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'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3' Named The Best PS2 Sport Game Ever

'Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3' Named The Best PS2 Sport Game Ever

Admit it; THPS3 is better than FIFA. Who wants to be Alex Hunter when you could be Geoff Rowley?

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

If you can, cast your mind back to 2001. During that year Slipknot released Iowa, Limp Bizkit had released Chocolate Starfish and the Hotdog Flavored Water, and Wheatus' Teenage Dirtbag sold more than half a million copies in the UK alone.

Sometimes a video game comes along that defines that times in which we live. For that twisted generation of Jackass-watching, jeans-chain-wearing youth, that game was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.

It came out on October 28 2001 and is hands down the greatest sports video game of all time. That's right, you bed-wetting FIFA -playing millennials have got nothing that can compete with this.

You might have a sick ultimate team with 100% chemistry, but have you ever seen Darth Maul land a Force Grab across the car gap in Canada to the sounds of The Ramones? I didn't think so.

Activision/Neversoft

The stats back this up too. It currently sits proudly atop the charts for the greatest PS2 sports games of all time on Metacritic (97/100) and is level at the top of all PS2 games with the mighty Grand Theft Auto III. It also received a perfect 10/10 review from popular gaming website GameSpot - only 11 games have ever achieved that.

So what made it so great? Well, to begin with, it gave us all the opportunity to land tricks on a skateboard that most of us would rupture a testicle trying to do in real life. Most of us can barely stand up on a skateboard so it's nice to be able to try it out without bursting your spleen.

There's also the soundtrack. It's got The Ramones, Motorhead, and KRS One - banger after banger. Even the presence of Alien Ant Farm couldn't ruin it.

The levels - they're all great. You'd expect there to be maybe one weak one, but there just isn't. Each one has a secret tape, unique challenges, and - of course - the collect S-K-A-T-E mission.

Foundry and Canada are two of the most popular, but really they are all good.

On top of that, there are secret areas on the levels - it's hard to match the feeling you get when you think you've maxed out a level and are getting frustrated before finding a whole new bit to explore.

Oh, and if you want, there's the park editor where you can build your own level/mega-ramp/death maze to enjoy.

Seriously, it might not only be the best PS2 game of all time, but perhaps even the greatest game of any kind.

From there on with the Tony Hawk's franchise the graphics got better, but things were never as good.

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Topics: Sports