Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (2001)

A true relic of the early 2000s. The music, featured skaters, intro, art style, and humor make this game a perfect time capsule of an era when skate culture was at its peak, influencing movies, music, fashion, and video games alike.

This was a game I tried to get into many times but never fully clicked with. That finally changed when I decided to slow down, be patient, and really learn its mechanics — and it was absolutely worth it.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is challenging but incredibly rewarding. Learning the mechanics takes time, much like real-life skating, where failure is part of the process. As you improve, you naturally develop your own style and find your own lines through each level.

The level design constantly pushes you to adapt. Tricks and routes that work perfectly in one stage may fail in the next, forcing you to rethink your approach. This gameplay loop is what makes the game so addictive and satisfying.

A true classic. It’s not for everyone, but if you enjoy games where mastering the mechanics is the core of the experience, this is hard to beat. The feeling of landing a massive high-score combo after everything finally clicks is unmatched.

I really enjoyed the 2020 remake of the first two THPS games, but a combination of middling reviews and a lingering dislike of THSP4 put me in "wait for a sale" mode. In the meantime, I thought I'd revisit the third game in its original form.

THPS3 has long been my favorite of the series, and that holds true today. It's the only original entry that feels like a next-gen take on the original, fast-paced, arcade-style formula, before the series pivoted to a more leisurely (and IMO, heavily padded) open world structure. The levels and challenges here really dial up the more outlandish and cartoony aspects, which I personally appreciate. The addition of the revert feels like a natural complement to the second game's manual, opening up combo opportunities between vert and street tricks. And the controls feel more forgiving and natural compared to the 32-bit entries, especially when you thoughtfully allocate stat points.

Also: It's so refreshing to revisit this era of unlockables. Beat the game, unlock a skater. Beat the game again, unlock another one. Rinse and repeat for 22 different rewards in total, from licensed characters to classic levels to optional "cheats." So much fun!

Alas, I must admit that some of those secret skaters, as well as a few in-game jokes and scenarios, haven't aged super well. They're all very much a reflection of popular culture at the time: Nothing any regular viewer of MTV or Comedy Central in the early aughts would think twice about, but you may be in for a raised eyebrow or two.

I could go on about the iconic soundtrack and park creator, but I'll wrap it up here. THPS3 delivers the promise of the PlayStation originals with the polish and presentation of the PS2 era. For me, that's the best of both worlds.

Out of the 12 levels in THPS3, I think CANADA is my favourite. Perhaps the sleepy suburbs with its rough pavements and dirty snow hugging the roadside reminds me of my own neighbourhood growing up, each year with a very limited time frame to be outside skating.

The somber glow from the cabins at dusk to the distant buzzing of teenagers chasing each other on snowmobiles is a wonderful touch to the environmental shenanigans that goes on in each stage. This is one of my favourite aspects of the Tony Hawk games and their level design.

You can skate anything from heavy machinery and dirty parking lots to snow covered, wooden paths to a straight up Native totem pole. There's rude, Canadian bullies that mock you and throw snowballs at you when all you're trynna do is land that nollie heel krooks on the cabin roof. There's public urinators, rude and hostile signs everywhere and cops that just drive around doing nothing...something tells me somebody at Neversoft had a real problem with their northern neighbours. Me? I love Canada. So does Darth. Look at him!