2 out of 5 stars.

Any gamer who grew up in the 2000s probably knows about the Tony Hawk games. There’s something deeply enjoyable about taking skating and adding the freedom and accessibility of gaming, which is just what the Tony Hawk games did. From hours spent spelling SKATE in the perfect combo in the old Pro Skater titles, to shredding with legends in American Wasteland or Proving Ground, the Tony Hawk games have always delivered the type of fast-paced, entertaining, enjoyable game play to be expected of a video game series centered on skateboarding. However, newer entries into the series have proven to be lukewarm in comparison to their older counterparts. Now, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 is here to rekindle the flames of the classic series, but falls tremendously short and leaves behind core issues that the new and old games didn’t forget.

From the start, you can tell that Tony Haw’s Pro Skater 5 is half-baked. While the old Pro Skater games are still some of the best skateboarding games out there, the nostalgia of playing these games can’t even make Pro Skater 5 seem good. Everything about the game feels phoned in. Yeah, you can still collect SKATE and find the VHS tapes in the surprisingly tiny areas, but apart from that, the game just feels like a rehash with none of the direction or flavor the originals held.

Speaking of the tiny areas, the entire game feels like it belongs on the same consoles as its past releases. Most of the areas from Proving Ground or even Project 8 are bigger than the maps offered by Pro Skater 5. Combined with the tacky, pseudo-classic look of the game’s graphics and interface, these small maps become a repetitive eyesore quickly. In addition, none of them feel memorable. The classic ‘character’ of maps from Pro Skater 3 and company are unfortunately forgotten in the bland cookie-cutter environments found in 5.

One of the best features of previous Tony Hawk games was the ability to practice and perfect amazing, near impossible tricks to then throw into your next amazing combo. Now, these moves are shoehorned into an ability bar that you have to charge, making these moves feel less like a learned skill and more like an objective to work towards. Keep doing the same two or three boring tricks until you can do a couple cool moves, then repeat. One of the biggest problems about a skateboarding game is that watching the same tricks over and over can get boring, and Pro Skater 5 really suffers here by forcing you to repeat basic moves to ‘unlock’ the special ones.

Despite all its shortcomings as a Tony Hawk game, Pro Skater 5’s biggest flaw comes from its pricing. Had the game been a small release for, say, $20, it would have fared much better. Instead, this travesty is trying to pass itself off as a complete $60 dollar game. For what it’s worth, you’re better off picking up one of the original Pro Skater games for a fraction of the price. Unless you are a dedicated Tony Hawk fan or just love wasting money, don’t touch Pro Skater 5.