2003 video game
Tony Hawk's Underground is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the "Tony Hawk's" series, following "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4". It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance. In 2004, it was published for Windows in Australia and New Zealand as a budget release.
"Underground" is built upon the skateboarding formula of previous "Tony Hawk's" games: the player explores levels and completes goals while performing tricks. It features a new focus on customization; the player, instead of selecting a professional skater, creates a custom character. "Underground" adds the ability for players to dismount their boards and explore on foot. The plot follows the player character and their friend Eric Sparrow as the two become professionals and grow apart.
"Underground" was developed with a theme of individuality which was manifested in the extensive character customization options, the presence of a narrative, and the product's characterization as an adventure game. Real world professional skateboarders contributed their experiences to the plot. "Underground" was a major critical and commercial success, with reviewers praising its wide appeal, soundtrack, customization, multiplayer, and storyline. The graphics and the controls for driving vehicles and walking were less well received. "Underground"'s PlayStation 2 version had sold 2.11 million copies in the United States by December 2007. A sequel, "Tony Hawk's Underground 2", followed in 2004.
Gameplay.
Like its predecessors in the "Tony Hawk's" series, "Underground" is centered on skateboarding in a series of levels. The player performs tricks via combinations of analog stick and button inputs. For example, the player initiates an ollie (a jump trick) by holding and releasing the jump button. During an ollie, the player may change the position of the analog stick and press one of two buttons to perform either a flip trick (such as an impossible or kickflip) or a grab trick (such as a benihana or nosegrab). The player can grind on certain edges and rails; different tricks may be performed during a grind based on the position of the analog stick. On quarter pipes, the player may execute lip tricks. While skating on flat surfaces, the player may manual in multiple ways via button combinations. Miscellaneous tricks include acid drops and wall-rides.
While a grind, lip, or manual trick is underway, a balance meter appears: unless the player prevents this meter from falling to the left or right, the character will bail and need a few seconds to recover. Bailing can also be caused by falling without one's board facing downward. Completing tricks in succession without bailing is called a combo. Comboing raises the player's score and fills up the Special Meter; when it is full, the player is granted access to more elaborate tricks worth more points, such as the McTwist and 540 Flip. "Underground" introduces the ability to dismount one's skateboard, which allows the player to explore levels more carefully and reach new areas. Each level features at least one vehicle, usually a car, that the player can drive.
The levels are based on regions of the United States and other countries. In each level, certain tasks that advance the narrative must be completed before the player can move on. These tasks include score attacks, races, item collection, and reaching one of many gaps found in a level. Each level houses one professional skateboarder, who provides a sidequest that unlocks a trick for the Special Meter. On account of the levels' large sizes and the integration of goals into the story, "Underground" has been described as an adventure game. Characters can level up their stats—which include jump height and speed—by completing optional goals in a level; this adds an element of role-playing gameplay. Other gameplay modes include multiplayer minigames—one, a combat mode called "Firefight", can be played online in the PlayStation 2 version—and a "free skate" mode that lets the player explore levels with no goals or story.
"Underground" features extensive customization. The player creates a custom character for the story mode, and may not play as a pre-made professional skater outside a few contexts: a special scene late in the game, minigames, and the free skate mode. A level editor allows the player to create skate parks with a large array of objects, ranging from traditional skate park elements like halfpipes, ramps, funboxes, and grind rails to more outlandish pieces like buildings and sections of elevated freeways. The player can change their park's time of day and environmental theme. Tricks, skateboards, and level goals may be customized as well.
"Underground" features many real world professional skateboarders including: Tony Hawk, Bob Burnquist, Paul Rodriguez, Chad Muska, Mike Vallely, Andrew Reynolds, and Stacy Peralta. "Underground" also features cameo appearances by Iron Man, a parody of C.H.U.D. called T.H.U.D., and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons.
While the console versions are fully three-dimensional, the Game Boy Advance version is rendered in an isometric style that incorporates both 2D sprites and 3D models. This version is a more traditional "Tony Hawk's" game, with little attention given to the story or customization. The mobile version is similarly restricted.
Plot.
The protagonist and their friend, Eric Sparrow, live in suburban New Jersey and dream of becoming famous skateboarders. The protagonist manages to impress professional skater Chad Muska, visiting town for a demo, who gives them a new skateboard and informs them that a good way to start a skating career is to gain a sponsorship from a local skate shop. The protagonist seeks out Stacy Peralta, who agrees to sponsor them on the condition that the player does something to set themselves apart from the other local skaters, so the protagonist travels to Manhattan, New York with Eric, who is on the run from drug dealers after setting their car on fire as revenge for stealing from the skate shop.
