Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 abandoned the strict time limit of previous entries and replaced it with free movement across individual locations, where the player completed tasks in any order and at their own pace. This change gave the series a new dimension of exploration and gradually brought it closer to the more open skateboarding games that followed in the years ahead. The trick roster grew with customizable move combinations and the so-called Nail the Trick, which allowed detailed control over the execution of a jump using both analog sticks at once, requiring precise coordination of both hands.

On Xbox, the game ran smoothly and offered varied locations from city streets to fictional environments like an amusement park, with the graphics taking advantage of the console's power to display more detailed textures and smoother rider animation. The roster of professional skateboarders and hidden characters remained one of the series' main draws, and the soundtrack of punk and rock music rounded out the characteristic atmosphere of turn-of-the-millennium skate subculture. Minigames and side tasks scattered across the locations extended playtime well beyond the main career and encouraged repeated playthroughs of favorite levels.

Pro Skater 4 was very well received critically and is still considered by many players to be one of the high points of the entire series before it was replaced by the Underground brand with its emphasis on story and open cities. Free movement across locations influenced the direction of later entries as well as competing skateboarding games for a long time to come and became a standard that players came to expect from the series going forward. Today, the game remains playable thanks to its straightforward fun and catchy scoring system, even though the graphics naturally bear obvious traces of their era, and the controls may take newcomers a while to fully get used to and master all the nuances of the tricks.

Why play it: For fans of straightforward arcade fun and a catchy scoring system who will appreciate the free movement across locations that many still consider the high point of the entire Tony Hawk series.