I just switched to accelerometer controls and immediately tripled my best score. I'm finding much easier than with just the D-pad.
Heh, well after saying that I wasn't going to buy this and instead was waiting for EA's Skate It, it took all of about 2 seconds to change my mind when this came out last night. Best. Decision. Ever. I played this game into the ground back in the day. Sometimes it can be a downer to relive a classic, only to see how little fun it is anymore with all of our modern gaming advancements. Somehow, THPS2 has withstood time, and is still as fun and addicting as it was all those years ago. What was meant to be "check out game real quick before bed" turned into "play game for 2 hours, get every goal in the first level, unlock 2 other levels, and only stopped playing because battery died". It really is that fun, and the only bad thing is trying to get used to the touch controls, but they work really well and you DO get used to it. As for the crazy combos and such you could pull off before, you can still do them here but it's a lot trickier. You have to kinda watch where you're pressing on the d-pad instead of relying on feel, so anything you could do in the old game you can do here just with added complexity. I'm accidentally hitting the grab button a lot too, but overall it's not too bad. You tap the upper left corner to do nollie/fakie and upper right corner to switch your stance. I remember being able to do spine transfers by pressing both the L+R buttons on the Playstation, but I can't remember if that came out after THPS2 or not. So far I haven't found a way to do it in here yet. Something I didn't see anyone mention that I really like is the sweet replay system. You can watch the replay of any run you've done, and it switches camera angles for you and looks really clean on the little screen. It can even help you find some of the hidden items in a level. You can pause the replay and advance one frame at a time if you like for a slow motion effect. Plus, if you do something memorable, you can save any replay and watch it whenever you want from the options menu. Another great inclusion is the Gap Checklist. My roommate and I spent months discovering and collecting every last gap. It will be fun to do that again. Of course, it would have been nice if they added some modern bells and whistles. Uploading your replays to YouTube, online high scores, BT multiplayer. I also agree with what others have mentioned about wanting create-a-player/park and custom music. But it's still a really impressive package, and worth my $10. It's a far better suited game for actual buttons, but works pretty fantastic with touch controls if you're willing to put some effort into getting comfortable with it. Fans of the original will especially enjoy this game, but I think even new players can get into it as the gameplay is still really fun today. I'm still really eager for Skate It, but am really pleasantly surprised by THPS2 and can't wait to 100% complete it all over again.
Great review BOARD! I agree 100%, as for the Spine transfer I think you can hold Forward/Up on the D-pad to transfer...
Thank you brian! I know holding Up will launch me out of a quarter pipe, but I'm thinking of how you could actually launch up and over the quarter pipe and land nicely down the other transition. But the more I think about it, I believe that was a feature that showed up in THPS3 along with reverts. As an added rant, IMO reverts were what sparked off the decline of the Tony Hawk games. It skewed it from more traditional skateboarding into crazy over the top combos from one end of the level to the other. I'm so glad to be playing #2 without all of that nonsense. Anyway, can't wait to unlock Philly!!
From Tony Hawk's twitter: "Just got word that #THPS2foriPhone will be internationally available "relatively soon" (I predict before May, but I just work here)" So sounds like Activision's even giving him the run around on when exactly it's going to release internationally. Wonder what the hold up would be.
The graphics look pretty bad. Now before any of you tell me that it's a direct port from the PS version, at least they could have improved the graphics a bit.
So many hours wasted on this game back in the day. I remember going over to friends houses for sleepovers and all it did was turn into a tony hawk competition. My heart wants me to buy it but I think ill hold off for now.
I think I'll wait until custom music is added... If the original music isn't there, then I want my music.
Hey Gang, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but it would probably cost millions to license the original soundtrack a second time around. So, I don't expect it to show up in an update anytime soon. You're stuck with the new music I'm afraid. But still, we've got the best Tony Hawk game ever made ported over to a touch format so I think that tempers the bad news quite a lot. I'm excited to download it and try it out. Best, T.O.
Game Impressions First of all, I was pretty hesitant to drop $10 on this game, but after remembering all those great memories I had playing this game, I went for it. Early Impressions This game is just like it was for me back in the N64, all the venues are there, as well as the secret locations, tricks, gaps, skaters, pretty much everything. It is so awesome being able to play this game on my iPhone (its a 3G btw). The game runs very smoothly, and so far, no crashes for me. Controls The controls for this game are as close to perfect as you can get them for a touch screen device. I was surprised how good they work. Sure sometimes it can get awkward with the camera, but this rarely ever happens. The icons might look a little "ugly", but they do the job. Comparison I have never played Mike V: Do or Die (not sure if that's the actual name), but I have played Skater Nation, and just to sum it up in two words, there is NO COMPARISON. Its not that Skater Nation is terrible, it was OK, but when the real THPS 2 comes out, and it's this good, suddenly you do not want to play any other skateboarding game. Cons First of all, the original music is gone. And by that I mean not even one track. The new tracks are OK i guess, but if you have fond memories of playing this game, while jamming to some Papa Roach and all those awesome tracks, you're gonna be a little disappointed. Also, you cannot listen to your own music, which is kind of lame since it should be implemented in every game, but it is not a deal breaker (at least for me). Lastly, you cannot create your own skater or your own park. Now, creating a park on your iPhone might have been kind of a pain, but it really sucks not being able to create your own skater. Conclusion Honestly, this is the THPS 2 we were all waiting for, nice graphics, excellent controls, and MOST of the stuff that made this game so awesome to play back in the day. Forget the steep price tag, $10 is nothing compared to all the fun you're gonna have with this game. Overall 9.5/10
As you said, spine transfers weren't in THPS2 unfortunately. Shame they didn't add it to this version of THPS2 to make it even more amazing. For me, nothing beats playing the School level. Fantastic game (although the framerate struggles occasionally on my 3G0.
Timer How do you get the cheats as I noticed a cheats section. Also, is it possible to turn off the 2 minute timer. Almost impossible to do these stunts in under 2 min.
In the level schoolhouse 2 how do you get onto the tallest buildings? I see a rail in between. But i dont see how to get up
Just took Touchgrind's first page spot on my phone. Must have for anyone who used to obsess over this game like I did.
At the beginning of the level, wallride up the first ramp right on the right side up the wall. You gap to the edge of the ramp, grind, then jump over and you'll be on the top. Was concerned about the controls on this, but they are actually pretty responsive and work well. I played this game so much when I was younger, awesome to have it on my phone now.
