Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground has the flavour of a game that assumes no opposition faces it. Pitched, we can only presume, just prior to the announcement of its now supreme EA rival, Neversoft’s effort flirts in worrying fashion between outright familiarity and impossibility like an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Unlike the popular TV quiz, however, the reward for such frustration isn’t a lifetime’s supply of booze on your own private island, but an opportunity to have wasted 50 quid. In the words of Chris Tarrant, we don’t want to give you that!

So, a mediocre review then. Why? The reasons are plentiful and act as a potent sedative. For starters, you’re treated like an absolute idiot from the outset. Yes, we’ve all heard the news stories about dumb children cooling their systems in tubs of water, but that doesn’t mean you have to start packaging every game in virtual bubble wrap. What’s more, no sooner have you been told how to manual for the fifth time by Mr Hawk’s freakishly youthful facsimile, you’re challenged to leap gaps Superman would struggle to clear. Basically speaking, if you’re on familiar territory it won’t be long until insults are being hurled into the Californian’s Beaker-like face – if you’re not, the expression ‘deep end’ couldn’t be more appropriate. Compared to Skate’s more laid-back tutorials, this is a bit like watching Teletubbies. While sober. Horrifying.

More generally speaking, you’d have thought the Jackass-style festival of tomfoolery Tony Hawk’s has become would prompt Neversoft to branch off in ever more arcade-oriented directions. After all, your very first trick here would bring the title of greatest skater ever to have lived, so why not set the game somewhere jolly, perhaps even as outlandish as on another planet, messing about with gravity? Yes, rather quaint arcade machines can be found dotted across the landscape, offering old-school rules and a pill-collecting ‘Hawk-Man’ mini-game, but the overall atmosphere remains realistic and, at times, just plain grim.

Spread between the urban sprawls of Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington DC, somehow interconnected by a series of magical tunnels and bridges, your options appear limited to tootling around performing tricks for their own sake (a practice devalued for us by exactly how easy the Tony Hawk’s series has made matters), or completing what seems like an endless procession of dull tutorials. All until you earn enough respect from skating superstars who just happen to be in some of the roughest neighbourhoods in America ‘on business’. We don’t know why Tony Hawk keeps on phoning us, for instance. So what if there’s a ‘dope gap’ in the middle of some slum – what do his wife and kids think about such larking around?

Sadly, the problems aren’t quite at an end, either. Graphically, Proving Ground is heading towards impressionism, comprising some very roughly formed human figures and a palette composing almost solely of grey. Large bodies of water look more like mercury, giving the whole thing a very sketchy and (more traditionally) last-gen feel. We’re not sure whether it’s the garish colours, the stuttering background architecture or something else entirely, but this can occasionally feel like one of those backend PSone games, familiar with the concept of 3D, yet struggling with the practical side of it all.

Still, we’re relieved to say it’s not all bad. Neversoft’s new video editor is smooth, well integrated and impressively powerful, allowing gamers to pause the action at any time to dabble with prepared trick footage. Customised camera angles can be created on the fly as you manipulate the analogue sticks around a slow-motion edit of your exploits. Any element of the game’s soundtrack can then be pasted over the shoot, alongside a plethora of filters and effects. You’ll even be able to have your finalised video rated for excitement, before playing it on screens bought to take pride of place in a personal warehouse skate park. Nailing tricks also proves satisfying, accessed as the feature is through a click of both analogue sticks before rotating the board with each foot, independently. While this is frankly about as silly as almost every other move Tony Hawk’s allows you to pull off, slotting sections together yourself brings a smile to the face – and a lump to the groin, if missed.

Other than this, Proving Ground remains a very familiar (yet noticeably faster paced) animal. While critics like us will now suggest that Skate’s appearance makes this no longer acceptable – after all, time waits for no one – Hawk addicts will still find something to enjoy. Ultimately, though, with the series about to receive its pension (in dog years, anyway), it’s not surprising things are beginning to look a little tired and listless.

Dave Shaw