be grabbed with little extraneous effort, which is a good thing considering how much stuff you get after plunking down a pair of Jacksons.
That "stuff" includes wireless multiplayer that perfectly mimics the online play in the consoles, right down to the new multiplayer modes. It would have been nice to be able to go online, but for us launch window early adopters, it's certainly nothing to scoff at. Along with the multiplayer comes the same game face technology (simply load your image onto a memory stick and tweak the eyes and mouth so things line up and you're set), allowing you to load your own face into the game with even less effort than the PS2 version.
The game runs at an impressively smooth clip, especially given how large some of the levels are. It's obvious that some of the assets had to be optimized for the UMD's smaller storage space, which means blurred-out billboards and slimmed down texture work across the board, but the detail's hardly missed once you get into tackling goals. The only time the game really drops any frames is when more skaters are added into the mix during multiplayer.
The audio is perhaps most impressive, as Activision and Shaba worked some impressive magic to bring THUG 2's entire soundtrack over, and with minimal loss in audio quality. The same goes for the clean sounds of your wheels rolling over sidewalks, streets, over brick or with the handful of different grindable surfaces. It all sounds wonderfully on par with the console versions.
The audio balance, however, is a little off. The voice work can be a little overpowering at times, and too quiet others, but the added and tweaked lines that help the game work into a branching story system that convincingly incorporates the new levels into the old game's World Destruction Tour storyline work without a hitch. There are some odd popping sounds that bog the whole presentation down during some of the characters' deliveries, which can get annoying, but there's still plenty of pop-free goodness to listen to.
Having played so many Tony Hawk games in the past, and after really eating up how much gameplay there was packed into the console version of THUG2, it's hard to replay everything all over again. The fact that you can replay everything, though, is just too damned impressive to deny, and it's not like the gameplay here is anything but as good as it's ever been. There's the Classic Mode levels for the old-schoolers and purists and the Story Mode levels alone can keep you busy for weeks.
This is in no uncertain terms, the most impressive amount of content ever packed into a handheld game release, and belongs in any THUG fan's collection right from the start. Multiplayer is a blast, the available content will blow away any PSP naysayers, and it's the perfect game for quick 5- or 10-minute gaming sessions. In short, this is a game that belongs in almost every PSP library, and will probably be used as the high water mark for what developers should be able to include in a handheld title. Now enough reading, go buy this game.
The gameplay transfers over seamlessly to handhelds, and the online options work just as well in wireless (though there are some performance issues, but more on that in a bit), plus, there's never been a proper Tony Hawk port that did the original 3D games justice (all due respect to the admittedly cool isometric 2D Game Boy versions, of course).
It's just that when all's said and done, it's a little hard to shake the feeling that you've played everything before. It's not that it's a bad thing, but after hundreds of goals and two full game modes, even the four new levels don't quite do enough to keep the hardcore Hawk players sated.
Don't misunderstand, this is a nearly pixel-perfect port, and one that best demonstrates how a talented team can cram an insane amount of content into a tiny little handheld. In fact, so long as you didn't already play the console version of THUG2 to death, there's plenty here to keep you entertained for literally weeks, making it easily the most bang for your launch PSP buck by a long shot.
So, barring the fact that you may have played these games until you knew every line in every course, there are a few little extras to keep the game interesting. Shaba Games did a bang-up job both porting the game and crafting their own levels, which in some cases are even larger real estate-wise than the levels Neversoft built.
They don't quite work height in as much as the Neversoft offerings, and when they do (such as in the case of Kyoto), it feels more like another plane of grindable objects, but there's still a ton to unlock in the way of secret goals, skaters and the oh so delicious level-changing events. Perhaps most impressive of all is that all of the Shaba-added levels and characters carry the same lighthearted feel of Neversoft's work, which was one of the best parts of THUG2's design.
The tweaks made to the controls (covered in our preview) take perhaps 5 minutes of re-adjustment and then it's business as usual, the same lines, goals and unlockables can be grabbed with little extraneous effort, which is a good thing considering how much stuff you get after plunking down a pair of Jacksons.
That "stuff" includes wireless multiplayer that perfectly mimics the online play in the consoles, right down to the new multiplayer modes. It would have been nice to be able to go online, but for us launch window early adopters, it's certainly nothing to scoff at. Along with the multiplayer comes the same game face technology (simply load your image onto a memory stick and tweak the eyes and mouth so things line up and you're set), allowing you to load your own face into the game with even less effort than the PS2 version.
The game runs at an impressively smooth clip, especially given how large some of the levels are. It's obvious that some of the assets had to be optimized for the UMD's smaller storage space, which means blurred-out billboards and slimmed down texture work across the board, but the detail's hardly missed once you get into tackling goals. The only time the game really drops any frames is when more skaters are added into the mix during multiplayer.
The audio is perhaps most impressive, as Activision and Shaba worked some impressive magic to bring THUG 2's entire soundtrack over, and with minimal loss in audio quality. The same goes for the clean sounds of your wheels rolling over sidewalks, streets, over brick or with the handful of different grindable surfaces. It all sounds wonderfully on par with the console versions.
The audio balance, however, is a little off. The voice work can be a little overpowering at times, and too quiet others, but the added and tweaked lines that help the game work into a branching story system that convincingly incorporates the new levels into the old game's World Destruction Tour storyline work without a hitch. There are some odd popping sounds that bog the whole presentation down during some of the characters' deliveries, which can get annoying, but there's still plenty of pop-free goodness to listen to.
Having played so many Tony Hawk games in the past, and after really eating up how much gameplay there was packed into the console version of THUG2, it's hard to replay everything all over again. The fact that you can replay everything, though, is just too damned impressive to deny, and it's not like the gameplay here is anything but as good as it's ever been. There's the Classic Mode levels for the old-schoolers and purists and the Story Mode levels alone can keep you busy for weeks.
This is in no uncertain terms, the most impressive amount of content ever packed into a handheld game release, and belongs in any THUG fan's collection right from the start. Multiplayer is a blast, the available content will blow away any PSP naysayers, and it's the perfect game for quick 5- or 10-minute gaming sessions. In short, this is a game that belongs in almost every PSP library, and will probably be used as the high water mark for what developers should be able to include in a handheld title. Now enough reading, go buy this game.
