You are a new skater in the city of L.A.. The main drive of the game is that your hanging around with a skating group and its leader, who also happens to be a skating legend, at their skate park in Beverly Hills called Skate Ranch. Throughout the game you must help your friends by getting skate pieces for Skate Ranch. The game marks the third reinvention of the series, with Pro Skater being the first, and Underground being the second. It comes with brand new features like the ability to change your personal appearance in game, as well as the ability to get off of the skateboard and use a BMX. For the first time all of levels are strung together into one big environment, which gets rid of loading times and menu selection. Old features were also kept like Create-a-park, which dates back to the Pro Skater series. Missions are still acquired by going up to random people or friends and accepting the mission they want you to run. The game also includes a multiplayer mode and co-op for up to 2 players for added replay value.
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I have a kinda weird relationship with this game. I love it a lot, but I consider it to be a weaker entry in the series. I just have tons of little issues. The huge amount of tutorials, the annoying roadblocks, the fact that there's almost too many moves you can do. Just lots of minor annoyances. Doesn't help that this was my first time playing a THPS game on the GameCube, which that d-pad was not made for games like this.
But... despite all that, I really love the Ethos of this game. It almost feels like the most Authentically Punk game in the series! Yes, some of the crude 2000s humor is an eyeroll, but the rags-to-riches story is really endearing with some fun characters and plays around with the history of the sport in an interesting way. Plus, it's still a Tony Hawk game! It's tons of fun! These levels are top notch. Sure it's not a true open world, but I respect the ambition a ton.
Overall, it's hard for me not to love a game in this series. The only Neversoft one I don't love is Proving Ground. So even a weaker Tony Hawk game still fucking rules.
P.S. Runs perfect on Steam Deck