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Despite the fact that Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 appeared on consoles and the PC in 2004, Activision has released a port of the game, Tony Hawk’s Underground 2 Remix, on the PSP. Ports have pretty much been the staple diet for the PSP at this stage in its life, but when they’re this accomplished it’s no bad thing. Sure, we’ve had decent portable Tony Hawk games before, but none like this.
Developed by Shaba Games, THUG2 Remix is an awesome port. Literally everything from the PlayStation 2 version of the game has been brought across to the PSP version, with the same World Destruction Tour and Classic mode that made THUG2 great. The World Destruction Tour will see you performing some crazy stunts to complete challenges, while the Classic Mode plays like the original Tony Hawk’s Skater games. You’re given two minutes to achieve certain goals within the level, such as reaching a certain score or collecting items. Levels from the World Tour are reused, but some classics from the past also make an appearance.
These two modes together provide a fair amount of content for a portable game, and will take in excess of ten hours to get through. Classic mode requires you to unlock everything again, even if you have already done so in the World Tour, which can be annoying, but as it’s a separate mode it can be forgiven. You may be wondering why ‘Remix’ has been tacked onto the game’s title. That’s because four new levels have been included in the World Tour. Kyoto, Las Vegas, Atlanta, and Santa Cruz have been added and have been seamlessly inserted into the World Tour.
Each new Tony Hawk game brings a few new moves to the series, and while Remix has nothing new over the original, THUG2 had a few new moves in the first place. Lots of them aren’t all that great and are only used when you’re forced to do so during the World Tour, but the sticker slap comes in pretty handy. It’s an airborne wall plant that gives you a nice boost of speed back in the direction you came. It takes some getting used to (as did every new move added throughout the series), but can help you continue a combo that would have otherwise ended.
The most striking aspect of the port is the visuals. It really looks great, and unless you’re looking for changes, is nearly identical to the PlayStation 2 version. There has been a cut back on detail in some areas, textures aren’t quite as sharp, and the frame rate bogs down a little now and then, but it still looks great on the PSP’s screen. It’s worth pointing out that I noticed ghosting on the screen far more than on other PSP titles, but while it isn’t all that pretty, it doesn’t hurt the presentation too much.
Audio is also great, with a soundtrack that includes the likes of The DOC, Ween, Less Than Jake, Violent Femmes, Atmosphere, Ultramagnetic MC’s, X, Ministry, Brand Nubian and more. It’s the usual mix of tunes you’d find in a Tony Hawk game and works just fine. The voices that each of the game’s characters had in the console and PC versions have been removed (probably due to storage) but it’s not a major loss. The one blemish on the sound is the occasional glitch. For no real reason the sound will pop. This doesn’t happen all the time, but when it occurs, and keeps happening, it becomes a little annoying.
The face mapping from the PlayStation 2 version is also in the PSP game, allowing you to use a jpeg of your face and map it to your character in the game. There’s also the skate park creation tool and local wireless play for up to four players. There’s plenty of game modes on offer in multiplayer, including trick attack, score challenge, combo mambo, slap, king of the hill and capture the flag, but as with most PSP titles, the lack of online play makes the chance of playing any of these games rather slim. However, if you know a group of people with the game, then the multiplayer aspect will keep you entertained well after the single-player modes are complete.
THUG2 Remix is another game that will cause people to moan about the PSP’s line-up. It’s essentially a port of a game that first appeared in 2004, but the fact that it resembles the console version of the game so closely is testament to the PSP’s power and potential. Anyone new to the game will find a lot to enjoy here and fans might want to check it out for the new content that has been added to the port.
