THPS on rollerblades. It plays pretty similarly to the original run of Tony Hawk games (specifically 3 and 4), open levels with no timer, only a "juice" bar that'll fail you if you run out. The goals are along the same lines, score challenges, trick challenges, photos, etc. The level designs are both the best and worst part of this game. Each level contains closed off areas that you need a key to unlock, but the little (or big) side areas are usually pretty fun and serve as both a good incentive to find the key, and to make the levels themselves more expansive. That said, the level design peaks at the second level and gets a bit iffy from there, though each level does have interactable stuff to change the level or unlock additional areas which is always fun. The goals can get pretty challenging, but you don't need many to unlock a new level so it's not too bad. The gameplay is solid, skating around feels good, combos are relatively easy to string together, all of your air tricks are only on one button but there's the standard 8 direction variations in addition to grinds and manuals. I did have some issues with getting cess slides to work consistently, but that could be owed to my old Xbox controller. Soundtrack is also solid, standard mix of punk and hip-hop and a few ska tracks. Overall pretty fun game, I enjoyed my time with it.

Kingdom Hearts meets Tony Hawk

The good: You can do a mission for McDonald's.
There's a child Rastafarian hippie.
Good time capsule with the Nokia brick cellphones.
The soundtrack, while limited, actually has some bops on it.

A stripped down version of THPS 4 that takes place in a few Disney worlds, specifically Toy Story, Lion King, and Tarzan, with a hub world based on College. The level design's pretty whatever, not particularly fun but not excruciatingly bad. Tricks are incredibly limited, the goals are sort of in line with THPS 4 goals, but easier, and there's some that are locked behind playing specific characters which kind of sucks. Pretty forgettable experience, it exists if you're really itching for fresh THPS adjacent content.

Edit 2: Tony Boogaloo: I'm a masochist so I decided to triple back and finish this. Nothing changed, it's still irredeemable trash, I spit on Robomodo's grave.

Edit: Tried to go back in and finish it but I simply couldn't, it's that bad. Fun fact: You have to press a button 9 times to get to the main menu on launch.

Wanted to knock this out in my quest to play through the whole series but I couldn't justify it. There is nothing redeeming about this game. Nothing, not even the soundtrack. I made it to the fourth level and called it quits. Robomodo deserved to die for this, utter travesty of a game.

The remaster we wanted and regretted. THPS HD is just kind of an amalgamation of bad choices, it doesn't utilize any of the advancements made in the THPS games available up to this point, the controls are sluggish and stiff, the physics are floaty and inconsistent, overall just pretty unfun and unsatisfying to play. The soundtrack's pretty subpar compared to basically any of the other games, not necessarily because the songs are bad but because there's so few. Pretty forgettable entry and a poor debut by Robomodo into the mainline part of the series.

Really mixed feelings on this one. The levels are nice and the skating itself feels good, the soundtrack's good as well, but there's not much else good to say about it. The goals are different shades of annoying for the most part. The rigger stuff in general is pretty grating, the stat challenges are stupidly obnoxious to try get sick on and some of them aren't even explained or particularly intuitive (like wallplant and stall ones), there's goals where you have to play cameraman by both taking pictures and setting cameras up in the first place, just a lot of suffering. Lot of weird mechanical changes too, nail the trick still exists which is tragic in and of itself, but it's also expanded on with nail the grab (which is easy) and nail the manual (which is bafflingly awful), aggressive kicking is added into the game and basically a requirement to get speed though it's fortunately not too bad once you get used to it. Instead of bert slides, it now has carving and slashing which, while less unwieldy than bert slides, are still pretty boring to play with. Shoulder checking people is a thing and has its own entire mission line for some reason, it's not bad or anything but it's just more of a "why?" thing. The balance meters are changed again, now being a fullscreen type of thing which, again, not too bad once you get used to it, though the manual meter in particular seems really inconsistent and seemingly randomly tanks to one side or the other. The story's okay I guess, it's cool seeing pros have a more active role in the story but I think THUG had a better "rise to fame" take, and without a lot of the jank. Eric Sparrow's back in the game because they were out of ideas for villains I guess? Overall, even the fun skating doesn't really save the game from being bloated with unnecessary and overdone mechanics alongside a lot of long-winded and generally unpleasant goals.

