Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 review for PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Platform: PC
Also On: PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, Switch 2
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Iron Galaxy
Medium: Digital/Physical
Players: 1+
Online: Yes
ESRB: T
After a very long five years, Activision and Iron Galaxy have graced us with another dosage of radical skateboard gaming. After dropping on June 7th, 2020, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 had longtime fans and new fans clamoring to know if Pro Skater 3 and 4 would get to shine again. Releasing on July 10th, 2025, get ready to shred again when Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 grace all modern platforms for everyone to enjoy once again.
Strangely teased first in a Call of Duty map release, Pro Skater 3+4 has been sought after by fans for years. Our first clue that Activision was planning on releasing a remake was via a teaser with a date featuring a logo similar to that of the previous Pro Skater remakes. Once that date arrived, a teaser website for 3+4 was revealed, with trailers soon following. Bit by bit we started to learn more about the games, such as their soundtrack, what the levels looked like, etc.
I do think this is an excellent game, especially coming from the remakes of Pro Skater 1+2, but I do think there’s some issues to be had. The game feels and plays fantastic, looks gorgeous, and sounds great. The skaters still have a weirdly uncanny look to them, but at this point it’s part of the charm. The maps are all super fun to skate around on as well, albeit Pro Skater 4’s maps somewhat struggle to maintain their purpose given changes made to the game.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 is still the same game you remember from back in the day but with a completely redone coat of paint. Maps feel just as amazing to skate around on and rip combos in, and you’ll enjoy it just as much as you did then. If you’re new to the franchise and are coming from the previous remake duology, these maps will feel even bigger and better thanks to Pro Skater 3+4 being from the PS2/GameCube/Xbox era of consoles instead of the N64 and PSX era.
Sadly, Pro Skater 4 suffers from the remake. Whether it was a time constraint, a budget decision, or just higher-ups forcing changes, the mission-based mode you may recall from the original isn’t integrated as you remember. Upon clearing the first 10 objectives in a level, you’ll unlock “Pro Goals”, which effectively fill the mission gap left behind. However, there are still some minigames left out, such as the Tennis mission. This indirectly harms how it feels to play the main game, because the parks are still the same, so they’re still very much clearly built for the mission-based mode of the original Pro Skater 4. It’s a bummer to be sure, and while not a big deal for me personally, I recognize that objectively this is a harmful decision.
Additionally, there’s been conversation online about the soundtrack, especially as we saw posts via the official website and social media about new songs added and previous songs not returning. You still have your classics like When Worlds Collide by Powerman 5000 and Ace of Spaces by Motorhead, but after a comparison, it would seem roughly 75-80% of the game’s soundtrack is entirely new music. Again, I don’t think this is a big deal, especially seeing as it’s been updated for current-day audiences, but I do understand that this is a big downer for fans returning and hoping to hear the soundtrack from their youth.
With loads of cosmetics to unlock and customize your skater with, extra “Pro Goals” that make up the difference from the original mission-based mode, and more, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 offers plenty of content for people to shred through. Seeing these games return after the success of the Pro Skater 1+2 remakes is fantastic, and it fills me with hope that we’ll maybe see remakes of the Underground duology or perhaps American Wasteland, but who knows. While the remakes are great and even better for those that haven’t played the originals, I do think the changes made detract from the excitement of the initial releases.
The missions aren’t the same and the soundtrack is vastly different, so I don’t know if I’d call Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 specifically a remake as much as I would a reimagining, but it’s still a great game nonetheless. If you’re expecting a 1:1 remake of both games, you’re effectively there when it comes to levels, but it’s not perfect. If you’re not concerned with the faithfulness to Pro Skater 3 and 4, these games are bigger and better than 1+2 and well worth it.
Note: Activision provided us with a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 code for review purposes.
Score: 8
