Tony Hawk's Project 8 | RedBerylFTW 

Thank you for being the first person I've seen to praise the "nail the trick" addition. I'd literally spend hours off a kicker just trying to make up the most demented flip tricks, even more so in proving ground

I don't know why they ever decided that a fun arcade game like Tony Hawk needs a story mode. Open world was definitely a good idea but then they ditched that once the technology was actually able to make open worlds easily. I still think something like a Tony Hawk underground 3 that takes place in an open world would be amazing, especially if it feels anything like Pro Skater 1+2

What I remember most from Project 8 was how difficult it felt to me at the time, as if I was actively fighting with the controls to not bail every couple minutes. I found it crushing in comparison to UG2 and American Wasteland, that were both my childhood TH games.

As a skater myself, I always liked to skate realistically in the Tony Hawk games, even way back to Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 when I was a kid. I would only do the crazy arcade skating to complete the games and unlock levels and stuff. I don't know if you skate, but it gives a different perspective on these games when you skate in real life. I remember getting Project 8 long ago for PS2 because that's all I had at the time and I thought it was a fun game. I liked the graphics and the motion and tricks looked a little more realistic than the previous game. I quite liked the game. I paid attention to little details like how the the skater sort of stays upright when going up ramps. In the other games, there was no physics for that, the skater would just be exactly perpendicular to whatever inclined or declined surface they were on. See, those are the things I appreciated. When you play these Tony Hawk games, you have to play it as a skater, not really as a gamer. A gamer would just rate this game simply as a game and of course it's going to look stinky. But if you actually skate or at least have some kind of hobby similar to skateboarding, it helps to appreciate these games more. I'm currently playing THAW and I think it's a pretty fun game! It's like a Hollywood movie! When I was young, I used to just skip all the story stuff and didn't pay attention to the story, I just got through it to skate realistically. But now I'm 29 and I'm actually appreciating the stories of these games. It's like watching a movie! I've played games that I can truly say are not great and I can tell by the way it makes me feel. If I feel bored and dissatisfied, I turn it off. But I've had fun playing every Tony Hawk game up to Project 8, I never found myself complaining about frame rates, control schemes, story elements, level design, or anything really. I was too busy just having fun skating in an imaginary world! So that's just my take on it, it's a fine game. I've never played the 360 or Ps3 version, but all I can say is that I really had fun with the PS2 version when I was younger. As for the skate games, every gameplay video I see is players doing these crazy Tony Hawk Pro Skater Styled tricks and lines. I never understood that, it just makes the game look cheap. Skateboarding is art, and you can make skateboarding look good even in the video games. Like for the Tony Hawk games, when I'm doing the goals, I try to make the combos and stuff look stylish. Remember, it's a skateboarding game, try to play it with the perspective of a skateboarder. If you've got a board, go skate it! Get into it! Then come back and play the Tony Hawk games, you may come to appreciate this game a lot more. Now I will say that the previous Tony Hawk games were way more fun and had awesome stories, but Project 8 still has some coolness to it. It's a classic game now. My favorite Tony Hawk game of all time is the N64 Pro skater 2. Man I used to thrive with that game as a kid back in 2002-2003. I started skateboarding during that time, so I immediately saw that game as a dream come true. I stopped skating for a long time but got back into it last summer, it's still in me.

I loved Project 8 honestly

Personally I loved P8. It was the first Tony hawk game on the PS3 and I put a lot of time into it. The only reason I “quit” after project 8 was because the next installment came out alongside EA Skate. And as a real life skater I was far more drawn to that game and I never gave Proving Ground the time of day.

Always have thought this is sorta kinda the 1st overall blunder of the Tony Hawk series at the time, while not extremely horrible sucks to see for every good new thing added there's something bad/weird to offset it, back in the day I regretted not picking this up, nowadays I'm ok I did not pick it up

The character model for the created skater looks straight out of Guitar Hero

I remember buying Project 8 for the PS2 (you poor, poor soul, past me) and.. I was disappointed. I thought the levels were cool, but, I ultimately got fooled. I bought the 360 version years later, and that.. I thought it was rather awesome! I think it even runs slightly better than the PS3 version, and, it even had online support, unlike the PS3 version. The PSP version is the only version to have Classic Mode as a separate mode. It also has Hawaii and The Ruins from THUG and THAW, respectively. Great video!

Man I love your videos

THP8 is my first Tony Hawk game, and also, that game was my childhood.

