Tony Hawk's Proving Ground (Nintendo DS) Review

Basically, what you are getting with this latest addition to the Tony Hawk's franchise is one that ditches the cartoon-style appearance of its previous two DS games and tries hard to be far more realistic like its console brethren. Sadly, however, the graphics look rather awful as a result, since the same filters applied to the N64 games are not applied here, so it looks considerably shakier and blockier than the very early 64 efforts...But fans will be pleased to know that the frame-rate is pleasingly high because of this, plus the usual grinding, special manoeuvres, combination moves and skating thrills are all back once more, working far better than the decidedly dodgy Wii version and its terrible motion controls. Along with this is an extremely robust online element that puts most other DS games to shame. Sadly, though, despite this still being a strong entry into the franchise, the fact that it is almost identical to the past two entries lets it down considerably, especially given the fact that this is the third portable game in three years!

You have new skating arenas and challenges on offer, plus more customising options than you can shake a stick at and a much higher difficulty level than seen before in a handheld version to ensure owners get the best value for money. The general goal is to clear missions on all three available ranks