Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 sees the two of the series most successful and highly reviewed entries paired together, and completely remade. These two games alone were cultural touchstones, providing soundtracks to countless childhoods, and a masterclass in arcade sports design. Iron Galaxy is at the helm this time around, taking over for the disbanded Vicarious Visions to carry the torch. It’s undoubtedly the best way to play both of these games on modern systems, albeit some changes that not everyone will love. But these games feature the best maps of the series you’ll never tire of playing on. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 to provide some competitive comfort food in a near-perfect compilation.
Right from the get-go, as you dive into either Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 or Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 tours, you’ll be utilizing muscle memory to be score chasing and checking items off the list of goals to complete. For those new to the series, there is a lengthy tutorial that will absolutely get you up to speed to see what the fuss is all about. There’s a lot to these games, and you won’t see everything there is to offer. You’ll see the roster of skaters, and it’s a healthy mix of old and new. The original skaters have new scans, making them age-accurate alongside the newcomers. If you are a passing or hardcore skateboarding fan, there’s someone here for you, unless that person is Mike Vallely, who is not present. There are bonus skaters like the Doom Slayer, and then skating to the DOOM (2016) soundtrack is incredible, and totally fitting. There are secret skaters you can reveal in the shop and buy, so to then skate to CKY’s “96 Bitter Beings” as Bam Margera is unreal.
As you go through levels, and complete their objectives. You’ll do things like spell S-K-A-T-E, find hidden tapes, and collect stat points. These stat points are available for all skaters once collected, so you don’t have to do that process over again. However, the progression of goals are unique to each skater. Like the original games, each skater has a goal and there are skater and bail videos to unlock and watch. The game rewards you for completing things, and it’s hard to not be disappointed with everything on offer here.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3
In 2001, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 introduced the revert, a seemingly small addition that fundamentally changed the combo game. Prior to the revert, landing a vert trick often meant breaking your combo unless you immediately landed into a manual. With the revert, players could seamlessly transition from a high-flying aerial maneuver back onto the ground, instantly linking into a manual, grind, or even another vert trick. This innovation wasn’t just a minor tweak; it opened up an entirely new dimension of flow, creativity, and score potential. Suddenly, lines that were previously impossible became not just feasible, but encouraged, allowing players to chain together incredibly long and complex sequences across entire levels. The controls are as tight and responsive as ever, allowing for the precise execution of grinds, manuals, and air tricks that define the series. Landing a perfect 900 or chaining a lengthy grind-manual-revert-grind combo across multiple obstacles still feels incredibly satisfying, a visceral reward for skill and timing, a testament to the timelessness of its design.
This is a faithful adaptation of that game, where nearly all the levels are great. I personally enjoy Foundry, Canada, Suburbia, Airport, and Los Angeles. Even the competition levels are fun. You’ll unlock the Cruise Ship level which is not only gorgeous but complex with really great lines and secrets abound. It’s just a really fun series of levels that are fun to tackle on their own. They offer intricate lines and hidden secrets that reward exploration and mastery, ensuring that even after dozens of runs, you’re still discovering new ways to link tricks. The timed two-minute runs, while a classic staple, still provide that frantic, score-chasing adrenaline rush, pushing you to optimize every second for maximum points.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4
Then comes Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, a game that dared to break free from the rigid two-minute timer and introduce a more open-ended, mission-based structure. However, fundamental changes to how the 2002 game worked means that the two-minute timer is back. This is going to be divisive among the fan base, as Iron Galaxy had to take some creative liberties to rework a lot of the goals and the way levels flowed from the original release. I largely don’t mind the changes, but I think a glaring omission is that Chicago is not present, and considering Iron Galaxy is based there, is surprising. New levels like Movie Studio is okay, but not really memorable. I do enjoy Waterpark, like a lot, it’s just really fun to traverse. Pinball, a secret level is kind of a nightmare to work with, and doesn’t really have any good lines. Alcatraz is not a map built for the two minute timer, and suffers from this. Though there is a setting where you can increase the timer to allow for it to attain the same feel as THPS4.
