For aging millennials like myself , this arrive July 11 is just as important a holiday as Independence Day . That ’s when developer Iron Galaxy will releaseTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 . The remake package will bring two skating classics back into the mainstream , faithfully recreating the series ’ critically hail third installment and radically reimagining its fourth . It ’ll even follow withfull cross - platform reinforcement , including Nintendo Switch 2 , and allow users to share their make - a - parks across any platform . It ’s bound to convey up a lot of nostalgia for thirty - somethings who still know every word to CKY’s96 Quite Bitter Beings .
But the remaking package is n’t just about looking back at the yesteryear ; they ’re just as much about the skate culture ’s present and future . At a prevue issue , I went hands on withTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 . While collecting secret tape measure and skating around Alcatraz land me back to my parent ’s livelihood room , I still feel like I was playing something that belong in 2025 . Whether it was the great New music excision or one of the software ’s excellent novel park , it never felt like Iron Galaxy was simply coasting on millennial nostalgia . Instead , this very much feel like an auditory modality for a brand new Tony Hawk game , one that ’s in - tune with what skateboarding is today rather than what it was in the 2000s . It stand for the past , present , and future of skate acculturation in one package .
True to the past
Picking up right where 2020’sTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 1 + 2left off ( minus its original developer ) , the new package unifies the serial publication ’ third and 4th installments into one reproducible package . That ’s a moment complicated to decently pull off , as the original are very different game . WhileTony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 3followed its predecessors ’ lead , the quaternary was an completely dissimilar creative swinging that usher in more story and open - ended exploration . Iron Galaxy rebuilt the latter to structurally couple the former , with two - moment outpouring full of challenge to fill in . In an interview , Design Manager Mike Rossi tells me that the decision just came down to hear to make a co-ordinated assemblage that take what ’s great from4and melt it into3 .
There ’s a balancing routine here between staying faithful to these games while reinvent them , and that spectrum is exemplify at a few levels . I see the first side of it right aside when I dive into Foundry , one ofTHPS3 ’s most iconic floor . The new version is almost exactly how I remember it , toss me into a rectangular elbow room full of catwalk to mash on and molten fervency traps to avoid . The only difference ? It gets one heck of a makeover . Foundry is a perfect showpiece for the technological overhaul here , as flaming regurgitate out of pipes as I labor past them and I can see light reflections in the metallic element surfaces . It ’s much more spectacular than anything I ’ve view in the serial publication before , but it still feel altogether in the spirit of the original level with no ramp or collectible out of place .
Other levels from3similarly benefit from the radiance up . Suburbia feel like more of a real town , with a groovy density of detail and interactables like a skitchable ice pick hand truck that fill out the cul - de - pouch . Rio is the same graffiti - fill parking area where I need to contend in heats , but it ’s bathed in warmer lighter that better fits the South American setting . Canada initially sense like an all raw level , but I mostly chalk that up to whiter snow and more elaborate trees that bring a formerly sparse park to life . Every time I felt like the levels were solely redesign , I ’d look up the originals and realize that Iron Galaxy was sticking much closer to the hand that I thought . That ’s a will to its ability to make something sometime feel advanced .
Activision
It ’s also immediately apparent that Iron Galaxy did n’t endeavor to fix what was n’t break when it comes to ascendancy . I was able to start skating on pure instinct as soon as I picked up the controller , commit off manuals and kickflips from muscleman store . It sense remarkably still and perhaps even rapid than ever thanks to quicker recovery time after settle ( which I did quite a bit ) . I can assure that the movement count a portion to the development team when speaking to Mike Rossi , who credit the original games ’ front as being part of its timeless solicitation .
“ A big thing is how the reference really feel and plays , ” Rossi tell Digital Trends . “ To me , games that always are touted as timeless , they have really solid , wet controls when you ’re play . Mario 64is a great model of that . you may pick that up and it still feels awesome . I think that ’s the same with Tony Hawk . With that , copulate with the levels and how they were design , those sort of go together . Your floor basis of how your eccentric feels and how the world interacts with that were very well done , so as a consequence it becomes timeless in a sentience . ”
I got a feel for that the deeper I got into my demo , as I found more ways to fluidly chain together my combos . Iron Galaxy has created more opportunities for that with elusive tweaks . Wall planting is a majuscule fashion to stretch my score when I ’m about to dash , as is skitching on the back of a car , aTHPS4feature that ’s been add up to3 . Old levels like Suburbia give player opportunities to incorporate the latter and also feature some subtle environment tweaks to give thespian more rails to hop to from a skitch . Those changes are tastefully implemented , keeping the look and spirit ofTHPS3intact .
Activision
Keeping up with the present
Though it ’s very faithful in a fate of respects , there ’s a lot about the package that feel all new too . THPS4 may as well be a new game , imagining what would have take place if the original developers never experimented with the original trilogy ’s beloved structure . The skateparks I played ( College , San Francisco , and Alcatraz ) all felt just right in that two - arcminute arcade complex body part , even though they were design for more of a free skate experience with NPCs that hand out missions . I collected lose package , photobombed tourists , and skitched off the back of a professor ’s steal automobile all within the time limit .
For those who want an experience that ’s a footling closer to the original game , the parcel does let players correct the timer in level . It can be set for up to an hour , which should serve dial the step back to the original secret plan ’s . It is an odd change though , as we ’re not just getting a properTHPS4remake here . It feel more like a storey large number forTHPS3 . It almost make me inquire if this total remaking series would have made more sense as one bouncy service oblation that added new parks from the series ’ past , skaters , and gear over time .
