Veteran skate master Tony Hawks has long been leading the way in extreme-sports games. His third outing, imaginatively titled Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, follows in the footsteps of its BAFTA-winning predecessor and offers more spectacular grinding and ollie action in the palm of your hand. Essentially a mini version of the game already out on PS2, GameCube and Xbox, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 on the GBA has opted for an isometric environment rather than 3-D; you also get less options than on the other formats, but there are still 13 real-life skating pros to choose from--including Tony himself, Rodney Mullen and Steve Caballero--plus different modes and lots of addictive gameplay to discover. Once you've picked your man you take him through his four-wheeled paces along a series of courses, completing a series of objectives in a given time limit while simultaneously trying to rack up as many points as possible. Like previous games in the series, these objectives include collecting items, performing particular tricks and generally grinding to greatness. In addition, if you don't fancy playing a pro there's the option to create your own skater, specifying everything from skin tone to tattoos. There are six main stages to complete in competition mode and, although this mightn't sound too impressive, there are lots of other modes to keep you busy, including a tutorial, multiplayer and free skate--not to mention all the secrets to unlock.
Graphically, Tony Hawk's 3 is superb. Little touches like the bone-jarring shudders when you wipeout and the spots of blood on the pavement really make you want to try harder not to end up eating asphalt; the 3-D characters are sharp, the backgrounds beautifully rendered and the animation simply breathtaking. Overall, one of the best-looking and most playable games on the Game Boy Advance. --Kristen Bowditch
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