Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater is back! A recent feature by Game Informer (published May 5, 2015) includes an exclusive announcement from Activision, Robomodo, and Disruptive Games. The announcement confirms that a new Tony Hawk game is coming very soon: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5.
For a while, the Tony Hawk series was unstoppable. With a strong debut in 1999, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater quickly became a phenomenon. The game received three sequels and spawned multiple spinoff series, including the massively successful Tony Hawk’s Underground and the fan favorite Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland. The last Tony Hawk release was Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD in 2012, a high-def re-release of levels from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. However, the last fully original game to be released in the series was 2010’s Tony Hawk: Shred. The extremely negative response to Shred (and its awkward skateboard peripheral that was introduced with Tony Hawk: Ride) from both critics and gamers caused the future of the entire franchise to come into question. A mobile title, Tony Hawk’s Shred Session, was planned, but Hawk announced in November 2014 that the game had been postponed indefinitely, making many players wonder if they’d ever see another Tony Hawk title.
Finally, after a few years of inactivity, the Tony Hawk franchise is making a comeback. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is coming to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 later this year, while Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will follow shortly after.
Instead of continuing the strange peripheral approach of Tony Hawk: Ride and Tony Hawk: Shred or channeling the more story-based experiences of the Tony Hawk’s Underground series and Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 will return to the roots of the series, with a focus on nailing intricate tricks and combos while shredding through a variety of different stages. The Create-A-Skater and Create-A-Park features will be making a comeback alongside a roster of famous skateboarders as playable characters. The game is also said to include a level-up system as well as an online and offline multiplayer component.
Are you excited for the return of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater? Let us know in the comments, and keep checking with Load The Game for more news on the upcoming release.