I’ve always enjoyed the soundtrack in this series of games and THUG 2 pretty much maintains the status quo. There’s an eclectic blend of infectious hip-hop, punk, hard rock and other various genres of music. There aren’t as many mainstream tracks as you might be used to and it has the possibility of turning you off to the experience. That’s not to say that there aren’t any recognizable names; groups like The Doors, Metallica make contributions as do Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash. There’s an excellent mix of music here and there’s a good chance that you’ll find a small handful of tracks to your liking. As for the actual sounds in the game, you’ve heard them all before. Nearly everything was recycled from THUG 1 which was essentially rehashed from THPS 4. The effects were fine to begin with so you can’t really blame the sound designers for cutting corners. They did an excellent job from the start and thus they were rightfully rewarded.
The same advantages and disadvantages from last year’s franchises remain. If you get the Xbox version you’ll have better visuals and custom soundtracks, but you’ll have to suffer from poorer controls and the lack of online play. The PS2 version has online play and the best controls but it lacks custom soundtracks and features the worst visuals of the bunch. It lacks the soundtrack feature of the Xbox version but the online aspect more than makes up for that deficiency. In addition to the online mode you’ll once again be able to map your face onto your skater. Instead of relying solely on the network adaptor, Neversoft did the smart thing and incorporated support for Eye Toy owners. So instead of taking a picture with a digital camera, uploading to the Neversoft server, checking your email for a passcode and then downloading it with the PS2 network adaptor, you can bypass this by hooking up the Eye Toy and taking the picture directly onto your PS2. It’s nice to see that developers are finally realizing the potential of the Eye Toy. Additionally, you can plug in any USB keyboard so that you can spend less time inputting your name and more time shredding up the levels. As for all you GameCube owners… well the GameCube version frankly has very little going for it. It lacks the online, lacks the custom soundtracks and features the poorest controls of the bunch. Who the hell made the GameCube controller anyway? Fisher Price? It’s not a bad game, but when compared with the superior versions there’s very little reason to own the game on this platform. If you’re fortunate enough to own multiple platforms make sure to place the PS2 version on the top and the GameCube version at a distant third.
Multiplayer has always been a huge part of the franchise from the start and in recent years, Neversoft took it to new heights with the online aspect. Like before the online is limited to only PS2 owners with network adaptors and like before, it’s fun and addictive. New modes have been thrown into the fray but don’t challenge the competitiveness brought forth by the high score and graffiti modes. I’d like to say that I wished Neversoft could have improved upon the online aspect but it was excellent to begin with. Voice over IP compatibility would have been nice but it’s not a necessity. Seriously, I get enough of geeks breathing into the mic over Xbox Live; I don’t need it polluting my PS2 experience.
If you’ve grown tired of the Tony Hawk franchise this won’t be the game to reel you back in. It’s designed for people who still are addicted to the franchise and are searching for more ways to unleash their destructive nature. I’m not sure how they do it, but the guys at Neversoft keep pummeling us over the head with a new Tony Hawk game each year. And year after year we fall in love with the franchise all over again. THUG 2 won’t revolutionize the genre like the earlier entries did, but it’s still a worthy successor to the Tony Hawk throne. If you’ve ever been a fan of the franchise you owe it to yourself to at least rent it. What starts out as a weekend rental just might turn into your next yearlong obsession.
B+
A worthy followup to THUG 1 that doesn't do too much to mess up the formula. The new classic mode is an excellent feature that really shows its worth when the Career mode begins to lose its gusto. If you're a fan of the franchise you'll defintely want to own this entry.
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