YESS!! Good!! Cant wait to watch this one, Project 8 kinda rocks IMO

Project 8 and thug 2 are my favorite Tony hawk games 😂😂

Finally a reviewer that praises Nail the Trick. That was a fun addition. Also, this was the first game that made me realize the difference between console generations. I primarily played this game on ps3 at my grandma's house for a year or so. I visit my cousin one day and he shows me the copy he got for his OG Xbox. I started a new save file and man it felt like a whole different game. Naive and blunt me said something like "it's like the PS3 version but worse" I'm so sorry cousin 😅

I remember watching the trailers and commercials for this game and being so hyped on a true open world TH game. But then I got the PS2 and PSP versions of the game, feeling like i got cheated because it looked and felt like I was playing a slightly polished version of THAW with some of the old gameplay mechanics you mentioned now gone. I was pissed lol but played it nonetheless because I actually enjoyed the game. It wasnt till a lot later in life that I played the rea version of the game on my friend’s Xbox 360 and truly got to admire what Project 8 was meant to be and loved it. My main gripe I’d say is that the 360/PS3 versions looked so grey and almost washed out, with the only things making it feel like a bright and vibrant Tony Hawk game being the skate brand logos plastered on walls and buildings; that I believe is something the PS2 version did better by upping the colors and keeping the more cartoony look of things. Maybe it was designed that way by the technology of the consoles at the time, idk. Overall, even back then I thought it was a nice breakaway from TH x Jackass titles; finally playing a game with a more realistic approach to skating that didnt involve letting a bull loose in Barcelona or destroying the Santa Monica pier for tiny piece of the ferris wheel.

Another grate video

dude no way!! i literally just thought to myself today, "I wonder if RedBeryl is gonna do a video for Project 8". one of my most played tony hawk games, after american wasteland. I spent so many hours as a kid flopping the board around in the slow motion trick mode. 😂 great video, dude. ✌️

Just found your channel and been watching all your reviews! Great content man!

love the content brother i played the tony hawk games religiously growing up thug is my favorite as an overall experience, but thaw is my favorite in terms of art direction such a great series!

Bro you have some GOOD music taste! Definitely gonna subscribe

Hahaha i remember getting the PS2 version of the game and being so disappointed by how weak it was. It wasn't til I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas and THP8 AGAIN until i realized the PS2 version of the game was definitely not how the game was intended to be played. Great video dude! Got my sub for sure!

Love the soundtrack to your videos 🤘🤘🤘

Speed becoming an option is really weird because speed basically determines how easy the game will be

Loved the video, I personally love this game for the sheer fact that it was a launch game for the PS3, would you ever make a review for Tony Hawks Ride and Shred though?

This was my last Tony Hawk game. I was too poor for the 360 and bought the xbox original version. It was like buying your uncles civic when all your friends had Lamborghini's. I ended up getting my hands on a 360 by the time Skate came out. We all know what happened to Tony Hawk games after that.

As someone who's never once played the 360/ps3 versions of Project 8 I personally love it and have nothing but great memories. The ps2 and psp versions were the shit and definitely dont deserve the hate they get

are the dedicated spin buttons(usually the bumpers I think)faster than the joy stick spinning?

For me, the challenges were a little too challenging it's good, especially getting to #1. Nonetheless, it's a good game, but I probably won't play it again til further notice. P.S. the soundtrack is pretty good

Just come across this in my recommendations. Ive been dabbling in the Psp version of P8. Theres actually a Project 8 Mod that has most maps from THPS1 through till AW. Its decent and i highly recommend it as a die hard Tony Hawk fan. 👍

Can’t wait for the Tony Hawks Ride video

Having played a ton of Tony Hawk back in the day, I can say that, (in my experience) as far as framerate and input lag go, the XBOX and XBOX 360 versions of Project 8 both played quite a bit better than the PS2 and PS3 versions.

I feel that Project 8 is what started the downfall of this series. It wasn't THUG 2 or THAW that made this series go into a downward spiral, it was this game. Also I genuinely do not understand why some people think that Project 8 is an S tier game or the best game in the series.

Interesting you didn't talk about the PSP version's exclusive classic mode, which is the only official time that Hawaii from THUG 1 reappeared, and only the second time Alcatraz from THPS4 reappeared.

good stuff I'll admit that i expected you talking about classic mode that is exclusive to the PSP version.

i loved project 8 on the ps2 😬

this was my fav one lol i like all of them tbh

Hey man, I was wondering what happened to your THAW review? Was it deleted due to copyrights? In that case, could you reupload it with adjusted soundtrack? Anyway, thanks for the thorough in-depth reviews of these games, THPS3 is by far my favorite one. Also, would you make a review of THPS3 on PS1? Thanks again!

