Tony Hawk's Underground

Tony Hawk's Underground shifted the popular skateboarding series toward a more pronounced story and a more open world, in which the player creates their own rider and, together with friend Eric, tries to fight their way from amateur skater to professional recognition. For the first time in the series, players could get off the board and move freely around the city on foot, opening the door to more varied tasks beyond classic trick combos and scoring modes.

The gameplay still builds on the fluid chaining of tricks, grinding and manuals that made the Tony Hawk series famous, but adds the ability to ride a BMX bike, minor vandalism as part of certain missions, and an urban environment divided into several areas connected by free movement without loading screens. The story mode, with voiced characters and light-hearted humor, gives the game a narrative dimension that the previous three entries largely lacked, and along the way players encounter caricatures of real professional skaters. The soundtrack, with a selection of punk, rock and hip-hop music, was one of the defining features of the whole series, and Underground is certainly no exception, with several tracks becoming permanently associated with this game for fans.

The game was very well received by both critics and players, often described as one of the highlights of the entire franchise thanks to the combination of proven gameplay with new elements of openness and story. Tony Hawk's Underground significantly influenced the direction sports arcade games took in the following years, and on PlayStation 2 it remains among the most frequently recommended sports titles of the whole generation. A custom level editor and the ability to share created skateparks with other players further extended the game's lifespan long after completing the main story. Its influence is also visible in later entries of the series, which already took a story mode for granted.

Why play it: For skateboarding fans, it combines proven gameplay with story and openness, plus a custom skatepark editor that significantly influenced the direction of later sports arcade games.