Neversoft is rightfully proud of its brand-new movement-capture facility. The famed developer of the equally famous Tony Hawk serial has built a state-of-the-fine art mo-cap studio located in a clangorous warehouse section of its new digs in Southern California. It's not surprising that a large-time developer would accept this kind of technology available in-house. What is surprising is how the Tony Hawk series, which has prided itself on being a remarkably accurate representation of skateboarding tricks and culture, has gone so long without motion capture. And this is just one of the new things we learned virtually the upcoming Tony Hawk's Project 8 during a recent trip downward to SoCal to visit the Neversoft agglomeration and check out the game for ourselves.

Tony Hawk and the crew are back for the eighth go-around of this venerable game series.
Tony Militarist and the crew are back for the 8th get-effectually of this venerable game series.

The previous Tony Militarist game, American Wasteland, was the kickoff Thursday game to use movement capture of whatever kind; the cutscenes in the game used the technology. While THAW for the Xbox 360 was more than or less a port of the Xbox and PlayStation 2 version of the game, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation iii versions of Project viii have been congenital from the footing upwards specifically to harness the ability of the side by side-gen consoles. With that much processing ability and memory on hand, one of the first orders of business organisation was to make sure that practically any motion or flim-flam plant in the game was offset captured in existent life using the mo-cap studios.

What that entailed was approximately 63 days of mo-cap, which started at the beginning of the development bicycle for Projection eight in February 2006. Forth with in-house staff posing as amateur skaters and pedestrians, which yous often (literally) run into when roaming the open up world of Project 8, every pro skater featured in the game spent some time in the studio being filmed performing not only a number of "standard" tricks and skating moves, but besides signature styles that are unique to that skater. I specially defended pro, Rodney Mullen, spent a total of three days in the studio fine-tuning his tricks for the (multiple) cameras that were recording his every motility.

In addition to dressing the skaters in the requisite spandex and light-capturing balls getup that y'all might exist used to seeing pro brawl players don once a year for video game mo-cap sessions, the Project 8 folks fifty-fifty went and then far as to mo-cap the skateboards themselves. Not simply were the bottoms of the boards fitted with the balls, but special strips were attached to the trucks. Equally a event, subtle details such as board and truck flex are captured in loving detail thanks to the wonders of mo-cap magic.

All of this applied science and detail is designed to brand the tricks in Project eight look more than realistic than ever. Whereas before, every play tricks was hand-blithe by the enormously talented Neversoft art team, at present, each flim-flam volition exist based on the real-life move that was captured in the studio. That doesn't mean the animation guys tin just have the rest of the year off, however; the chore of tying the pull a fast one on animations together and then they flow in a realistic and believable manner is a key element to ensuring that all of the captured tricks play true in the game.

The focus on the moves and physics of skaters and their boards is indicative of the development mind-set behind Projection 8. Parting from the narrative-heavy approaches constitute in the past few Tony Militarist games, Projection 8 is focused squarely on the tricks. There'due south still a story in Project 8--Tony Hawk'due south looking to assemble a team of the eight best apprentice skaters in the earth, and your job will be not simply to make information technology on the squad, but to rise to the number one position--only, in the end, Projection 8 is all about getting on your board and showing what you can exercise.

Daewon Song is one of the many real-life skaters featured in the game.
Daewon Song is ane of the many existent-life skaters featured in the game.

To show off your skills, a slew of different challenge types will be available to you as y'all scoot effectually the Project 8 urban and suburban environments. These include spot challenges, which are set upwardly throughout the world, and you must come across various requirements to laissez passer them, such equally grinding a rail for a certain length or acquiring a huge corporeality of air in big-air challenges. Unlike instanced challenges, spot challenges are available at whatsoever time--to initiate a grind challenge, for instance, you simply commencement the grind near the starting point. Other challenges bachelor in the game, such equally puzzle challenges, require you to get from a starting point to an end point, and will permit y'all motion around a number of objects to create a "path." Ane puzzle challenge required us to maneuver through a number of rails and school buses, earlier grinding quickly around a flag pole and eventually onto a wooden crate. Puzzle challenges will examination not only your trick skills, simply your ability to lay out the objects available to you in such a mode as to pass the challenge. It's not exactly a park creator (which won't exist featured in Project 8), but information technology's pretty fun nonetheless.

Finally, we have to mention the bail challenges scattered throughout the world, which were among our favorite challenges. Hither, the thought is to grab some air and so launch your skater off the board. The game's Havok physics engine kicks in, and your role player flops through the air, bouncing off every tree, column, staircase, and bush he or she hits on the way down. The ragdoll physics are hilariously exaggerated hither, and if nothing else, this mode is proficient for a few laughs.

