Nostalgia can be a powerful force. It can help resurrect a long dormant franchise, bringing it to a whole new audience and winning over plenty of new fans in the process. In the case of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, however, it seems like nostalgia has been a force which has damaged the reputation of a series. It’s a cynical, glitchy mess.
Well, that’s according to reports coming in from critics. We didn’t actually remember to request review copies of it as it’s coming out with very little buzz. Early indications were that it wouldn’t hold a candle to its iconic predecessors and judging by this compilation from Eurogamer, not much seems to have been changed for the better.
What you’re seeing is essentially the worst that AAA games development has to offer. A release that is unready to launch for at least a few months has been pushed out for a quick dollar from those yearning for a taste of THPS greatness. If you’re wondering just how broken and glitchy the thing actually is, Activision have released a day one patch which comes to an astounding 7.7GB – the whole game is only 4.6GB.
I don’t think you could play Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 for more than 5 minutes without immediately knowing in your heart that it is awful.
— Nick Robinson (@Babylonian) September 30, 2015
By pushing Tony Hawk out onto his virtual skateboard for (hopefully) the last time without giving it the care and attention the series deserves, the developers and publishers are trying to ride the wave of nostalgia to the bank. What they will find instead is widespread negative coverage like this and YouTube personalities deriding it for a cheap laugh. When you think back to the halycon days of the series, it’s almost saddening to see what’s become of it.
What they have sharted out with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 might find itself on many “Worst of 2015” lists and, judging from the poor response to it so far, this wet, sloppy fart is going to kickflip the fuck out of here and never come back.
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