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Good: Beautifully refined skating engine, more mature feel, Nail the Trick mode, challenge

Bad: Some ridiculously difficult goals, framerate drops, still essentially the same experience

Rampant: Product placement

There is certainly a limit to how many things you can do with a skateboarding game, and the guys at Neversoft are probably more than aware of this. After four installments of the critically and commercially successful Tony Hawk series, they started trying to change aspects of how the game was presented. It wasn't enough to simply add a manual or revert anymore:the core gameplay mechanics were near flawless already. The first Underground game tried to put the focus on you as an up-and-coming skater. THUG2 was basically "Jackass Skateboarding," with horrendously juvenile humor and the retarded antics of Bam Margera & Co. American Skateland introduced the first open-world, no-load-time environment to the series. Now, Tony Hawk's Project 8 takes the best aspects of all of the games and puts them together in a completely solid package.

Project 8 takes the open-world style of American Skateland and moves it to a small suburban town that is apparently filled with potential skateboarding pros. Tony Hawk is in town scouting for the top eight talents to form the titular group. Starting at rank 200, it's your job to explore the town and do a ridiculous amount of challenges to climb the ladder and make it into his elite team.

There is no shortage of ways to rank up, as they're literally everywhere you turn. One of my favorite new additions is the Spot Challenges. These are indicated by graffiti marks on rails, streets, and walls, and accompanied by the action you're supposed to do (manual, grind, wallride, etc). You start the action at the initial green marker, and can achieve Amateur, Pro, or Sick status based on how far you make it.

Fans of the first three games will be glad to know that Classic Mode challenges are included within the actual context of the single-player game. One character in each area will present you with a shopping list of objectives, and you have two minutes to accomplish as many as possible. These play out just like they used to, even down to the S-K-A-T-E and C-O-M-B-O challenges. It's a fantastic throwback to the series' roots, and they're a great addition to the overall experience.

If you've never played a Tony Hawk game, it would probably be overwhelming to pick up Project 8 thanks to the accumulation of moves that have been introduced gradually to the series. You can grind, manual, wallride, natas spin, flip, do special moves, flatland tricks, rail stalls, induce bails, enter Focus mode, invert, and many other moves. I've owned every single game in the series and played them constantly, and I still experienced many moments of frustration during overly-difficult goals. Many of the Sick goals border on unreachable, and obtaining 100% in this game would be a true achievement.

The most significant gameplay addition is Nail the Trick, which allows you to control each foot through use of the analog sticks. Pressing down on each stick while airborne will activate a slow-mo close-up of your skater's feet. While in this state, you can flip the board around by flicking the stick in the direction you want it to go. The trick is hitting it when it's either facing straight up or straight down, as anything else will cause you to bail. It takes a lot of practice, but can add thousands to your combos if you perfect it.

Unlike last year's American Skateland on the 360, Project 8 is a true next-gen entry of the series. Gone is the cartoony feel of the last few games, as they're replaced with the most realistic visuals in the series. Textures are crisp, skater likenesses are well-done, and the draw distance is impressive. The only drawback to the visuals is the occasional framerate drop, but these don't occur very often.

I welcome the new realistic visuals, but I'm even more happy about the toning-down of the Bam Margera tone of the last couple of games. Underground 2 was the worst, and focused more on gimmicky jokes and Jackass humor than actual skateboarding. With Project 8, there is far more emphasis on perfecting your skating than racing around in a shopping cart or chasing an elephant around. The juvenile nature isn't completely gone, however, as one of the missions is titled "Shag Dad's Balls."

This series has always had an eclectic soundtrack, with each title having its share of hits and misses (but I'll always be thankful for THPS3 introducing me to Ace of Spades). The quality level has ranged from excellent tracks from The Doors to the nu-metal crap of Papa Roach. Project 8 features more good tracks than bad, and they're certainly diverse. For instance, one track may be an excellent underplayed Ramones song ("I Wanna Live") and the next could be some great underground hip-hop from Living Legends.

Tony Hawk's Project 8 is not a complete re-invention of the wheel as some hoped it would be. It is, however, an excellent compilation of the best aspects of each entry of the series. As a longtime fan, I had started to tire of the formula with the last three installments. With Project 8, I've had the most fun playing a Tony Hawk game since THPS4.

Graphics: 8.5

Sound: 8.0

First Play: 8.5

Replay Value: 9.0

Gameplay: 9.0

Overall: 9.0