An essential ingredient for whatsoever play a trick on-based game is finding a balance between making the game appealing to those new to the series while still appeasing vets who are e'er looking for new and exciting ways to punish their fingers. Project 8 addresses this by assigning skill levels to various challenges in the game--am (for amateur), pro, and sick, which y'all can think of every bit bronze, silver, and gilt medal equivalents. Reaching apprentice level for most of the early challenges in the game should exist a breeze, even for those new to skateboarding games. Achieving "pro" level on nigh challenges will require some dedication, while "sick" level is going to take some real cojones. Producers estimate that achieving sick ratings on all the challenges found in the game (and thus earning the "sick" ending), volition take you roughly 20 to 25 hours of game time, depending on your skills, a far cry from the two- to iv-hour sprints that made up the recent Tony Hawk entries.

Some challenges will test your skills on the board, as well as your eye for design.
Some challenges will test your skills on the lath, too as your eye for pattern.

As is the case with many next-generation games, Tony Militarist's controls make liberal use of the analog sticks. Pushing the left stick forward while in the air, for example, volition pull off a kick flip with the lath, and in that location are many more than variations you can pull off using both analog sticks. The coolest instance of the new analog controls, and an entirely new feature in the game, is the "boom the flim-flam" characteristic. It essentially lets you create your own trick on the wing, and you tin can access "boom the fox" mode either past entering specific challenges of the same proper noun or by clicking the 2 analog sticks at any time.

In this mode, the game volition boring down, and the camera volition shift to the side, focusing on your lath and your feet. Each analog stick controls one of your feet--the left stick controls the foot closest to the left border of your screen, while the right stick controls the pes closest to the right. Equally you fly through midair, you lot can movement either pes up or downwards to flip your board as yous go, opening a wealth of base and branching tricks that are initiated depending on whether the board is record-upward or trucks-up. As the lath flips through the air, it essentially becomes its own physics object and will react realistically with your anxiety depending on which mode you motion the sticks. While the developers initially had "nail the play a trick on" tied just to specific challenges, they liked the style so much they decided to brand it office of the actual control scheme, letting you initiate the mode whenever you wish. In another bit of smart design, tricks pulled off in this way will also count toward your philharmonic scores, which should make it i more weapon in the arsenal of the Tony Hawk hardcore who regularly rack upwardly 1000000-point combos.

Equally you skate your fashion effectually the globe in Project eight, every trick you pull off will go toward your overall progression as a skater. Grind for long enough, and your proficiency at grinding will advance--make enough big-air jumps, and your skill will get up in that surface area. If y'all want, you tin check out a detailed expect at your skater'due south stats and run into exactly how much you have to do to get to advance in any particular skill area (just 838 more anxiety of grinds before getting that next level!)

Graphically, Tony Hawk is looking sharp. Skater models--whether they are scans of real-life pros (which are, for all intents and purposes, duplicate from their existent-life counterparts) or created skaters we got to mess around with during the demo--are vibrant looking and animate well, and there'south very little in the way of frame charge per unit or animation stuttering to complain virtually. Things may be mo-capped out the wazoo in Project 8, but the animations themselves seem shine and silky. In addition, the environments that yous skate through are lively and interesting looking, with plenty of objects to collaborate with, lots of elevation changes to take advantage of, and loads of peds to mow downwards in your quest for skating celebrity. The game's audio deserves some special mention as well--we liked how the sound would change depending on what kind of surface we were skating over, exist it cobblestone, grass, or a rubberized pool cover.

Filmer challenges will require you to follow a cameraman and pull off the tricks he calls out.
Filmer challenges will require you to follow a cameraman and pull off the tricks he calls out.

Game modes in Project 8 volition include the career fashion, create a skater (which we didn't become to check out, unfortunately), and online and split-screen multiplayer. On the online side, Project viii will include a number of leaderboards for various challenges institute in the game, as well every bit back up for up to eight virtual skaters online. I new multiplayer game type we learned about is dubbed "walls." Hither, as you skate along, you'll be trailed by a line that creates walls. Should ane of your opponents hit this wall, you'll earn a "frag," the ultimate goal beingness to box in your opponents (sort of like a skating version of the old arcade geometry battle Qix).

With its onetime-school focus on tricks and challenges, a revamped command scheme, and some cool new features, Tony Hawk'due south Project 8 is looking like an appealing mix of the old and the new. We'll accept more on the game leading up to its release this fall, as well as a full review once the game hits shop shelves.

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