Tony Hawk is responsible for failing grades all over

Tobie DePauw
Lifestyles Editor

Video games like "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" are not healthy. These games warp your sense of reality to a point of utter confusion.

No, there are no space aliens attacking you, nor are your peers hunting you down like a wild dog with rocket launchers, but in this game, you can skateboard, really, really well.

This is not a laughing matter. In Pro Skater, you are given the ability to do tricks and stunts that even the best skater in the universe would not even attempt, all with the push of a few buttons. Tricks that are nearly impossible are landed with the greatest of ease, and it never hurts when you fall. Unless you are punching the ground in fury, as I do.

Skateboarding is not as easy as it looks. So trying to actually skate after playing the game is like going to war in your blue jeans after playing Contra.

The graphics are akin to games like Coolboarders 3, where you are watching your character from behind and maneuvering it through courses. The different course layouts for Pro Skater are spectacular. Players can skate in everything from a mall in New York City, to a school in Miami, to an actual skate park called Burnside in Washington state. The different arenas offer different challenges and different skill levels. There really is something for every skater. There are incredible downhill courses, simple skate parks, extensive grinding courses and open areas for everything and anything you can imagine.

You can also choose from a wide array of professional skateboarders to use as your character. The skaters are better at different things. Some are better at airs, some are better at grinds and some are just better at everything. Go figure, Tony Hawk rips it up at everything. Other skaters include Elissa Steamer, Chad Muska, Kareem Campbell, Rune Glifberg, Bucky Laseck, Jamie Thomas and Geoff Rowley.

The game is not so difficult that players can't get addicted at first try. You begin to think of trick combinations in your sleep and your fingers twitch just from the thoughts. You being to think that if you were ever given the opportunity to skate at the fictitious skate park in Roswell, N.M., you really could land a "360-triple-ollie impossible," which, by namesake, is impossible.

Even more aggravating than losing to a computer is losing to a friend. There are a few competition modes on Pro Skater, but by far the most entertaining is Graffiti mode. In Graffiti mode, two players are put nose to nose on any course in the game and both are given a color. Once a player lands a trick on an obstacle, the obstacle turns the color of the player that landed the trick. If the other player lands a more valuable trick on that obstacle, the obstacle then becomes that player's color. The competition gets brutal. A player thinks he has a large number of obstacles when the other player starts landing better tricks and stealing them all. Pro Skater is not a fighting game, but it sure can inspire a few fights between competing skaters.

Overall the game is great play. If you've ever wanted to skate, perform outlandish tricks and walk away clean and unbruised, pick up a copy of Pro Skater. Pro Skater is available now for the Playstation.