Vicarious Visions, the developers behind the Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, took on the tremendous task of remaking (and reviving) the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series with the upcoming Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2. Following the dismal reception of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5, there was a lot riding on this remake of two classics in the gaming world to make a statement yet again. After playing the very brief Warehouse demo for the upcoming remake, I can safely say that it does indeed make a big statement - there's potential here for one of the best remakes of the year.



The Warehouse demo of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 (played on a PS4 Pro) only consists of a short 2-minute freeplay mode in the aforementioned Warehouse level. While it's probably not indicative of the final products levels, the Warehouse is a perfect, simple stage to test out the various mechanics of the upcoming remake and get a good feel for what they're going for. For the most part, it's beautifully recreated, with nostalgia firing on all cylinders for how they managed to capture the basic yet memorable stage in all its tiny glory. With an abundance of ramps, destructible walls, and rails to test out, I got to immediately familiarize myself with the layout and reworked controls.

For the most part, it's beautifully recreated, with nostalgia firing on all cylinders...

The previous titles were known to have tight, responsive controls, and Vicarious Visions certainly managed to tweak and tailor it to modern gaming standards while still maintaining that fluidity and responsiveness. Mid-air tricks are relegated to the square and circle buttons, which can be triggered in a staggering variety of ways to link together awesome combos. Pressing triangle on the edge of a ramp will often trigger a balancing act of Tony Hawk (the only playable character in the demo) pulling off some great trick poses. Grinding on rails prompts the balancing mini-game where you have to keep a cursor dead center of a bar as it sways in the rhythm of your joystick. Initially, it took some getting used to again, but after a couple of hours, I was stringing together tricks and combos with surprising ease.



Hitting ramps and landing a successful trick feels incredible, but equally heartbreaking if you mistime your positioning, which often sends your skater crashing to the ground in a disappointing thud. In order to break the monotony of landing on your behind, Vicarious Visions wisely chose to include a kind of "rewind" feature that not only puts you back on the board through a weird glitchy effect, but also keeps the momentum going and prevents you from wasting precious few seconds looking at your skater shake their head and readjust themselves. The glitch effect happens and you're already back in full momentum a few short seconds later, which is a fantastic new addition that improves the overall flow of gameplay.

Mechanically, this is the best that a Tony Hawk game has ever felt to play since the original Pro Skater series...

It's hard to really get a feel of what the rest of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 will look like, but this Warehouse demo was enough to get a good understanding of its mechanics and controls. I would've liked to see a little more customization options and maybe another skater or two to choose from, but Tony Hawk is one of the more balanced characters - and also the star of the show - so it makes sense to have him be front and center of the demo. The only minor frustration I had with the controls were its tendencies to not always trigger the command I was hoping for. For example, I hit a ramp slowly with the intention of triggering a grind on the edge at an angle, but it instead thought I was trying to catch air and threw me skyward, leading to a stumble. This happens rarely, but I hope it's smoothed out at launch.



Great things are coming for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2. The Warehouse demo was short, sweet, and provided a few hours of incredible fun (I'll probably dive back in after I'm done with this piece). Mechanically, this is the best that a Tony Hawk game has ever felt to play since the original Pro Skater series - if you're pushing it, Underground too - and it hits all the right nostalgic notes to be an instant joy to experience. The soundtrack, which consisted of Rage Against the Machine and a couple of other rock/punk tracks in the demo, is great and reflects the same campy energy and style of the original game's soundtrack too. After Pro Skater 5 failed to stick the landing, it looks like Vicarious Visions were the right people to call to get the series back on the board.