THUG Life

How many times has this happened to you? You’ve got one last trick to pull off, and it’s 50 feet in the air. No matter how many times you ollie up to that pipe (or power line or helicopter) and attempt to grind it, you miss. And, if you’re like me, you finally toss the controller and go see when The Family Guy is on.

Activision and Neversoft, the publishing and developing team behind the megahit Tony Hawk series, feel your pain, and they’ve decided to do something about it. For the first time, you can get off the board and explore. And that’s just the beginning. Picture the biggest levels you can imagine and double them. That will give you some idea of the massive open-ended worlds you’ll find inTony Hawk’s Underground, a game that promises to revolutionize the extreme sports genre all over again—part roleplaying game, part sports game, and all fun. We’ve assembled a few tips that will let you hit the ground running—literally.

So What Is “Underground,” Anyway?
First off, if you’ve never played a Tony Hawk game (what are you, a communist?), go out and pick upTony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. It’s a Platinum Hit so you can afford it. Now, play the bejeebers out of it. Done? Okay. Mind you, this isn’t absolutely necessary, but having a little experience with the Hawk franchise will help you immensely when starting out. It’s not that Underground doesn’t have an excellent tutorial, but for newcomers, the slightly more organized style of Pro Skater 4 will help bring you up to speed. Besides, it kicks ass.

Now that you’re up to speed, here’s a rundown on the new skating tactics you’ll have at your disposal:

• Another brick in the wall. Every new Hawk game comes with a new combo-extending trick, and this time around you get the Wall Plant. This trick is especially handy if you find yourself coming up to a vertical flat surface too fast, and it will keep you from plowing into the asphalt.
• Get off that board. Tony Hawk’s Underground is the Grand Theft Auto of skateboarding games, but getting off the board isn’t just a handy way to get into the car or onto the roof. You can actually use your feet to extend a trick combo. Start a trick, pull both triggers to hop into a run, and get to another surface before the timer runs out.
• Get in the Car. As you roam around the game with your personally crafted skater, you’ll find different story objectives almost everywhere you look. Right off the bat, you’ll have the chance to borrow a car to do the owner a favor. And although it’s not necessary, it’s a freakin’ blast to take that car into the skate parks. I wouldn’t recommend grinding with it, though.
• Learn at the boards of the masters. At the top of the game, when you’re still a punk-ass Jersey boy or girl, you’ll have the chance to impress visiting pro skater Chad Muska. If you’ve got enough points, he’ll deign to talk to you and challenge you to pull of a few new tricks. It’s a built-in trick tutorial that makes sense in the open-ended game world, so take advantage of every pro you can.
• We call it “The McFly.” Skitching is the fine art of grabbing onto a vehicle (or in one goofy mission, a big ol’ dog) and getting a free ride. You can skitch onto almost any moving vehicle (including the cop cars), and it’s the best way to build up ludicrous speed for record-busting tricks. And really, that dog objective is a lot more fun than it sounds.
• If you can see it, you can grind it. The world is your level in the single-player career mode. Make up your own tricks in the trick editor, then pull it off on top of a moving car, a clock tower, phone lines, or just about anything else you can imagine in New Jersey.

By Ben Barker