Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 is a great game and a good remake. There, I said it.
One of the first games I ever owned was the original THPS3. For no particular reason, I skipped 4 and went straight to Tony Hawk's Underground and Underground 2 (entries 5 and 6) afterwards. I played the hell out of all three at the time, but then I lost track of the series—probably not a coincidence, as subsequent games got worse and worse reviews—until rediscovering the series through speedruns, PC modding, and then a surprise remake of the first two games.
I really enjoyed 1+2, as did most people. I didn't play either THPS1 or THPS2 when they originally released, but I knew what was up and had even played some of their levels in other THPS games. The remake did a great job at standardizing (and modernizing) the controls, graphics, and goals, and ended up being a reasonable success.
What happened to 3+4? Why does this game have mixed reviews on Steam?
The short answer is that it's an extremely good remake of THPS3, plus a direct sequel to THPS3 that uses 7 THPS4 levels and 3 brand new levels. Unfortunately, that second part is mostly unrelated to what THPS4 actually was, which disappointed a lot of people. 3+4 is only a remake of THPS4 in the sense that those 7 levels and their most iconic goals still exist, just within the bounds of a 2-minute career mode.
I won't defend Activision or Iron Galaxy on this point. Releasing the game without THPS4's original career mode was mean. Not porting two of the levels from THPS4, even if they were semi-bonus levels in the original, hurts too. But I have played and enjoyed 2-minute career games (THPS3, THUG2's classic mode, 1+2) and free-skating, individual goal-driven games (THUG, THUG2), and I think that 3+4 does a good job at distilling the essence of THPS4 into the faster format.
Granted, my experiences and preferences for THPS games might not line up with the average gamer. I'm pretty good at high-scoring combos compared to most casual players, but I don't optimize for incredible scores in the tens or hundreds of millions. My favorite part of THPS games is the exploration: where can I go, how do I get up there, how do I get there quickly, and can I string together a combo on the fly to do it.
Something that THPS4 did very right was to make all its levels large. The first two games had a few sizable levels (School, Streets, School II) and long-but-narrow levels (Mall, Downhill Jam) interspersed with small rectangular levels (Warehouse, Burnside, Hangar). The variety was good, of course, and some grace is given for creating a new video game series on the original Playstation, but the small levels were never quite as much fun. THPS3 followed the same formula: large levels (Los Angeles, Cruise Ship), a long level (Airport), and smaller levels (Foundry, Skater Island). To be fair to Warehouse, Hangar, and Foundry, all three of those levels are the starting locations for their career modes; they are there to serve as easy introductions to the game.
THPS4's open-world format meant that small levels would get boring and claustrophobic very quickly, however. College, THPS4's first level, is mostly flat and easy to traverse, but it still has multiple distinct areas and is fun to skate around for an exploration junkie like myself. Only Kona feels similarly flat and simple; the rest of the THPS4 levels are even larger or otherwise have more to explore. Additionally, THPS4's levels are thick with rails and grind lines, especially Shipyard and Alcatraz. Some of the routes are really precise, but generally the game is flexible with how you get between areas, which is appreciated.
Let's chat about the new stuff: things that weren't present in THPS3 or THPS4 at all, or were greatly changed from previous entries.
First, a few negative items. The brand-new levels are, uh, fine. Movie Studio is an acceptable competition level—it's a little cramped, but it plays OK. Waterpark is an acceptable exploration level with a lot of teleports—not my usual cup of tea, but it's novel. I'm really not a fan of Pinball, though. It looks cool, and its abstract nature fits it well as the final level in the career mode... but the low density of objects, the weird scale of the ramps and rails, and the instant-kill pinball running around don't make me excited for repeat playthroughs. It's a disappointing end to the 3+4 career mode experience.
Because of the change in format, the THPS4 career within 3+4 needed to include three competition levels. In the first three THPS games, these serve as a break from regular career levels and provide a simple challenge: get a high score, quickly. For someone who loves exploration first and foremost, competition levels usually feel underwhelming. They're often the smallest levels in the game, so there's little to discover aside from a couple stat points or cash collectables hidden in the corners. Movie Studio is the first competition level in THPS4's career, as mentioned above. THPS4's Kona gets relegated to being the second competition park, removing all of its original goals; for a level that is mostly flat ground and quarterpipes, this seems like only a small loss.
The transformation of Zoo into a competition level is a major downgrade. There's multiple exhibits that don't really get used. In fact, there aren't any animals in the zoo at all. It's dark, it's clearly abandoned, and there are no signs of life except for you and the competition judges. The dilapidated aesthetic is a choice both 1+2 and 3+4 made for several levels, but where e.g. Mall and Skater Island feel like simple visual choices, Zoo feels like a cop-out to avoid adding animal models and animations to the game. It's well-known that Iron Galaxy had both a time and budget crunch on 3+4, which certainly led to the career mode changes earlier in the project but may have contributed to smaller items like this as well.