I really want to get into this game because it's based in my area (Philly, Baltimore) and the nail the trick stuff is kinda fun, but i can only emulate the PS2 version, and it feels super janky. Edit: Might be thinking of Proving Ground

I'm curious as to what you think about this game. I recall it being so nothingy and dull, with a mostly "meh" soundtrack. I think it's the only main game in the THPS series I got farted on about halfway through

Yeah I remember getting the PS2 version of the game for Christmas and 11 year old me despised it. I remember clearing Suburbia, loading the town level and just turning the console off. It was the first game I ever brought back to the shop even though I'm a THPS fanboy. Looking back it's hard to say exactly why but I think it was the motion sickness from how the camera controls and the weird frame blur affect that happens EVERYTIME you bail are a big issue. Also the fact that the game just feels really off from THAW and THUG 2, and really comes off as a spinoff title rather than the next entry in the series. I do love the ranking system in the next gen version. It has an RPG feel where even small things you do like gaps or skill marker challenges make you one digit closer to being number 1. However the PS3 version's performance is genuinely unacceptable for this type of game, it'd be like releasing a fighting game that has sub 30 FPS that stutters and freezes constantly. The world design is quite strange. It feels like a theme-park that's parodying a small town in the USA, and when you really look at the layout, it makes zero sense. Like the tram section exists for a tiny section of road then just stops abruptly. I remember seeing an interview with Brian Bright who was a lead dev behind P8 ( and also made the sick menu music for the first game), basically say that the P8 world is supposed to represent a generic small town that players could relate to, which is why there are no real life skate spots or locations. I think they pushed the satire too far like the huge tacky shop's signs in the town just makes everything feel fake, which destroys the immersion that it's supposed to represent YOUR hometown that all these pros are visiting. And the boundaries of each level feels thrown together and doesn't flow as well as it should. I have a lot of mixed opinions about P8 but without it Proving Ground wouldn't exist which is the dark horse of the series imo. Looking forward to the next video, also since you're in PS3 era, I recommend Shaun White's Skateboarding, which is unapologetically video-gamey and bizarre but still worth giving a go. Cheers!

Idk why but I love project 8 and proving grounds but aye pick your poison do proving grounds next 👁️

Wanna turn your mic up a little when editing? Gotta blast my TV just to hear ya (ie: most videos 10 yours 40).

You didn't mention the classic mode on the psp version, I was interested in hearing your thoughts on that?

Bro I just tried playing the og Xbox version and couldn’t do it. Looking forward to hearing your opinion.

I never played this, but its sounds like they took this and fixed most of the issue with proving ground

As bad as THAW's story is, i feel it would have fit better with the mechanics of this game. Doing an NBD with Nail the Trick seems like something the player in THAW would have been all about. Doing bigger and more impressive goals to prove you're the shit would be something the player in THAW would be all about. It's just a shame P8's story is such a drastic (and likely unintentional) overcorrection away from the chaos because it's otherwise solid. Side note for those who own xboxs, i remember the 360 version being far more performant and stable than the PS3 version, and likewise the Xbox version being higher res and more stable than the PS2 version. It's a shame it's not backwards compatible on Series/One or emulatable with Xenia (yet). Between the performance issues on 7th gen, the bugginess in gameplay on 6th gen, and the writing in general, this game desperately needed a break from the relentless 1 year dev cycle. It sucks to see that other Activision franchises like CoD also struggle with this "string of good games and one that makes you question why the franchise exists" syndrome.

You ever tried that mtv skateboarding game? Super jank but it seems interesting, i picked it up but cant get past the first map 😭

