The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series has long been delivering fantastic skateboarding games thanks to its fluid gameplay, legendary skaters, and anthemic soundtracks. With the upcoming release of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 this July, fans are preparing their virtual skateboards for another nostalgic, yet modernized, experience. Following the success of 1+2, the refreshed version of THPS 3 and 4 promises to bring exciting new content and polish existing features, including some changes to the Create-a-Park mode.
Judging by Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2’s success, it is safe to assume that the next installment will be just as promising. Since the last game did a decent job of enhancing the Create-a-Park mode, with 3+4, Iron Galaxy could create the series’ best. Let’s quickly explore how this mode evolved, what improvements we as fans can expect, and how it could be the defining feature of the upcoming remake.
Create-a-Park’s Evolution
Since its introduction in the original Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, the Create-a-Park feature quickly became a beloved feature of the game and has evolved over the years. The concept is simple: You get to create custom skateparks with modular ramps, rails, gaps, and terrain tools. The earlier iterations were decent, yet restrictive. This was mainly due to limited object placement and the nonexistent feature of sharing your creations with other players online.
The mode finally got its return with the Tony Hawk 1+2 remake back in 2020, and while the modern tools and editing features are great, it still isn’t the best. Props are not as abundant, there are no custom goals, and the controls for object placement feel clunky.
There was initial excitement around the mode, and someone even recreated the Bob-omb Battlefield from Mario 64. Unfortunately, interest started to wane because of the mode’s limitations — no proper cross-platform sharing, no Y or Z axis rotation, frustrating object snapping, etc.
What Is Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Bringing To The Table?
The trailer has naturally built quite a lot of hype around the game, and most of our questions will remain unanswered until release. However, we can speculate a bit about the new Create-a-Park mode from the information we have on hand. First off, we know that we’re getting custom goals, meaning there’s a chance you get to create your own missions and objectives. Details are sparse, and it’s highly unlikely we’ll get THPS4-style goals, but we’ll see.
Next, we’re getting upgraded park creation tools. Hopefully, this means object snapping improves, we get more unique props (graffiti walls, something like Joey’s structure, enhanced rails), and more space available on the complexity meter. Again, there’s not much to go off of right now, but these are all vital changes and will likely be added to the final game. If not, well, we might only be getting some new props and easier controls.
What We Wish To See
As a major fan of the series, I sincerely hope that they knock it out of the park (pun intended) with the Create-a-Park mode. If the community bands together and makes engaging maps, it can add a lot of longevity and replay value to the game. Here are some things that could make this mode stand out:
- Cross-platform sharing: One park for all platforms. THPS 3+4 is confirmed to feature cross-platform multiplayer, and they should absolutely add cross-platform level sharing while they’re at it.
- New obstacles: Custom grind paths, dynamic moving obstacles, destructible environments, and smoother slope adjustments while we’re at it. This would allow creativity to truly shine.
- Better textures: Rather than boring walls, ramps, and rails, they should add more variety and vibrance to the props/obstacles. Graffiti walls, grindable structures, and custom gaps. Adding the ability to paint or graffiti certain elements would be even better.
- Dynamic weather: This would be a game-changer. Having the ability to change the time of day, adding fog, rain, overcast, and even thunderstorms could transform parks into moody skateboarding playgrounds.
Again, these are just things that we’d like to see added or improved with the new Create-a-park mode. They’re already on the right track with custom goals, upgraded tools, and new obstacles, so they just need to add cross-platform level sharing and dynamic weather to seal the deal. Things are looking good as is, but we’ll see how fulfilling this mode is in July.
