This is an alright game. The lack of budget is noticeable (there's only about 6 different possible themes for each course, which means some racetracks look nearly identical to one another. This allows for heavy amounts of asset reuse), and I find it a bit weird that most characters you need to spend in-game currency to unlock. But it's actually pretty fun to race in - this game really emphasizes drifting and getting extra speed boosts in the process. I had a good time with the core gameplay, but this leaves a bit to be desired.

I really don't know where to start with this game. Gathering my thoughts on NeverDead is a difficult one... I think what it comes down to, when all is said and done, is that NeverDead has some interesting ideas, and it's willing to experiment with bold new things (primarily, a protagonist who cannot die - and said immortality is reflected in the gameplay itself)... but the execution does leave a lot to be desired. The combat is, perhaps serviceable - generally melee combat is going to be far more effective, so your guns feel like an afterthought. But after most types of damage that the protagonist Bryce takes, he literally falls to pieces, like Humpty Dumpty, and then as a severed head, you need to slowly roll around and gather up your limbs and torso to reattach yourself, so you can go back to peak fighting shape again.

It's weird... when you're not falling apart, it can be enjoyably silly, but when you fall apart, it suddenly becomes extremely irritating. It's like the punishment you get from taking damage in say, The Legend of the Mystical Ninja (where getting hurt causes you to lose both attack power/range, and movement speed), but amplified by a thousand. Gosh this is an infuriating game a lot of the time - I'm not surprised most people hate it.

Is it worth trying? Maybe? That'll depend on how much you can tolerate occasional bullshit being tossed your way.

Tony Hawk is one of my favorite series of all time and for some reason I had never actually finished this game prior to today.

Honestly I can see the potential here for a really good game (and compared to the newer games we have sans 1+2 it hurts even more that this game is how it is). But at the same time, it has a lot of weird issues and problems that make it hard to fully enjoy as much as I wanted to.

- Story is serviceable and does it job for a Tony Hawk game but is a big step down imo from what THUG 1, 2, and THAW brought to the table. It is a return to roots in a way, but I would've enjoyed just a bit more if it had a bit more risk involved instead of a pretty standardish get to the top story.

- The gameplay honestly isn't bad. It plays like a Tony Hawk game for the most part and does it relatively well. It never feels wrong or off to play for the most part.

- Performance is one of its biggest issues as the constant and drastic frame dips can be really exhausting to see not only in messing up possible combos and goals as you load from one section to another, but also just can hurt your head after a while as your eyes keep having to adjust to below 30fps to get back to 30 to get to almost 60.

- The goals also aren't bad but get a bit samey as we approach the end and wish there was just a bit more variety.

In reality though, compared to the later Tony Hawk games, this one to me isn't bad. a bit underappreciated but also could be a lot better.