Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD. Victims of digital distribution
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When news broke in May about a revamped version of the first two installments of the iconic Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series, fans not only gasped with happiness and joy, but also, very much in tune with Activision, pretended a project like that didn't already happen a few years ago. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD launched in digital distribution in 2012 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The game was a disaster of a release on PC, and it was average at best on consoles – it was a very mediocre production.
The creators of the infamously bad Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 from Robomodo quite faithfully mimicked the atmosphere of Tony Hawk's Skateboarding and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, but offered a rather stripped-down experience – in terms of content, maps, players, modes and music, it just wasn't good enough. The upgraded, more advanced physical engine-based control system also did not appeal to some purists, and attempts to sell additional maps from THPS3 as DLC also failed to generate sympathy.
Despite these problems, the game proved to be a nostalgic journey back to the basics of the series, especially against the backdrop of several previous, much uninspired entries in the series (compared to the monster that THPS5 was, this remaster was truly a fantastic game). THPSHD was available for purchase for five years; in 2017 Activision removed the production from stores, possibly because music licenses expired. And currently, promoting Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1+2, they pretend it never happened.
