| Tony Hawk's Proving Ground | |
|---|---|
 North American cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Neversoft Page 44 Studios(PS2 & Wii) Vicarious Visions(DS) |
| Publisher(s) | Activision |
| Series | Tony Hawk's |
| Platform(s) | |
| Release | Mobile |
| Genre(s) | Sports |
| Mode(s) | Single-player,multiplayer |
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground is a 2007skateboarding video game developed byNeversoft for thePlayStation 3 andXbox 360,Vicarious Visions for theNintendo DS, and byPage 44 Studios for thePlayStation 2 andWii.Proving Ground is the ninth installment in theTony Hawk's series, and the last to be developed byNeversoft as the franchise was then transferred toRobomodo, and Neversoft was later shutdown after being merged intoInfinity Ward in 2014.
Proving Ground features gameplay that is more reminiscent of earlierTony Hawk games, whilst including new features such as Nail-The-Manual and Nail-The-Grab. These are similar to the Nail-The-Trick mode from the previous game,Tony Hawk's Project 8.
There are 9 levels in the game. They are in 3 East Coast cities,Baltimore,Philadelphia, andWashington, D.C. The levels differ between the different console versions. In the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, there is oneopen world. In the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions, levels have to be selected by pausing the game. Three different types of goals in Story Mode are available; Rigger, Career, and Hardcore. In each level, there are two arcade machines, one for high scores and the other to play classic mode. This game has three Nail the Trick modes (Nail the Trick, Nail the Grab, and Nail the Manual). The PlayStation 2 and Wii versions do not include Nail the Manual, Bowl Skating and the Mod Tool. The Classic Mode feature allows the player to play each city section in the style of earlyPro Skater games. There is a Free Skate mode on the Nintendo DS version.
The game is the first installment in theTony Hawk's series which allowsonline features via thePlayStation Network. One can host or join an online party, which allows up to 4 players, who are able to free-roam in one of the three cities. The players can also invite other players to theirSkate Lounge, a fully-customisablewarehouse in Philadelphia, where one can put ramps, rails, items, and even challenges.
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | (DS) 79/100[8] (X360) 72/100[9] (PS3) 72/100[10] (PS2) 65/100[11] (Wii) 57/100[12] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Eurogamer | (X360/PS3) 7/10[22] |
| GameSpot | (DS)8/10[17] (X360/PS3) 6.5/10[18] (PS2/Wii) 5/10[19] |
| GameSpy | (PS2)   [27] |
| GamesRadar+ | (X360/PS3)[20] (DS) [21] |
| GameZone | (PS3) 9.2/10[24] |
| IGN | (DS) 8/10[13] (X360/PS3) 7.1/10[14] (PS2) 6.9/10[15] (Wii) 4/10[16] |
| Nintendo World Report | (DS) 9/10[25] |
| Pocket Gamer | (DS)[26] |
| VideoGamer.com | (X360/PS3) 7/10[23] |
Proving Ground was met with mixed to positive reviews upon release. OnMetacritic, both theXbox 360 andPlayStation 3 versions had an average score of 72,[9][10] thePlayStation 2 version had an average score of 65,[11] and theWii version had an average score of 57.[12] All of these scores are considered "mixed or average" by the site. The PlayStation 2 and Nintendo Wii versions were criticized for not having the same mechanics that are in the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions. TheNintendo DS version received generally favorable reviews from critics. OnMetacritic it received an average score of 79 out of 100 based on 21 reviews.[8] OnGameRankings it received an average score of 78% based on 19 reviews.[28] Notably however, the game received a 9/10 from the Official UK Xbox Magazine. The Official UK PlayStation Magazine awarded the game 7/10.