While that change might ruffle up some purist ’ feather , other new addition finger incredibly innate . The soundtrack is , predictably , a highlight here , as all of thenewly included songspair utterly with the original inclination . Tracks like Wavves’King of the Beachand Fontaines D.C.’sBoys in the Better Landkeep the vibration feeling up to date with what today ’s skaters , and those who came up between the originals and their remake , are listening to . It ’s when I find my read/write head bobsled along to launch the Jewels that I really see beyond my personal nostalgia and seeTHPS 3 + 4as something that ’s try on to bridge over the gap between generations of skate civilization .
Activision
That was particularly significant to Tony Hawk himself . Rossi tell me that the Hawk Man was extremely involved in the development process , personally testing builds on a monthly foundation . He had significant stimulus that went beyond adding new songs to the playlist . Rossi tells me that Hawk ’s occupation was to ensure the whole matter did n’t feel outdated .
“ A cock-a-hoop matter for him is to verify the trick name are precise and the antic are representative , ” Rossi tell . “ It ’s important for him that it ’s properly representative of how the current cultivation is referring to things . So , if a trick name has changed , or how they ’re referring to a trick in the current vocabulary of skate finish … or we have icons in the menus representing sure tricks . He ’d be like ‘ This ikon look more like this other trick . ’ And then he ’d direct some reference epitome of what that trick reckon more like and he ’d be like ‘ I think this get captures it better . ’ He ’s understandably very passionate about it ! ”
My experience with skate civilisation is that it feel like it ’s much more inclusive and open to everybody .
Making sure that forward-looking skate culture was n’t left out was equally important to Iron Galaxy . Rossi and I speak at length about the differences between the 2000s skating scene and now . He points to how inclusive and community - drive skating is , something that naturally discover itself reflected in the remake’slarger roll of skaters(including eight novel ones ) and genre - sweep music . Rather than trying to animate someone ’s idea of the “ good former days , ” Iron Galaxy held a mirror out its windowpane and create a skating game that reflected what it go out today .
“ For me personally , skating feels like another place where people can go and have a community , ” Rossi says . “ My experience with skate finish is that it feels like it ’s much more inclusive and open to everybody . It primitively was much more punk and rougher , whereas I feel like now it still has that rugged exterior , but at the same sentence you ’ll still get a lot of support . I always feel very awkward when I ’m at a skatepark . I ca n’t do very much , so I ’m always crop on my basics . But I can still have a schmoose with someone who ’s doing way cooler stuff , and I do n’t find try or dismissed . ”
Looking to the future
The best minute of my demo were n’t spend relive classic level but rather skating in an entirely new one . THPS 3 + 4peppers in brand new skate ballpark into a Tony Hawk game for the first metre in over a decade . This was Iron Galaxy ’s luck to prove that the series is n’t entirely tied to the past – and it nails that appointment .
I spent a considerable amount of clock time explore Waterpark , a sword - new grade that drop me into a run - down amusement park . It ’s full of elephantine slides I can toil down , a goofy pirate ship attraction , and cutout of a stovepipe mascot that I need to smash up through . Missions have me cranch on pipes to intermit valve and looking for a way to get into a shuttered arcade . It ’s an excellent vacation spot with more secrets and pathways than I can detect in two short minutes .
What ’s remarkable about it is how much it find like an unquestionable Tony Hawk level rather than a cheap imitation . It ’s not just that it ’s filled with magnetic tape and “ SKATE ” letter to collect , but that it ’s so precipitously designed . I begin each function atop a row of slide that I can hop between to extend my drudgery . Iron Galaxy seemingly knew exactly how I ’d attempt to hop-skip off of that structure , too . On one run , I skip off to my leftfield , landing on another rail that deposits me perfectly down to one on the reason below . It almost feels like a good Sonic the Hedgehog level , giving me plenty of ways to carve a path around the parking area in an continuous trick string if I ’m skilled enough . It has the same accurate spirit of the onetime parks and that ’s by invention .
“ One of the directives I gave the level design team was that this want to feel like this was left on the clipping room storey , ” Rossi enjoin . “ Like we incur the hit and markup on a heavy driving force from4and revitalise it . With Waterpark and any of the new hooey we added , we want to verify it feel like something that was always there . One of our engineers came up to me one daytime and said ‘ I ’ve been playing a lot of Waterpark , it ’s really fun ! I look online to figure out how to complete a end and I could n’t discover anything . And I was like dude , you have just made my 24-hour interval ! ”
Sure , there ’s still room for remakes if Activision decides to reheatUnderground , American Wasteland , or the dreadedTHPS5 . But Waterpark leaves me eager for an only new mainline Tony Hawk game , because Iron Galaxy understands both the series and today ’s skate refinement at large . I ’d take another twelve tier like Waterpark , an even wider range of modern skater , and a soundtrack that finally arrange Pup in a Tony Hawk game . Tony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 3 + 4feels like one more temperature check to see if the populace is really quick for a young instalment . I certainly am ground on what I ’ve played here , and I go for this novel generation of skaters perplex an original biz to call their own soon .
Tony Hawk ’s Pro Skater 3 + 4launches on July 11 for PS4 , PS5 , Xbox One , Xbox Series X / S , Nintendo Switch , Nintendo Switch 2 , and microcomputer .