There, the pair shoot a skating video that impresses Stacy, who loans them a van and suggests they enter the Tampa AM, an amateur division skate contest held annually at the Skatepark of Tampa, in Tampa, Florida. Upon arrival, Eric is arrested for insulting a police officer, and the protagonist does favors for the local police department to secure his bail. However, when they arrive for the contest, it is revealed that Eric had only completed his own application form and not the protagonist's, forcing a dejected protagonist to try and impress competitors in the pro contest in order to gain admission. After impressing Tony Hawk, the protagonist wins the Best Trick event at Tampa AM and is offered deals by major skateboard sponsors, much to Eric's dismay. The protagonist then heads to San Diego, California to meet Todd, the manager of the team, and completes several photo shoots for a magazine. Following a wild celebration party, it is revealed that Eric has been picked up by the same sponsor.
The team then flies out to Hawaii to film a video, with the protagonist aiming for local spots that skaters have not filmed at before. Finding a tall hotel, the protagonist climbs to the roof and recruits Eric to film a trick video atop it. The police arrive to arrest them for trespassing, but the protagonist uses the opportunity to perform a McTwist over the helicopter and onto the awning of the adjacent Royal Hawaiian Hotel, allowing them and an awestruck Eric to evade the police. The team then travels to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After doing errands for locals and finishing their part of the team video, the protagonist attends the video premiere at the Slam City Jam. Eric steals the idea and edits the protagonist's part out of the video, allowing only Eric to become a professional. After angrily confronting Eric, the protagonist enters Eric's pro contest and wins, becoming a pro as well.
After designing their own pro skateboard, the protagonist and Eric embark on a team trip to Moscow, Russia, where they reconcile. Eric gets drunk and joyrides in a Russian military tank. The protagonist hops in and attempts to stop the tank but, being unfamiliar with the controls, fails to stop it from crashing into a government building. Eric jumps out and runs away, leaving the protagonist, trapped inside, to be arrested by the Russian military. Eric then lies and claims the protagonist stole the tank, stating that he in fact tried to stop them. Unwilling to pay the $700,000 worth of damages, Todd kicks the protagonist off the team, much to Eric's delight. The American Embassy bails out the protagonist, leaving them to do favors for locals in order to return home to New Jersey.
Eric, who now owns his own skate company, reveals that he had been planning to betray the protagonist after having long abandoned the idea of "soul skating" (skating for enjoyment rather than riches); after unsuccessfully trying to exempt them from the Tampa AM, Eric stole the helicopter footage in jealousy before finally getting the protagonist kicked off the skate team by lying back in Moscow. Determined to fight back, the protagonist teams up with Peralta and several professionals to create a soul skating video, creating a new trick in the process. Due to the success of the video, Eric challenges the protagonist to one last skate-off, with the unedited helicopter tape at stake. The protagonist wins the skate-off and walks away with the tape while Eric screams at them.
Alternate ending.
If the story has been completed more than once on two different difficulties, an alternate ending occurs, where the protagonist knocks Eric unconscious, taking the tape back instead of holding the skate-off.
Development.
Concept.
The GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox versions of "Underground" were developed by Neversoft, while the Game Boy Advance version was developed by Vicarious Visions the mobile version by Jamdat, and the Windows version was created by Beenox. Activision, which had acquired Neversoft in 1999, published all the versions. "Underground" was conceived as the fifth entry in the "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" series under the title "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5" (no relation to the 2015 game "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5"), but it was reworked.
"Underground" was created with a theme of individuality: it stars an amateur skater in a true story mode, whereas each previous "Tony Hawk's" game had starred professional skaters and had lacked a plot. One reason for only allowing the player to use a custom character was that certain criminal acts completed in the plot would not reflect well on real-world skaters. Previous games in the series had included character-creation features as well, but Neversoft expanded customization in "Underground" by implementing face-scanning for the PlayStation 2 version: if the player emailed a photograph of their face to [Email] the company could digitize it for use in the game. Regarding the customization options, especially the park editor, producer Stacey Drellishak said that Neversoft was "trying to create the most customizable game ever". The developers used storytelling and exploration to distance their product from the plotless, task-based format of previous "Tony Hawk's" games, which led Neversoft president Joel Jewett to describe "Underground" as an adventure game.
Design.
Levels in the console versions of "Underground" were significantly larger than those of earlier "Tony Hawk's" games. Neversoft expanded each level until it ceased to run correctly, then shrunk it slightly. Most of the levels were modelled closely after real-world locations; the designers traveled to locales representative of each city and took photographs and videos as reference. The New Jersey level was a replication of a neighborhood where team artist Henry Ji had grown up as a young skater. Neversoft wanted the player to become familiar with the basic game mechanics quickly and to notice "Underground"'s differences from previous "Tony Hawk's" games immediately. To accomplish this, they introduced the ability to travel on foot, and the ability to climb along ledges in the first few missions. While Neversoft wanted to keep "Underground" realistic and relatable for the most part, they added driving side-missions as an enjoyable diversion and to push the boundaries of freedom in skateboarding games, but these missions were not intended to take away from the main experience of skateboarding.
"Pro Skater 4", "Underground"'s predecessor in the "Tony Hawk's" series, had received criticism for its difficulty: Neversoft had not realized that each game in the series was drawing new fans who were unaccustomed to the demanding tasks. As a result, Neversoft added four difficulty settings to "Underground"'s story mode, ranging from "Too Easy" to