Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5

After the experimental entries RIDE and Shred, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 returned to the format that made the series famous - short, clear levels in which the player collects points, letters, and timed objectives using classic button-based trick controls. The game was developed by Robomodo in collaboration with Disruptive Games, and it marks a return to the series' roots after years in which Tony Hawk games focused on physical peripherals instead of the gamepad, leaving the classic playstyle of the early entries on the sidelines.

The PlayStation 4 version (along with Xbox One) was released first, at the end of September 2015, and represents the full, up-to-date form of the game, with online multiplayer allowing several players to compete simultaneously in a single level and with the complete range of Create-A-Park creation tools for building and sharing custom tracks. It was this console generation that defined how Pro Skater 5 was meant to look, while the versions for the older PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 arrived only several months later in a stripped-down form prepared for this older generation by a different studio.

The return to two-minute run levels collecting the letters S-K-A-T-E and classic combo scores was also a signal that the developers wanted to win back players who had grown up on the series' older, gamepad-controlled entries, following the controversially received peripherals. On PS4, this return is paired with current-generation graphics and online features that the older PS3 and Xbox 360 could not offer to the same extent, due to both performance and architecture. This is exactly why the PS4 edition was presented in reviews and marketing as the "real" form of the fifth installment, one that the older consoles only partially approached, and only after the fact.

Why play it: The PS4 version is the most complete form of Pro Skater 5 - with full online multiplayer and the complete Create-A-Park tools - making it the right choice for anyone who wants to experience the series' return to its classic style without the limitations that affected the later port to older consoles by Fun Labs.