The animations in this game look lush! Especially the grabs and flatland at least they tried to make the tricks look realistic. I'm sick of people shitting on this game just cos skate 1 came out and every one somehow hated tony hawk when that came out, overlooking anything great about this franchise, no one wanted unrealistic games skating games, but after THPS1+2 we all know it's bullshit. Project 8 is the real Pro Skater 5, but I'm kinda sick of the parroting opinions of this game on YT! It's boring. Radrat's opinion on this game sucks too, I wish neversoft/activison kept on this trajectory after THPG. but nah they fucked it, they wanted to make every skater skate like how they do IRL, they needed way more than 1 year of dev time. Imagine a fleshed out sim mode. Imagine a mode that played like ea skate but controlled like tony hawk, that's what this trajectory could have led to. And yes they removed a lot that was in American Wasteland and THUG (the things everyone complained about, yet moaned when they took it away) but at the same time EVERY video game of this gen was doing this, dropping scope and features for realism and graphics. GTA4 did this after San Andreas. The only main issue with this game is the framerate and how poorly it runs! A patch for the emu version or even a pc version would have been amazing but during that time they'd only put last gen version of games on pc, so if they did the PC version would have been the PS2 version which I didn't like, I felt ripped off by the ps2 version. They never told us it's not the same game as the 360 version and they still could have connected the levels via tunnels or lanes/streets. So I spend a year playing the ps2 version wanting the 360 version but not being on 7th gen yet cos I wasnt a spoilt rich kid and had to wait 3 years to get a 360 after release. I actually played this and ea skate back to back as a kid, and I gravitated towards the gameplay of this for the longest time. Oh I am a skateboarder btw, so I have strong opinions on this shit.

Fun fact about me this was my first th game on psp sad right?

Appreciated the Hollywood Undead: Notes from the Underground song. I only played the PS2 version, hated how classic mode was implemented though. Oh and "Nail the Trick" probably because I had a scratch disc, the animations for flipping the board was broken, flicking the sticks wouldn't either move the legs or flip the board. It just makes me worried that when I finally fo play skate, the learning curve is going to take way too long.

When you get to Proving Ground, I hope you get into how TERRIBLE the Wii version is. I mean, personally, I can forgive a lot of the short comings of the Wii version, because I know it's not working with the most powerful hardware. But those damn forced motion controls. I still complain about it to this day. Why wouldn't they let you use GameCube controls‽ They could have supported it easily if they wanted. When that game came out, I had been playing Tony Hawk on a GameCube controller for years. And now they want to shoehorn needless motion controls‽ Just let me plug in the controller I've been using forever!

I am loving these videos, but man, you have some takes that I wouldn't have expected. Project 8 is bad, but THPS5 is ok 😳 lol

when we gonna see the redberylftw street part????

So u juat use some extremely obscure punk band like the vandals and don't have to worry about copyright strikes?

Didn't know until watching andy play but the ps2 version caveman meter doesn't even work and always fails your combos

This game is in my top 3 worst Tony Hawk's games (out of all mainline titles), right up there alongside Proving Ground (which is somehow worse than this one) and THPS5 which is... oof! Every single reason you cited as positives for this game are the reasons I really hate Project 8 (and later Proving Ground). And what makes it even worse for me is that this game is the follow up to my favorite Tony Hawk game, American Wasteland. I'd put it in my top 3, with THPS2 and THPS3 (on PS1). Anyway, now I'm gonna watch the rest of your videos 😅

Playing this game always made me feel sick

7:49 "the left trigger" Isn't there two of them?

You didn't cover the Xbox original and 360 versions? I played this only on Xbox and didn't like the flow of it cuz of how much of a mess it is.

When Tony Hawk started to try and copy Skate, it killed itself. They literally set themselves up for failure. You can't beat somebody by literally copying them, you'll always end up in 2nd place

yeah man this game is a big stink pile but ill be damned if i dont load up that ps2 version and skate around a fucking jeep factory

If you are playing Tony Hawk games for the story then you are doing it wrong.

Nail the sh*t was the absolute worst they could have introduced and even made it worse in PG. Besides that, I think the framerate is much better on 360. Because of nail the trick, the poor writing and the many poor decisions of gameplay and mission structure I played PG much much later and even prefer both PS2 versions, just because it felt better overall. PG is even more boring storywise, it was just an evolution of the bad writing in 8. Project 8 and Proving Ground have the worst levels of any TH title imho. I replay every entry from 1 to THAW really often, P8 and PG almost never. They just feel meh.

Can you do ssx for ps3/xbox360

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Random thought but i kinda think these games partly suffered from not having DLC. Ok maybe not as unlocking skaters/boards/maybe even tricks would have been awful, but the option to download more maps would have been crazy. Like thug2 remixed is such a great game imo just because it had santa cruz and kyoto. Im like trying to imagine what these games would have been like if they had a dedicated (and talented) mapping staff churning out maps even close to the amount of fun those two were, or maps in regular thug1, 2, and thaw. I think it would have prolonged the lifecycle of the games and given the devs more time and money to develop the following games and make them more interesting, rather than coming up with kind of lame novelty things like biking in thaw lol.

Background music is way too loud again...gives me anxiety and can't finish the video in 1 sitting