Tony hawk - The series that just died

So as some of you might know, a new tony hawk game just came out on smartphones called Tony Hawk's Shred Session and all I can say is, I'm very disappointed.
This game is a departure from the original game mechanics and involves you swiping your finger to do tricks and while it might seem not that bad at first, it's really bad. For starters its a free-to-play endless runner, you yep there are gonna be microtransactions. And I don't just mean like "Pay $0.99 for coins" but I mean a lot of them. Some of them even cost over $100!

Now if this game didn't have the Tony Hawk label, would it a bit better? The answer is, kinda. The game is filled with glitches, some things you need to figure out (like how to do particular tricks) with even sometimes they won't do it at all. Oh and the game likes to crash at times.

But how exactly does this game mean the series is close to death? You might be thinking this is just an overreaction but its bigger than that. I'm gonna go back to the beginning of the decline.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

Now the start of the Decline on the series is said to be the release with American Wasteland. Now the game isn't the worse but did have some elements that showed the series was about to decline (for example the game felt like a tutorial for about half the game, had the same engine as Underground 2, plus others) but despite this the game still has many pros.

Tony Hawk's Project 8/Proving Ground

These games had changed how the previous games worked. The mechanics and graphics were changed to something a bit more realistic, while still having the same controls as the previous games. Some fans didn't enjoy them while others did, with many fans (including me) agreeing that Proving Ground is the last good (or even just the last) Tony Hawk game. Pretty much after this the series had just died and I'm gonna explain why.

It is possible that the series Skate might have something to do with the decline as THPG was released the same time as Skate 1.

Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam

This is the first Spin-off game in the series and was released on the wii, ds and PS2 at the same time as Project 8. Instead of traditional tony hawk gameplay involving completing goals, it had you racing against other skaters in downhill environments. Because it was released the same time as Project 8 this game isn't classed as on the of the games that ruined the franchise and can be excused (because hey the only people who would've grabbed it were the ones who owned a wii/ds and the fanbase for those consoles wouldn't have minded.

Tony Hawk's Motion

Bet you didn't know this game existed? It was the only Tony Hawk game to be released in 2008 and was a DS exclusive. Probably the only reason this game is easily forgotten is the fact it was a DS exclusive and wasn't even that good (it came with another game which reviews say was better)

Tony Hawk Ride/Shred

Now this is where the series went and gave a giant middle finger to the fans. This time instead of using a controller they used a skateboard controller. Now it might seem like a good idea to some but the series wasn't about trying to be realistic like that. It was meant about having unrealistic fun (Tony Hawk's Underground 2 is really unrealistic). Because of the negative reception of the first one, Tony Hawk went ahead and ignored it and ended up making a sequel called Shred. Yep he didn't care and ended up making a sequel that sold 3,000 copies in its first week. As you would expect that game got negative reception as well.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD

This game was released about 2 years ago on the PSN, xbox marketplace and steam and was meant to help save the series. But did it exactly? 

Pros and Cons

Unlike Ride and Shred, this game went back to its roots and could only be played on a controller (unless you were playing on PC, but even that if you're using keyboard you're gonna have a bad time). Along with this it featured levels from THPS1 and THPS2 (DLC included levels from THPS3). Now these levels ended up looking pretty nice and the soundtrack is also good featuring tracks from THPS2 (plus Superman from THPS1) and other songs from artists like Middle Class Rut and Trent Reznor. But despite that there were some problems.
Sure some songs weren't in the game but that's not what I'm concerned about. The controls aren't exactly the best and there are plenty of glitches (including that wallride glitch). Local multiplayer is not included which is pretty stupid as that is what made the originals special. And to add insult to injury the PC version lacks online Multiplayer (so much for a master race eh). Also some of the levels do have areas that could have a bit of improvment (for example School II, to get into the Gym it's a lot harder than THPS2)

How could the game be improved?

Obviously include Local Multiplayer and fix some glitches would be good but if the PC version included Workshop support, that game would just sell so much that.

In fact to be honest I could call Pro Skater HD the worse tony hawk game that I would play, so it's not as bad as Ride, Shred and others but not as good as the other games.

So is the series dead?

The answer, is no. The Tony Hawk series will never die. Sure they'll release terrible games but the fans will make awesome ones. For example some fans have recently been modding THUG2 to include every level from THPS1-THAW. And if a series has a fanbase like that, then it shows the it is alive in them, not the developers.