Tony Hawk's Underground (Video Game 2003) Poster

(I) (2003 Video Game)

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7/10
A truly great skateboarding affair.
Analog_Devotee4 August 2021
I personally prefer the sequel but many fans consider this the peak of the franchise and I can't argue with them. The developers were taking risks and trying different things and they were all paying off. If you can still get your hands on a copy of this, it is absolutely worth the time of any skateboarding video game fan.
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9/10
This rocks!
The_Wagon5 November 2005
It's awesome! In Story Mode, your going from punk to pro. You have to complete goals that involve skating, driving, and walking. You create your own skater and give it a name, and you can make it look stupid or realistic. You are with your friend Eric throughout the game until he betrays you and gets you kicked off of the skateboard team(you can pick a team to be on) and you then start your own team! There are many levels like New Jersey, Manhattan, and even School II(not part of story mode though) from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. You can unlock secret skaters like Iron Man, Gene Simmons, and another skater. You can create your own goals like SKATE letters, COMBO letters, Tricktris, Gap, and much more. You can create the goal pedestrian and write what they speak. If you get bored of doing that, you can do the premade goals in premade parks. The only thing I didn't like about this game was that sometimes it was hard to drive the cars. 9/10.
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10/10
The Franchise's Peak
mattgmh9 June 2020
Out of all the gorgeous games that come out in video games, the game that I cherish as my all time favorite video game is Tony Hawk's Underground. It's an odd game for anyone to name as their all time favorite, but here is my reasoning for why that is.

The biggest thing that makes this game replayable is the amount of things you can create. Underground 2 is nothing compared to this game as you can not only create a character, and a park, but you can create your own tricks, and your own skateboard. Like GTA: San Andreas, it goes beyond customization and reached the pinnacle of creativity for any player to enjoy this game.

The game is known for having the first story mode in the franchise and the story is really good. As you go from a local skateboarder to a Pro skating hero. The only flaw I have with the game is the driving mechanic, it's still clunky especially when your turning. However, the mechanics adding is the ability to get off your board. This was a huge deal in the franchise as it adds more realism, and easier places to go without having to bump into places while riding.

The soundtrack is phenomenal and contains the biggest catalog in the Franchise's history. Normally, I don't like hip hop music, but the music here is so catchy and welcoming. It contains not just punk and hip hop, but also metal and rock which is always a plus. It's always enjoyable to play the game while listening to busdriver or rise against in the background.

Tony Hawks Underground is one of the best PS2 games of all time and no matter how dated the graphics are, and how clunky some of the driving can be this game will always be one of the greatest games I've ever played. This is the defining Tony Hawk game and represents everything the franchise stands for and improved on. Unfortunately, after this game it never reached that level of success again.
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Best Skateboarding Game Ever
Shadowen_17223 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
Anyone who says that this is the worst game in the Tony Hawk series didn't really play the game. This is by far the best Tony Hawk game to ever come out. You start out as a skater with absolutely nothing. Your ultimate goal is to make it pro. The game's story mode is very fun. You get cut scenes, and you really grow to care about your character. There is also nearly an endless amount of customization that you can use for your character. You can create what type of hair he has, what color his/her hair is, what shirt he/she wears, and so on. You can even create your own board design. There is also a lot of bonus features you can unlock like 3 secret characters and 4 secret levels. The game play is classic Tony Hawk style with some new twists. You can now get on and off your board, allowing you to climb, walk, or run through the environment. You also can go for a drive when you get sick of skating which doesn't happen to quickly. This is a very fun game with tons of re playability. Definitely pick this game up if your a fan of the series.
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Very original and different from the other Hawk games, with more of a story this time around. It seems they've abandoned the concept of the first four games and started anew. But I hope that Underground 2 is
MovieAddict201619 April 2004
I am a big fan of the Tony Hawk video games. I met Tony Hawk once at a skating competition in Virginia and he signed my copy of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - I have to admit that I'm interested by skateboarding as a pass-time (maybe not "job") because I realize it's a very hard sport to master.

I own every Tony Hawk game, one for N64, one for computer, one for Game Boy Advance, and now three for my XBox (which I purchased early 2002 if I remember correctly). I like that IMDb has this listed as simply "Underground," and not "Tony Hawk's Underground," because Neversoft's idea to market the game as a sequel to the others is somewhat wrong. Sure, the actual gameplay and concept is fairly continual, with the same controls, etc. But the actual game itself is much different. There are now cut-scenes and a whole story to follow. You play as one character, who you design, and take him through the ranks of pro skating. (The only chance you get at playing as Pro Skaters in this game is in multiplayer mode, where you get to choose from Hawk, Margera, Burnquist, et al.)

Overall this is the dirtiest of the Tony Hawk videogames - far more realistic than its predecessors, if you want to call them that, and heavy on street lingo. It has more swearing and an overall "gritty" feel - hopefully it won't be marketed towards small children, as the lighter gameplay of the original four is lacking.

And unfortunately, so is some of the great style of the first four. I loved each game and how each one seemed to improve upon itself, yet featured memorable levels - the School, the Warehouse, etc.

One of the problems of Underground is its lack of addictive gameplay. I admire and appreciate what Neversoft has tried to do, but I can't say they did so completely successfully. The beginning of the game is a real bore and it takes a while to get "hooked" into it - which is the opposite of the others.

There are new additions to Underground, such as the ability to walk on foot, climb onto objects (ladders, houses, etc.) and drive cars (yes, drive cars). Had this been provided as extra "fun" I would have been appreciative - but some missions require car races. If I wanted a game with car races as a main idea, I'd buy Project Gotham Racing (which I have, incidentally). Besides, the graphics of the cars in THUG are quite poor - hopefully in the next installment they'll realize that skateboarding games should not involve car missions.

It's essentially very original and different from the other Hawk games, with more of a story this time around. It seems they've abandoned the concept of the first four games and started anew. But I hope that Underground 2 is better.

Underground 1 is fun but has some major problems. Many of its options are far improved, and I liked the soundtrack listing and how you have the option to turn off/on rap music/rock music/r & b (I highlighted only rock and have been listening to it - good songs!). However, the levels in Underground are the worst of the Hawk legacy; some of the missions really suck, for lack of a better word; I didn't find myself as addicted and often I wasn't having as much fun as I did in the other games.

I understand what Neversoft was trying to do with this game, but they have room for improvement. This is a good game and miles ahead of others I own. But it's also the worst Tony Hawk videogame I own. I hope they setup a new series of Underground games and start making THPS (Tony Hawk's Pro Skater) videogames again.
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A definate for Tony Hawk game fans
Greatwhitewhale221 May 2004
To like this game, you have to play the others first. Or you could play the Very easy difficulty. This is nicely different from the other games because it gives you a great story mode with movies and everything where the main character can look like whatever you want.

One really cool features is that there's more to create. Other than doing skaters and parks, you can now create tricks and goals!

The usual skaters are here (Tony Hawk, Bam Margera) and they get involved in the story mode too. The music isn't great. There's a lot of lesser-known bands (or perhaps that's a good thing) but I enjoyed skating to the Sex pistols before! But you can now do it to Kiss so that's cool.

Multiplayer is still the same except for the new "fireball" mode which is really cool.

So I definitely recommend for Tony Hawk fans and for the cool secret characters too!
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