When this game released, it introduced spine transfers, allowing you to seamlessly transition between opposing ramps, and the ability to grind through gaps that previously broke combos, added further layers to the already deep trick system, encouraging even more creative traversal. What’s truly impressive in this compilation is how well these two distinct design philosophies coexist. You can spend hours in THPS4’s more relaxed, exploratory environments, tackling objectives at your own pace, soaking in the atmosphere, then jump back into THPS3 for some intense, high-score runs where every second counts. The transition feels natural, showcasing the series’ adaptability without sacrificing its core identity, offering a varied gameplay experience within a single package. This is a series that has always been about lines and combos, but the levels in THPS4 pretty much demand it.
When it comes to replayability, THPS 3 + 4 is a behemoth, a veritable black hole for free time. With two full games worth of levels, a diverse roster of professional skaters, and literally hundreds of goals to complete, you’ll be hard-pressed to run out of things to do. After completing all 10 goals in every park and earning a gold medal in every competition, you’ll unlock Pro and Expert Goals giving new challenges to unlock. You’ll also have levels spawn the C-O-M-B-O, where it is similar to S-K-A-T-E, but the letters must be collected in a single, unbroken combo. There are hidden decks that can be unlocked for use with your created skater, or ones specific to each skater on the roster. Lastly there are Iron Galaxy tokens, collecting them unlocks new items in the secret shop to buy like skaters, clothing, filters, or visual effects for the game or skater.
The “Create-a-Skater” mode allows for extensive customization, letting you craft your ideal shredder with a wide array of clothing, boards, and even facial features, ensuring a personalized experience. Meanwhile, the “Create-a-Park” feature provides endless opportunities for creative expression, allowing players to design their dream skate parks from the ground up and share them with the community, fostering a vibrant ecosystem of user-generated content. The pursuit of “Sick” scores on every goal, unlocking all hidden characters, and the elusive 100% completion for each skater will keep perfectionists engaged for dozens, if not hundreds, of hours.
Multiplayer is not something I seek out in these games, but Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 has two new modes: HAWK, a collection mode, and Public Free Skate. All your favorites from the previous game also return like Score Challenge, Combo Challenge, Combo Mambo, and Graffiti. Oddly, Tag and H-O-R-S-E are relegated to local co-op only.
But let’s talk about the soundtrack for a second. For many, the true star of any Tony Hawk game is and has been its soundtrack. Again, this is something that might be divisive. A lot of songs have been removed like Alien Ant Farm’s “Wish”, and many new songs have been added like Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick, Push”, a favorite among the developers. There’s certainly more new songs than old, which might not please everyone. However, that’s what Spotify, Apple Music, or YouTube Music can fix if you don’t care for how it is here. The way the music works is awesome, as it has a normal volume, but once you acquire your special meter, then it really cranks up to help get you in the mood.
From a visual language perspective, the game’s UI and overall visual treatment is similar to that of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2, which allows for bouncing between the games rather smooth. Visually, THPS 3 + 4 is a treat, striking a near-perfect balance between modernization and nostalgic preservation. On PC, I was easily getting 100-120fps at all times, and it never chugged or slowed down. It’s game that runs at a blistering pace that it could only dream of in the early 2000s.
My PC Specs:
– Linux (6.15.6-2-cachyos)
– Intel Core i9 13900K @ 5.8GHz
– ASUS ROG RYUJIN II 360 ARGB AIO Liquid CPU Cooler
– G.SKILL TRIDENT Z5 6000MHZ 64GB (32×2) DDR5 RAM
– ASUS ROG Strix GeForce RTX 4080 16GB GDDR6X
– WD_BLACK SN850X M.2 (4 TB)
– LG UltraGear 34GP950B-G (21:9 Ultrawide @ 3440×1440)
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 builds on the foundation that Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 set, but the changes to THPS4 detract what is otherwise a fantastic couple of games. There were certainly some tough decision that had to be made, making it less faithful to the original games it is named after. This is arguably better than its predecessor, because of the new moves for chaining combos, great levels, and sheer amount of content. Iron Galaxy had their work cut out for them, but really made something great here. Ultimately, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 is a triumphant remake worth playing, as it’s still a fantastic collection and duology of games that capture the essence of what made these games so special in the first place.
A Steam code was provided by Activision for review purposes