Disclaimer: I've never watched RoboCop

Rogue City is an incredibly good effort. The story is cohesive and plays out in a great way, it's got action in spades, drama, comedy, and it was interesting enough to keep me invested the entire way through. The characters are all pretty solid, from minor side characters to ones more prevalent throughout the story. Even ones I kind of hated at first rubbed off on me by the end. Gameplay is where Rogue City shines. The gunplay feels great, guns pack a punch and every landed shot comes with a nice meaty thud behind it, plus there's a pretty solid amount of weapon variety. There's also a shocking amount of reactivity, I really wasn't anticipating much when I went into this but this game does an excellent job of putting some power into the choices you make. The atmosphere and level design is another highlight, the city portions in particular are done incredibly well and do a great job of making you feel like you're there. Visually, the game is solid, it can look downright beautiful at times, though it does have some weaker moments where the design of the levels is more at fault than anything. Really, the only gripe I have with it comes down to the sluggish movement speed. Sure, it makes sense as you're just a pile of lumbering metal, but it can make travelling from point A to point B one hell of a slog when there's nothing going in-between. Other than that, I was presently surprised by Robocop, and even enjoyed it to the extent that I'm excited to see what Teyon puts out next.

Overall a pretty atrocious entry into the series. The levels are alright and I sort of like the vibe of game, but that's about all of the positive feelings I have. The goals in general just kind of suck and aren't really fun, some of them just don't make sense (like wallriding posters to earn money for an annoying mascot's dance lessons) and others are just really long and specific which makes them kind of a pain in the ass. The characters exist I guess, none of them are really remarkable or leave an impression (or a good impression, at least). Character creation is more limited than ever. The cutscenes look bizarre, maybe it's just the Xbox version but they look like someone filmed the video playing on a monitor. The story, like the characters, just kind of exists, it's not really engaging or interesting in any way, it rivals THUG 2 in quality. The game really likes wasting your time as well, starting or quitting goals takes forever, even if you quit a goal you have to wait for a failure screen to pop up before you actually quit. The "nail the trick" goals are extremely drawn out due to the nature of them, sometimes resetting during one can leave you staring at the screen for 5s straight, bails are also unnecessarily long though that's saved by a fast forward button. Weird design choices as well, there's basically nonstop pop-ups throughout the story, you can hold X to manual for some reason, and someone decided it would be a good idea to have both the manual and rail balance meters stay on the screen simultaneously mid-combo, it's easy enough to adapt to but it was pretty confusing at first. It seems like they were shooting for a return to form of the pre-THUG Tony Hawk games, but they missed the mark pretty wildly.

American Wasteland seems to have learned from some of the mistakes made by its predecessor (not all of them, but some). It's still a bit whacky at times, but it doesn't lean into it as much as Underground 2 did. The story goes back to being a little more on the grounded side of things similar to Underground. The characters are generally likeable which I was pleasantly surprised by, though there are some characters that didn't age so hot. The environments are great too, I've never lived in California but I feel like AW did a pretty solid job at making you feel like you're in Cali, helped by the side characters and their attitudes, and some of the subcultures represented. The soundtrack, while not quite as good as previous ones, is still no slouch with some pretty solid songs sprinkled throughout. Graffiti's still present though you're only forced to engage with it to a limited extent. There's a BMX and challenges to go along with it, but if it's not your taste then you can ignore it entirely sans for a single goal. The oddest choice by far is the parkour system, it's utilized in a few goals then pretty much forgotten about, it's not really good or enjoyable, it just sort of exists. The progression of ability unlocks is kind of weird, you don't have a full arsenal of skills until the third level when you finish by unlocking flatland tricks. AW also introduced the sort of "in-between" levels which let you skate between areas while hiding standard loading screens, it's a bit of a novelty but I always though it was cool. The Skate Ranch concept is pretty neat, progressively growing a sort of hub park by completing goals and working through the game is a fun idea, even if the result is a bit dubious with some parts of the Ranch being a lot more skateable than others. While I started with Underground way back in my childhood, not playing American Wasteland until after THUG1, 2, and THPS 4, I wasn't super fond of it back then, but this time I found myself enjoying it to the extent that I'd consider it my favorite TH game.

Conspiracy: The Game

Area 51's an interesting one, the story isn't anything spectacular but it is pretty entertaining. With the obvious namesake conspiracy aside, it follows up with some other fun conspiracies in a pretty amusing way. The game definitely starts stronger than it finishes, with things in the beginning being almost horror-esque as you fight these strange alien creatures before it devolves into more plain gunfights vs. enemies with guns. Said gunfights just kind of suck, the shooting enemies can just erase you pretty quickly and fights with large amounts of them can get painful, fast. There's a few boss fights that are, oddly enough, easier than regular combat, and for the most part, unremarkable. The level design is generally pretty good, and it gets especially neat towards the final few levels. I'd be remiss not to touch on the voice acting. David Duchovny voices the main character and does a pretty solid job, he sells the part well. Of course, one of the "highlights" is Marilyn Manson voicing the main alien in the game, he uh, he certainly tries, I can say that much. Overall, I got a few kicks out of playing through it with some of the conspiracy nods, which made up for the relatively average gameplay and some of the more minor gripes I had with the game. Not terrible, not great, but I don't regret playing it.

