Goals are associated with careers, not characters. You can always start another career with another character...

From what I've heard there are no other extras besides the ones you can see already for sale. Someone I met at EB today said he had cleared the whole game but all it gives you is the video for each skater when you clear their mission at the end. No other hidden levels or skaters. Also, to finish your career you do a mission for each skater and unlock their video. Kind of kills any interest in starting over and doing a whole new career for me.

xmiyux - hows the control for the GC version? Difficult at all?

'Cause I hoping to get some good Wavebird action goin'.

After clearing the first 3 games with maybe 2 or 3 characters, it got to be a real chore. I'm glad they did away with that mind numbing repetition.

Aghama, you and i are on the same page regarding TH3, how does this compare?

I agree that the extra characters aren't as cool as 2 or 3. Eddie could have looked a lot cooler.

GP: The levels are large and very cool. There are twice as many goals per level and many of them are much more interesting than in previous games. For example, in Alcatraz you have to help a prisoner escape by collecting these "tools" in a minute. Which is pretty stupid, but what it boils down to is racing through the level on a difficult route. These are the kind of goals they promised for 3, but IMO didn't deliver.

I'd say it wipes the floor with 3, but I'll have to play longer to see how it ends up comparing with 2.

Thanks, more questions: are the levels "skating" levels, like places where skaters actually would skate (French pool park in TH2), or are they in places like a haunted house or inside an airport (TH3)?

Can you just give a quick rundown of the levels so far? Is long distance grinding (kinda like Jet Set Radio) emphasized?

Here's a silly question, how do I unlock his video? Do I need to 100% every level including carnival and Chicago? Is this video even better than the one in THPS3?

Darkside, I have beat 75 objectives so far but then it says I need like 20 something more pro points, but then it says I have completed 75/190, what are all of the other obejctives it does add up, is their like 100 pro missions.

I thought the controls were good - granted i've only played the TH's on a GC and a DC but i do really like the GC controller and had no problems adapting to it. It should be killer with a wavebird though.

GP: The levels are College, San Fran, Alcatraz, Kona skate park, Shipyard, London, Zoo, Carnival, and Chicago. You're not likely to see many skateboarders at the zoo or Alcatraz, but the levels aren't as outlandish as 3. They're all outdoor (I hated how cramped 3 felt) with lines a plenty. One type of objective is to collect the letters "COMBO", while doing one continuous combo, and this usually involves a lot of grinding & manualing.

Cornfed: At the time I assume videos were unlocked in the same way as the original. You're much farther along in the game than I.

Once you get all the goals met the first time out it will add an additional 5 Pro goals on every level. That plus the mission you have to complete for each skater will add up to the 190. I've gotten to the Pro goals, but have taken a break.

BTW, I ended up needing to cheat to get through some of the goals. The Slo-Mo mode is a great way to get through tough goals. You have time to react and nail your manuals and reverts.

I didn't see this posted yet, but Fry's B&M Stores have THPS4 PS2 for $34.99. I just picked one up.

I tried to pricematch Best Buy first (it's not as far of a drive) but they said that the game will not be released until 10/31.

Chumps.

(oops...eddited to correct "THPS2" to say "THPS4".)

THPS4 = SOS

You're right, it's an awesome skateboarding game, just like its predecessors.

Is it only for $35 for the PS2 version? Maybe I could pricematch it and then "return it" saying I got it for the wrong system?

Who is the hot chick in the neversoft home videos? She has an awsome set of trucks. :drool:

Yep, the Fry's ad from yesterday (10/28) has only the PS2 version listed at $34.99. Then again, I didn't actually look at the x-Box or GC sections when I was there to double check the price for those systems. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, though, as Fry's has one of the worst records for having the actual price tagged on the shelf (i.e. THPS4 had a sale sign for $39.99, but still rang up at $34.99).

Why do I feel like I am already halfway through the game after playing it for one night? I really hope it isn't that short.

It isn't an exceptionally long game, but it's a helluva a lot longer than one run through was in any of the previous ones. Plus the difficulty ramps up...some of the pro challenges are crazy.

Do we know yet if there's any hidden bonuses? Seems there's got to be something in there -- for hitting all the gaps, for instance.

I completed one of the pro challenges yesterday -- I was using a custom skater, so don't know whose pro challenge it was. Possibly margera's.

I thought the customs skater had his/her own challenge?

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a reward for getting all the gaps, but it might not be much more than a movie or something. Private Carrera was okay in 2, but of course not nearly as cool as playing with Spidey.

I dunno. guess it could be a challenge unique to the custom skater. I was just assuming that it was borrowed from one of the pros.

I love this game and am glad to have it after enjoying THPS3 for over a year now (and 2 before that). It's great having new (and bigger) levels and I like the variety of challenges. The graphics don't really seem improved and the soundtrack annoys me, but all in all it's a top-notch game...

There's enough little differences in the game to make it stand out. Control-wise, anyway.

1. Spine Transfers are pretty neat, but not revolutionary.

2. Stringing tricks together is a little different, and easier. In 3 you could 50-50 grind with Y, then do Up-Y to switch over to a nosegrind, then up-up-Y into a nosebluntslide. In 4, you can switch between any of 9 grinds using button presses while keeping your balance with the D-Pad. Ditto for manuals, making flatland combos pretty cool-looking instead of ollieing from one manual trick to another (if you had them mapped as specials). Lip tricks get the same treatment.

3. Nailing different air tricks is different, too. Instead of left-left-left-X to hit a triple kickflip, it's Left-X-X-X. Hit B twice to get a different grab trick. This takes some getting used to, but puts a lot more tricks in your bag of ... uh ... tricks.

4. Reverts are a lot less forgiving than in 3. The window of opportunity to hit the revert in 4 is narrower. Getting the revert-to-manual commands out require much more control articulation than it did in 3.

5. Many of goals are very combo-based, and not just the "collect C-O-M-B-O" goals. Most of the "collect x number of these things" goals give you like 5 seconds on the clock, requiring you to use a single combo without explicitly saying so.

IMO, the big thing about spind transfers isn't really that you can go from one half pipe to another, but rather that you can avoid bailing if you drift off a half pipe. I really like that convenience.