THUG or Jackass? John Gillooly can't decide.
THUG 2 centres around a 'world destruction tour', a competition between two teams, one led by Tony Hawk and the other by Bam Margeura. While Bam has appeared in previous games this time he is accompanied by his cohorts from Jackass. This also means the game's focus is on wacky behaviour rather than simply on pure skating. Of course there is still loads of the combo making skating fun that made this series so great, but you also end up having to do things like control Steve-O, who is riding a wheeled mechanical bull. Thankfully THUG 2 does improve on some shortcomings of the original. Non-skateboard transport is much better, with vehicles actually feeling like they are part of the game rather than something crudely bolted into the physics engine.
The return of Classic mode, in which you have a series of objectives to attain in two minutes runs through a level, is a godsend and provides a welcome break from the at times ludicrous nature of the story mode. Environments are now huge, something made even more apparent by the return of the first Warehouse level from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. New levels completely dwarf this, and environments will also alter after certain goals are completed. For example in the Boston level you can set your board on fire and use it to fire two cannons at a construction site, which in turns collapses into a quite handy little skatepark.
It still has a mild reek of same shit, different smell, but after so long this is something that is to be expected. Quite simply, it is indeed a better game than THUG 2. Nonetheless it doesn't have the same magical feel that the franchise once had. Neversoft's Tony Hawk games are still the kings of the extreme sports titles, but they are not the instant classics that they used to be.
Issue: 133 | February, 2012