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Tony Hawks Underground 2: World Destruction Tour Review - Xbox

The first Tony Hawk game went through a lot of rough patches when Hawk approached many game companies with his idea for a game. Developers weren't interested in a game about skating, and said it wouldn't be a success. Now some five years later, five games have passed through our hands, and five successful titles have received awesome reviews all around the world. Tony Hawk's Underground 2 subtitled 'World Destruction Tour' takes you around the world to four different continents, including Sydney, Australia, to see if you have what it takes to lead Tony Hawk's team to victory over Bam Margera's team. Can you apply all your skills you've learnt from the previous Tony Hawk games, and add a couple more in to make that mega combo?

Gameplay

Tony Hawk's Underground 2: World Destruction Tour (from now on, THUG 2) has everything the average skater would want in a game. It follows Bam as he makes fun of his father and plays tricks on him like you see in Jackass and CKY, and of course Tony acts like the cool kid. It seems like THUG 2 is running on the same engine as its predecessor, THUG, but that's ok because it handles well with a perfect framerate in most situations. There are some new moves in THUG 2 however, and it may take a little while to pick them all up and work them in to those million point combos that we've all come to love about the series.

For those new to the series, (where have you been?) Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is a skateboarding game. The aim of it is to go around and pull off awesome combos, impressing people all around you and doing specific tasks to earn enough points to progress to the next city. THUG 2 takes you in a slightly different direction to the other games however, as in the beginning you get abducted by masked men with chainsaws who turn out to be Bam Margera and Tony Hawk (as mentioned above) and you along with about 12 other guys get to travel round the world on the World Destruction Tour.

The first new feature, and probably the best, is the matrix button which slows down everything to slow motion. Pushing the clear button activates it, and it will last as long as you can keep your special meter from running out. When it's in effect, obviously the whole world around you is slowed down and you can concentrate on pulling off your moves perfectly. It's also a great way to watch the skaters pull off their impossible moves, and watch the board flip around in slow-mo as opposed to it flipping round faster than the eye can see in real time. Another new move is when you jump up on top of a pole or a fire hydrant or a statue and press R+Y you can (continued next page)