Neversoft pulled a boneless on THP8; it seems ollies just don't cut it anymore. On the first announcement I had heard regarding the production of a new addition to the Tony Hawk series, I had my request papers in to our Editor-in-Chief. There was no debating in the matter, as I made it clear that on the event of GamingExcellence receiving a copy, I was to be notified without delay.

Since the 64 bit original release for the Playstation in '99, Neversoft has pumped out seven more sequels, and to the surprise of the majority of followers to the series, they would continue to add, modify, innovate, and enhance in many areas of the title with each consecutive release. Project 8 indeed has innovation, modifications, and enhancements, but in the end, there's still a little something missing.

The career mode is not where Project 8 is lacking, offering a decent story with less of the cheesy humor found in the past few installments. You begin as an up and coming skater looking to make it big, a plot not very new I understand, but that's the ultimate goal as a skater in the real world, is it not? In this venture, Tony is looking to create a new team, searching city wide for the best eight skaters he can find, and that's how it would happen in the real world, is it not? Thus, Project 8 is based on rank, starting at the bottom of the heap, that bottom rank being number two hundred. Every goal you complete will increase your rank in certain increments. When you come up to filmers, photographers, troubled people, or pros with challenges, the goal will be separated into three difficulty modes; Amateur for those just starting with the series, Pro for the average to decent players, and Sick for those who are indeed sick, or sick in the head, like myself. Players can surpass the lower ranking by doing the pro or sick requirements of the goal right off the bat, but remember, sick requirements, really are sick this time around. By the end of the plot, you'll be in the eighth position, welcomed in to the team by Tony. This does not necessarily mean the end of the game, as there is plenty more to offer. Once completed, you'll probably be done about 75% of the full game, but there are always gaps, secret spots, and challenges to go back to and attempt sick level at, only to become highly frustrated on some occasions. Increasing stats is simply done by skating around and doing what each entails, pulling off a lot of grind time to increase your grind skill, and so on. Neversoft has done a good job at attempting to keep levels increase in a similar pattern to the others, having to do a hefty amount of air time compared to stall time, and so on.

Chalk challenges are new too, having graffiti markers placed on ledges, walls, floors, and quarter pipes to indicate the starting point to a challenge, you must skate, grind, manual, or air to the second, third, or fourth markers to complete the amateur, pro, or sick requirements. Again, trust me, these will get very difficult, watch out for plywood high, and crab pool jump, both of them are doozies, but I hear that NTT (Nail the Trick) is the key to the solution. While it's in discussion, I'd like to go ahead and state that Nail the Trick will never get old, and it is definitely the best addition to the series since being able to manual in THPS 2. Pressing in both sticks while in the air will start Nail the Trick, and once commenced, the left stick controls your left foot, and your right stick controls your right foot. This is the only addition that will actually take some time to get used to, but it is definitely a combo booster. NTT slows down like Focus, which is also still in the game, which personally makes me a happy gamer as I enjoy watching up close and personal as I execute some moves. With the new graphics to the series, the two modes look better than ever, increasing exposure and zooming in on the feet, but not enough to really cut down on peripheral views. Be aware though that focus is not in online play, although NTT is, mainly because NTT is shorter and can only be executed in the air, focus can go on for as long as about half a minute.