Portal's a hard game for me to give an unbiased opinion on, it's a game I've been replaying on a whim for well over a decade now, I'm quite fond of it. It's not the most challenging puzzle game in the world, just hard enough that you have to rub a few brain cells together at times but the solution's never too hard to grasp. It strikes a perfect blend of ominously dark and humorously witty, with GLaDOS being an iconic character both in voice and personality. To reiterate the "over a decade" part, Portal also holds a special, nostalgic place in my heart so it's hard for me to feel anything but positive about it.

Half-Life still holds up quite well for its age. The gameplay and gunplay are solid, the action is fast-paced and downright chaotic at times which is fun. The story's good, the atmosphere's great, the music's great. I had some gripes with it, enemies being spawned directly in front of you is pretty annoying, grunts are a special kind of obnoxious, occasional spontaneous death stuff. The end levels were a bit dubious, I'm not a fan of the fast-paced combat on paper-thin platforms, but other than that still pretty fun the entire way through.

At its core, Homefront is a pretty bang average military shooter. It does have a couple of neat scenes and sections going for it that can help break up some of the monotony of the mediocre shooting, and the concept is at least somewhat interesting relative to other military shooters. That said, a lot of small faults make it really annoying to play. Friendlies constantly body-block you which can make for aggravating deaths, often times you're railroaded into following behind your friendlies which means standing still for a minute while they catch up with you and open a door or climb a ladder, there's a couple of occasions where you'll suddenly get hit with an RPG out of the blue and have no real time to react, enemies will frequently have higher ground while you're put in an awful position, small things but they all compound to make for a bit of a chore gameplay wise. The characters are also all pretty annoying, there isn't a single one I was particularly fond of and they also repeat voice lines A LOT if you don't immediately do an objective. Not something I see myself playing again, but the gunplay is at least tolerable and the latter half of the game is a bit more fun than the former. If you're keen on military shooters, it might be up your alley, but if you're looking for an especially good tactical FPS game, I would look elsewhere.

Borderlands 1 is still pretty solid to this day, it's a competent shooter and loot is fun enough to keep you grinding it out without too much issue. The story itself is fine though it's incredibly scarce, outside of a few cutscenes and small bits of dialogue, you don't really get much of it. The characters are also fairly lacking with none of them really having characterization outside of Tannis, who really only gets it due to her ECHO Log side quests. The biggest issue I faced solo was that, early on, it's fairly easy to get underleveled and find yourself getting one-shotted by enemies with only a single level difference which can be grating, though by the time you reach the central hub, that becomes a lot less of an issue. The gritty atmosphere is very well done, and while lacking as mentioned, the story is fairly grounded (especially compared to what's to come) which makes it serve well enough as a backdrop for the more engaging gameplay side of things. Overall, this isn't really a game you'd play for any story or character interest, but purely for the looter-shooter fun of it.

This is where I would talk about the DLCs as well. I started the Zombie Island DLC, but between one of the new enemies (defiler) popping up frequently and having an attack that slows you to a crawl for several seconds (literally), and then a section where you do nothing but fight enemies for 3 minutes straight (literally), and a crash causing me to have to redo said 3 minute fight, I lost all interest and moved on to BL2. Maybe I'll revisit and update, maybe not.

THUG 2 is a bit of a polarizing one. Gameplay wise, I feel like this was the peak of TH games, everything feels smoother than ever and very easy to play as far as skating is concerned. The biggest issue that it got a little too whacky for its own good. Jackass was pretty popular at the time which led to Bam Margera playing a bigger role than he had in any past games, with the game basically becoming 3/4 skateboarding and 1/4 Jackass. While THUG wasn't a masterpiece in storytelling, it was competent. THUG 2 isn't. The story's unfunny, a lot of the humor was unfunny then and still is now. Most levels have a special character that uses an awkward form of transport over a skateboard (like a mechanical bull, a tricycle, a go-kart, etc.), none of them are especially fun to use. There's a bizarre emphasis on graffiti as well with each level having two graffiti related goals each. The levels are all pretty solid, interesting enough to skate around in and a good enough size that it feels like there's room for exploration without any wasted space. Overall, it's great as far as gameplay is concerned by the writing leaves a lot to be desired.