Tony Hawk's Proving Ground

The handheld version of Proving Ground was once again entrusted by the publisher to Vicarious Visions, a studio that had worked with the Nintendo DS entries in the series for a long time and had experience porting console Tony Hawk games to the small screen from earlier titles, including Downhill Jam a year before. The result is its own DS-built take on the game, which takes over the three-path system – Rigger, Aggro and Hardcore – from the big versions, but plays out in smaller, more enclosed levels matched to the handheld's power and its two screens.

The DS edition uses the console's touch screen and microphone to control some tricks and interactions, something none of the home or Wii versions offer, and the game also works with a control layout typical of the DS, where the bottom screen can be used for a quick map overview or supplementary controls. The trick system and visual style are adapted to the smaller screen and the handheld's lower power, so this is more of a standalone game inspired by the Proving Ground concept than a shrunk-down version of the home console edition with the same data.

The studio could thus afford its own development pace and different technical priorities than the home versions – smaller but more densely packed levels, touch controls as a complement to buttons, and its own take on the three paths, which differs from the Neversoft and Page 44 versions not just in scope, but in how much the touch screen changes the very feel of controlling the skater. That's also why the DS edition was reviewed separately, not as a mere shrunk-down version of the big Neversoft or Page 44 editions, and was judged mainly on how well it managed to translate the essence of the game to more limited hardware.

Why play it: The DS version will appeal to players interested in how Vicarious Visions repeatedly adapted the big Tony Hawk games for the handheld – with touch controls and smaller levels that differ from the console editions of Proving Ground not just technically, but in how they physically feel to play across two screens.