Now let's get into the positives, starting with some small changes from 1+2. I'm glad 3+4 has collectible cash, originally present in both THPS2 and THPS4. Almost every "secret area" (some are more secret than others) in 3+4 has a cash icon hidden there, or possibly a hidden deck. 1+2's lack of cash and decks meant that some secret areas were just... there, rewardless. Additionally, the "player level" system from 1+2 is gone, which seemed like a cute way to track how long you'd been playing but in practice didn't do anything except lock an incredibly grindy achievement.
The way that 3+4 doles out additional challenges is completely new to the series and is really smart. In fact, it might have been too smart, because I've seen a lot of complaints online about a lack of challenge and low replayability. Those people didn't beat the game (and are telling on themselves) but also didn't realize that they would be rewarded for beating the game.
Please skip to the next section if you don't want to be spoiled, as I'm going to discuss the game progression and reveal many of its secrets in this part.
It's not initially clear that there will be anything to do after you beat career mode. You grab stat points, you clear goals, and you get to the final level with three medals and some percentage of the goals done. That's it? No, silly. Once you get all six gold medals and all goals on all other parks, you unlock pro goals!
For regular levels, this means five new things to complete: a very high Platinum score, COMBO letters, and three others. COMBO was a mainstay in THPS4 and beyond, and it makes a welcome return here. As every goal from THPS3 is already in use, its new pro goals are made-up and fairly simple, a lot of "do trick X on gap Y" and "collect all the Zs". A few are notable: you have to grind down the ramp in Foundry's secret room, finally giving that room a purpose; the Canadian who was peeing into the ice in THPS3 is now tied to a goal (and isn't relieving himself anymore); the secret abyss in the haunted Suburbia house is tied to a goal. THPS4's pro goals are mostly remixed versions of goals from the original game and are generally more interesting than THPS3's as a result. Getting rid of the rude dudes in San Francisco is tricky to figure out, but it's a good example of a multi-part goal that the game allows you to figure out by exploring and experimenting.
For competition levels, this means a new tier of medal, Platinum, which requires you to perform some task during your three runs while still scoring well. These frequently push you to explore the level more completely, which I love. Tokyo's platinum medal requires you to enter the secret area, which went unused in THPS3. Zoo's platinum medal now requires you to travel to every area of the park, including the monkey and bird exhibits. (The timer means you still don't get to spend a lot of time in the exhibits, which is a shame.)
The pro goals are the largest thing hiding in the game, but they are far from the last. If you complete all pro goals on all levels, you unlock additional difficult challenges (think in-game achievements) as well as Solo Tours. Now, in true THPS3 style, the game will track career completion separately for every single skater in the game. Each career changes up the goals slightly: some items like SKATE letters may be in different places, and one goal per level (of the "do X trick over Y gap" type) may be different as well. Additionally, each skater has their own cash collectibles and secret decks to find.
One last note: 3+4 has fewer metagame challenges overall than 1+2, including no multiplayer or custom park challenges. I'm a huge fan of this change. I know developers see optional challenges as ways to keep people playing their game longer and interacting with all its features, but let's face it: a ton of people, myself included, think of THPS as a single player game. Multiplayer dating back to THPS3 was popular enough, but not the main draw. Couple that with the finicky nature of playing online, requiring other people around your skill level to be playing online with a good network connection, and you run the risk of creating frustration for those who like casual achievement hunting.
If you skipped ahead, welcome back. This section is just for me to talk about THPS3. As a huge THPS3 fan, I noticed many subtle differences between the original and 3+4, some of which I'll share here.
As in 1+2, the game engine in 3+4 is very similar to THPS4's. Compared to THPS3, the biggest gameplay changes are:
All these add up to make a smoother and more forgiving experience for 3+4 than THPS3. Leveling out and wallplants prevent missed jumps and poorly planned routes from ending ad hoc combo lines, which is overall a good thing. It's small, but lost in the change is the reward of mastering tricky jumps and lines in the game as a whole. For wallplants specifically, the levels were not designed around them, so some tricky spots in e.g. Foundry and Los Angeles turn into obvious combo extenders, which is a little unsatisfying. Spine transfers were not in the original design either, but I think they're narrow enough that the additional options don't change the feel of the levels, and they are fun to do.
Here's a few more minor, but still meaningful changes:
People say a lot of negative things about THPS 3+4. The biggest complaint is true: they did not remake THPS4. The second biggest complaint is also true: the soundtrack does not include most of the songs from the original games. But a lot of other complaints are simply wrong. Yes, 3+4 does have a lot of optional challenges and decent replayability, as discussed above. No, it's not "censorship" to update some of the edgy and exaggerated jokes. Yes, the developers put a lot of love into the game and are clearly fans of the originals, even if they had to compromise. No, not every goal or minigame in THPS4 was a winner and needed to be remade.
3+4 is not perfect. The new levels are meh. The custom skater clothes are boring. Occasionally your skater lands the wrong way from a spine transfer and bails for no reason. But there's still a ton of great gameplay in 3+4, and I highly recommend it to fans of any previous THPS game.