A Bunch Of Skateboarders Made A Real Life Version Of The Airport Level From Tony Hawk's Pro Skateboarder
I'm not sure if this is a spicy take or not, but I'd go ahead and say that THPS3 was the best game out of the Pro Skater series. I'd say it's between THPS2 and THPS3 for me, but the fact that 3 was the first to come out on PlayStation2 gives it the edge for me. I remember being a young Jordie and thinking we were officially in the future with the graphics on the PS2. Looking back on it now, maybe not so much. But it was still pretty revolutionary for 2001/2002.
I'd say that the 3 video games I spent the most time of my life playing were NHL Hitz 2002, Madden 2002, and THPS3. So obviously I'm going to say that 3 was the best Tony Hawk game. And then you're going to tell me that 20 years later we have people recreating the Airport level in real life?
This also answers a lifelong question I've had. I always wanted to know how all these different cities across the world were so perfectly set up to be skateparks in the video game. You skate in the middle of San Francisco and there just so happen to be cement highway barriers set up that you can rip a quick 720 off of. You take a skate through Alcatraz and there are just ramps randomly set up everywhere. Shred through the streets of Canada and there are rails galore to grind. It just always seemed crazy to me that these places seemed like they were specifically designed by a city planner to be a skatepark.
Then I watch this video and turns out that, yes, airports are actually designed specifically to be skateparks. All the levels in the THPS series are finally starting to seem a little more realistic all of a sudden. Makes me think the Area 51 skatepark actually exists out there.