Evolution Skateboarding

Featuring Pro Skaters

NA release: 17th November 2002
JP release: 12th December 2002
EU release: 21st February 2003
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
NGC Magazine Score: 78%
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

Evolution Skateboarding is a Tony Hawk’s clone from Konami, and one that just feels like a slower game with poor controls. The biggest difference to how it plays, other than being clunky, is that manuals are done with the Y button, making them even more like grinds. The main mode and structure of the game is interesting, so it has something going for it.

Each skater in the game has their own semi-unique playthrough, where you go through a few levels in different orders. There’s a decent amount of levels in the game, so each skater will only see a small amount in this mode. However, the levels are very small and are really uninteresting to skate around, with no real flow and nothing that feels like an opportunity for a combo line. Some haps or ledges also blend into the floor, making them difficult to see.

The game does have boss fights against things like tankers, tanks and giant spiders. Some are individual boss levels, while others are within the main levels. They all involve grinding on highlighted areas, so don’t offer as much gameplay variation as they initially seem to do, so this small distraction never alleviates the feeling that you could be having far more fun replaying a Tony Hawk’s game.

Evolution Skateboarding does have a few interesting unlockable characters, such as Solid Snake, Raiden and a horrifying Frogger. To get Solid Snake, you need to complete everything as every character, by which point you’re long tired of the game, so unless you use cheats or a save file, you can’t really enjoy using him.

Fine

It’s just sightly less intuitive, slightly less fun, the level designs don’t flow as well as they should, and it doesn’t provide a single, really good reason for buying it over, yep – Tony Hawk’s 4.
Tom Mayo, NGC Magazine #79

Remake or remaster?

It doesn’t offer anything interesting.

Official Ways to get the game

There’s no official way to get Evolution Skateboarding.