Tony Hawk Project 8 Xbox demo: Quick impressions

So I got tasked to do a quick hands-on impression on the Xbox Live Marketplace Demo of ActivisionÂ’s Tony HawkÂ’s Project 8. I told myself, “Great, just the genre I suck at.” Horrific, traumatic memories of past face-plants on the numerous PS2 incarnations of the game began to flood the projector in my brain. Sigh. Well, I had a choice between old school MK3 and Tony, so I picked Tony.

So I go swallow my frog, grab the Xbox 360 Controller, and play.

Well, what are my first few impressions? The Xbox 360Â’s wonky d-pad does not do this game justice. The old control system that Tony Hawk veterans are familiar with is still there. Circle…er, I mean B to speed up and so on. For some reason though, the d-pad on the slightly different Xbox controller made everything feel a bit foreign. I suggest you use the Stick as it seems (at least in my case) to be a bit more responsive.

WhatÂ’s nice about the demo? It does perfectly what demos should do. It shows off all the good points of the game, mainly the tighter physics and the better graphics. The skate-park available on the demo had a little bit of everything in it, so that players can get a good preview of what to expect from the retail version of the game. There’s even a tiny “fish pond” in the middle of the park that shows-off the water effects that the game has.

What delivered? The “Nail the Trick” feature that the developers were hyping is all that the devs say it is. They were saying that it will bring innovation to the Tony Hawk series, and well, it did. Whenever airborne, just click both left and right sticks, and from that point, the left and right sticks gain control of your characterÂ’s feet. The tricks then become a matter of control, creativity, and precision instead of a sequence of well-timed button presses.

The things you can do in this demo? Well that famous flatlander, Rodney Mullen, is there and he asks you to “Nail the Trick”. ThereÂ’s also this x-treme videographer that will ask you to follow him around the park and perform tricks that he could film. There are more. But IÂ’d have to go back to my Xbox and check them out. If you’re a Tony Hawk fan that’s a bit short on cash, you should too.

Now if only the demo had a few more parks in it…

Pre-order: [Tony Hawk’s Project 8]

So I got tasked to do a quick hands-on impression on the Xbox Live Marketplace Demo of ActivisionÂ’s Tony HawkÂ’s Project 8. I told myself, “Great, just the genre I suck at.” Horrific, traumatic memories of past face-plants on the numerous PS2 incarnations of the game began to flood the projector in my brain. Sigh. Well, I had a choice between old school MK3 and Tony, so I picked Tony.

So I go swallow my frog, grab the Xbox 360 Controller, and play.

Well, what are my first few impressions? The Xbox 360Â’s wonky d-pad does not do this game justice. The old control system that Tony Hawk veterans are familiar with is still there. Circle…er, I mean B to speed up and so on. For some reason though, the d-pad on the slightly different Xbox controller made everything feel a bit foreign. I suggest you use the Stick as it seems (at least in my case) to be a bit more responsive.

WhatÂ’s nice about the demo? It does perfectly what demos should do. It shows off all the good points of the game, mainly the tighter physics and the better graphics. The skate-park available on the demo had a little bit of everything in it, so that players can get a good preview of what to expect from the retail version of the game. There’s even a tiny “fish pond” in the middle of the park that shows-off the water effects that the game has.

What delivered? The “Nail the Trick” feature that the developers were hyping is all that the devs say it is. They were saying that it will bring innovation to the Tony Hawk series, and well, it did. Whenever airborne, just click both left and right sticks, and from that point, the left and right sticks gain control of your characterÂ’s feet. The tricks then become a matter of control, creativity, and precision instead of a sequence of well-timed button presses.

The things you can do in this demo? Well that famous flatlander, Rodney Mullen, is there and he asks you to “Nail the Trick”. ThereÂ’s also this x-treme videographer that will ask you to follow him around the park and perform tricks that he could film. There are more. But IÂ’d have to go back to my Xbox and check them out. If you’re a Tony Hawk fan that’s a bit short on cash, you should too.

Now if only the demo had a few more parks in it…

Pre-order: [Tony Hawk’s Project 8]