Oh dear. We had high-hopes for Activision and Robomodo’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, but it looks like our dreams of finally dusting off Tony’s board and taking to the half-pipe in style is probably a little misplaced.
We’ve already heard from numerous players that it’s just not what they expected, though some are having more fun than others. For some, however, it’s not going to be all that great, especially if you don’t have access to the internet upon buying the game at retail.
Apparently the game’s disc only contains the tutorial, the create-a-park mode and a handful of the game’s playable levels and that the rest require downloading the huge 7.7GB day-one update. So yeah, if you’re not going to be able to download the patch, you’re probably going to be smashing your head against a wall.
We’ll update this post once we know the full extent of the situation. In the meantime, if you can provide any information please do comment down below or hit up the ‘Contact Us’ page.
[Update 1] It looks like the patch does add a substantial amount to the game by way of fixes, but we can’t confirm that it adds missing content. One of the team in the US has managed to get a copy (via retail) and is reporting that the game is pure frustration when first installed. More to follow. [Update 2] You can indeed play the game without downloading the patch, but play is a subjective word here. Whether you’ll have fun with or without the patch is totally dependant on what you want in a game. Our full review will come this weekend, but first impressions from across the net aren’t too positive. Polygon seem to be having a great time with the game, though. [Update 3] Remember that Lil’ Wayne is in the game? You know, the rapper man with no talent? Well, you have to download the update for him to appear in the roster of playable skaters. We’re not sure what else has been included in the huge patch, though it’s looking more and more likely that it wasn’t a simple stability hot-fix, but more of a “shit, we forgot to put the rest of the game on the disc! Oh wait, the internet is a handy thing.”