EXCLUSIVES

Words by Nam-Phuong Nguyen

Unstick Chuck, stop the bully, grab the secret tape, splash the foreman. No, this isn't The Goonies revisited, it's Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, by Activision, Neversoft, and Aspyr Media. the next edition of a game that was way too addictive to begin with. THPS 3 is an extreme sports game similar to SSX Tricky, where you move at high speeds and pull of tricks using a combination of action keys with directional movement keys. the goals of the game vary according to the mode of play, but you can gain points by inventing moves and performing well.

THPS 3 has three single-player modes, career mode: single session, and free skate, with eight levels of play, each with different skating environments.

You can skate in a foundry full of molten metal, rails, half-pipes and ramps, a snowy course full of slopes and banks, parking lots and cars. Other levels are Rio, Suburbia, Airport, Skater's Island, Los Angeles, and Tokyo. A player starts out in the Foundry and must accomplish a certain set of goals in career mode to move on. The levels seem to get successively larger as a player progresses. You can rotate pieces, raise and lower the ground, place in objects such as benches, walls, pools, and rails.

Single session play allows a player to practice moves in a certain park and set high scores within two minutes. This session can be used as practice for the career mode, which is also timed, or to compete with your friends. The free skate mode is an untimed session where you can skate, practice, and discover new moves and combos to your heart's content.

If you get a small joy out of running into your friend with your skateboard and knocking him over (Slap mode), then you might also enjoy the multi-player modes that THPS 3 offered through Internet or a LAN. There are nine different modes to choose from, too numerous to detail here, but they are variations of kicking your friend's butt by scoring the highest, performing the most or certain tricks first, finding certain objects first, and of course, knocking down the other players.

The game is fast-paced and may cause hand cramping and can seem daunting to a person completely unfamiliar with the game, but one of the strengths of THPS 3 is its well-designed and simple controls. The default has number pad configurations but I changed it to use cursors and six additional keys on the keyboard in the way that was easiest for me. All the sophisticated tricks can be done with these keys. In addition to the simple controls, there is a tutorial (narrated by Tony Hawk) that very easily guides a player through the basics.

You can control most settings in THPS 3. The skate parks come with optional tunes to grind to that can be sequenced. Along with the music are sound effects and environmental sound. The graphics are high quality, and include textures, shadows, and mist. There is also an option to change the look of your board, the clothes your player is wearing, and how he (or she) looks, as in most first-person games. There is actually an option to create your own player, where you can set certain abilities and stances as well as your player's look.

If your computer has a good video card and kicks butt, then you can enjoy the vivid effects of THPS 3, but if it is slightly older like my computer, then you will discover that all the extra effects cause the game to slow down and not be fun at all. The solution is just to play with the graphics controls until you find a good match for your machine. You can play with the resolution, the textures, screen size, and other options until the game plays to your satisfaction. I played at all the lowest features available and was still pulled in enough by the graphics to wince whenever I bailed and flopped on the concrete. Altogether THPS 3 is pretty rad.

It is probably for the puddles of blood that invariably build up on the screen when you fall off your board, along with "mild lyrics" and "suggestive themes" that the game is rated Teen by ESRB. It requires OS 9.1 or later (with virtual memory), OS X 10.1 or later, power Mac G3/G4, iMac/eMac, Powerbook G3/G4, or iBook, 400Mhz or faster processor, 128MB RAM plus virtual memory (256MB under OS X), 700MB hard drive space, 3D Graphics Acceleration (minimum ATI Radeon or nVidia Ge-Force), and 32 MB is recommended. The game is available for $39.99.