Tony Hawk Clarifies THPS 3+4 Changes (& Fans Are Still Bummed)

Developer Iron Galaxy and publisher Activision are just a few months away from releasing their anticipated remake, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4. While its initial announcement was exciting for fans, questions started to arise from the community surrounding how it would handle Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4‘s unique Career Mode. The Birdman himself, Tony Hawk, clarified how some of THPS 4‘s unique goals would work in the upcoming release, but fans still seem pretty bummed about the new direction.

In an interview with ESPN LA, the interview begins with Hawk speaking about THPS 3+4‘s take on THPS 4‘s Career Mode. For those unaware, the fourth entry allowed players to free skate around a level and then initiate goals by talking to an NPC. However, THPS 3+4 has opted for two-minute runs in Career Mode, similar to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2. This sparked a bit of controversy among those who were looking forward to a faithful recreation of THPS 4. However, Hawk clarifies that players will still encounter characters that will begin certain goals, akin to the original release.

“It was hard to get two completely different types of gameplay in one package here, so obviously [THPS 4] leans towards more two-minute challenges, but you can just roam around and do whatever you want,” Hawk said. “And you’re definitely going to encounter characters that will send you on missions. So, there is a little bit of everything, but I understand the concern, and I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised.”

For fans who are interested, there are tons of videos of THPS 3+4 gameplay that show some of the unique THPS 4 goals in action. YouTuber andyTHPS has a video of gameplay from various levels from the fourth entry, which can be viewed here. In his gameplay of the College level, there is a goal where players have to skitch a car for a prolonged amount of time. To begin the mission, the player has to go up to the garage and simply ride by the car to initiate the goal. This seems to start an instance that removes the rest of the cars from the level to allow this car to madly drive around the school.

RELATED: Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 Should Just Be DLC

It does seem Iron Galaxy is attempting to create a more streamlined experience in THPS 3+4 rather than essentially provide two different games in one package. This direction seems to have dulled players’ excitement for the game. In a Reddit thread regarding the ESPN interview, the community voiced their concerns about the upcoming game, many of which point to older titles, like Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, which had both a Story and Classic Mode in the game.

“[I don’t know] why people say it’s hard to combine the two games. It’s not,” says one Reddit user.

“I love Tony, but he’s also got a financial interest in this game selling well, so muddying the waters and making people think [THPS] 4‘s career is in it will get them to buy the game, and therefore make him money,” says another user.” When someone’s trying to sell you something, you have to read between the lines.”

It’s not all doom and gloom, however. Many fans still share their excitement for THPS 3+4 despite the changes.

“This is why I keep telling people they just need to hold tight and see what it’s like before they totally condemn it and throw a big fit,” says another user. “We know that it’s not going to be the original career mode from 4, but that really might not be a bad thing when you consider how much of that career mode is tutorials we no longer need, or five second goals that could easily be combined with other goals or represented in some other way.”

THPS 3+4 releases on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC on July 11th.