Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is still one of the best games ever on Steam Deck
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 has finally been released on Steam, and it's a perfect game for the portability of the Steam Deck.
Three years after releasing on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC as an Epic Games store exclusive, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 has finally launched on Steam. This is a monumental moment – not because I'm one of those people who refuses to use a second game launcher, but because the game is finally playable on Steam Deck natively. As someone who has put over 100 hours into Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 through the PS4 and PS5 versions, the idea of getting to play it on the go made it an immediate get for me; and yes, I know there's a Nintendo Switch version, but Pro Skater is a D-pad game and the JoyCon D-pad just isn't it.
The game runs perfectly on the Steam Deck maintaining a solid 60fps on the default settings, with the buttons on the Steam Deck working well for the inputs you'll be throwing out. I've always claimed that Tony Hawk games have more in common with something like Devil May Cry than Skate, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is possibly the best example of that.
As the name implies Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2 is a remake of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (known as Tony Hawk's Skateboarding here in the UK) and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. While a straight remake of these games would've been enough, as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 remains one of the greatest games ever made, these remakes go one step further. At the basic level, THPS1 was given brand new missions to have as many as the THPS2 levels did, and none of these feel tacked on, fitting right in with the original levels (even if the roof gaps on Downtown are a nightmare).
The series never fully perfected things until Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 added the revert, which allowed you to extend combos out of a half-pipe. Vicarious Visions (who also revived Crash Bandicoot with the N.Sane Trilogy) took the original two games and made them even better by adding mechanics like the revert and wall plants, truly making them the definitive versions of the original games, and the first release to knock Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3's of the top spot as the best game in the series.
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One of the only changes that is hit and miss is the soundtrack. The original games' soundtracks were iconic, bringing together the very best of punk and hip-hop from bands that were or would go on to be legendary. And the remake still has all the tracks you remember, like Superman by Goldfinger, Police Truck by the Dead Kennedys, and Guerrilla Radio by Rage Against the Machine, with only a few missing (B-Boy Document 99 is the only real loss in my opinion). However, the remake added tunes from a number of artists of the era and newcomers, this is where it starts to get a bit off.
While older bands like Sublime, Less Than Jake, and A Tribe Called Quest fit right in with the soundtrack, some of the newer entries don't quite hit that Pro Skater itch. That isn't to say all the new artists aren't winners, Destroy Boys, Screaming Females, and JunkBunny all have good tunes on there. But then again you can always turn all the new tracks off and take yourself back to the PS1 era.
This release is also a grim reminder that this was the last game Vicarious Visions made before being folded into Blizzard to help on the Diablo 2 remake. The fact we could've gotten a remake of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and 4 with this much love and affection put into it and didn't, is one of the biggest missed opportunities of the last few years, especially considering this is undoubtedly Activision's best game in a long time. We can only hope that Microsoft revives the project now that the Microsoft Activision deal has gone through.
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