I've been playing the "Tony Hawk" series on the Gamecube since "Pro Skater 3," and "Underground 2" is a pretty sweet addition. Granted, like most people, I caused major brain damage to my character before I learned how to skate. But if you've played any in this series and have a handle on the controls, you should be able to jump right into "Underground 2," and there's plenty of new elements that make this edition the most versatile yet.
The newest feature is also the coolest -- the slow motion feature called Focus Control. Even if you've got a good handle on the controls, once you get skating fast it can be difficult to try and put together some longer combos.
But with Focus Control, you can really pull off some insane moves and have the time to think about what you're doing. It's great for grinding and lip moves, too, since you have extra time to get your balance. So while "Underground 2" is the latest in Neversoft's line of skating games, it one of the best for beginners.
As with every game in the "Tony Hawk" series, the music is both eclectic and well-chosen, playing everything from The Ramones to hometown favorites Jimmy Eat World. There's a good blend of punk covers and originals, rap and alternative, as well. With "Underground 2" it's not looped to where you hear the same songs at the beginning of each board, either, but the songs are played at random throughout. Plus, you can turn the volume down if you prefer Zen skating.
Neversoft was wise to keep some of the finer features from the previous versions and not sacrifice aspects of the series to make room for other stuff. So you can still program moves, look up any existing moves and specials for each character -- basically all the best customizing tools from previous games.
Unlike the first "Underground," you can also free skate at a number of places right way, before unlocking the boards (though there are a number of boards that can only be reached by completing the story or classic modes.
Of course, you can customize a character quite easily, and since there are so many attributes to tweak and changes available to the appearance, you'll probably want to.
You can also save pretty much anywhere or any thing -- pretty rare with this kind of game, where the replay value usually comes from having to play the same situation over and over. With each goal in the "Tony Hawk" series, the moment you accomplish the goal, it's done.
The only real downfall is that the more advanced aspects of the game -- racking up major points, pulling off combos and accessing special levels -- take a lot of practice. It takes time to learn the tricks, of course, but even getting to where you're not falling down every few seconds requires some patience.
When I first played "Pro Skater 3," I thought there must have been something I was missing, 'cause I couldn't pull anything off. But I stuck with it, and after a short while, I got to where I could manage the skater much better. That's when the real replay value comes in -- once you've got the basics down.
"Underground 2" has a ton of other additions, like being able to design your own goal, graffiti tag and (best of all) your own skating area; it was "Excitebike" all over again.
This sequel also accommodates two players and you can play online with plenty of others, as well as download levels, alternate skateboards and other extras.
With two main modes -- story and classic -- you can go right into the cut scenes and the "goal" of the game or into the classic Tony Hawk tour, where accomplishing goals per board open new places to skate. I still prefer the classic mode, but the story mode has a helpful training board for beginners as well as some tips and tricks communicated via cell phone from others on the world skating tour.
"Underground 2" is a nice addition to the already reputable Tony Hawk series, with a good expansion of customizing tools and new features to a choice skating engine. It's ringing it at around $35 right now, and will likely hang close to that for a while.
With so many extras and intricacies, it might be worth picking up a game guide, too, which has tips but also ways to achieve the best score and what tricks to execute for the highest point combo.
And sometimes you just can't find that last letter to spell S-K-A-T-E. You'll see.