9 vs. 19 - Volume 1

I've been writing a video game column since 1995 for the Herald-Dispatch. If you do the math, that means I've been reviewing video games since I was a humble 7-year-old with my brother and dad. We did, however, get a break between 1996 and 2000. In the recent past, I went off to college and dad has gone it alone. All that aside, I found my dad's portfolio of all our old video game columns, dating back from '95-'04. Thus, I figured start this column.

The point of this isn't to go back and make fun of a younger and more naive Evan Minsker (although there will be plenty of that). It's to look back and see how these old games hold up today. So now it's time to see how 19-year-old Evan's opinion holds up against 9-year-old Evan's opinion (although actually I'm probably older or younger than that; I honestly just liked the title a lot).


So in this volume of 9 vs. 19, I re-reviewed "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2," the PlayStation classic (PS1, mind you). The original review was published January 19, 2001 (I was actually 13, but like I said, 13 vs. 19 just doesn't sound as cool).

Past Evan: This is a great game. From the high flying tricks to the challenging game play, it's awesome.
Present Evan: Now hold on, past Evan. The game play isn't honestly challenging, it's frustrating. The later Tony Hawk games compensate for the constant crashing with features to make you straighten out your landing before you fall on your face. Also, the revert button and manuals and many new tricks that they invented later made the games much more complex and fun.
Past Evan: In order to get money to buy stuff for your character, you need to start a career. Then you can earn money by performing tricks!
Present Evan: Well isn't someone enthusiastic? There's more to it than performing tricks. It's a frustrating battle of finding letters and barrels and wings and hall passes (and various stuff like that). Some of the tasks are just tedious, unnecessary, and at times, far too easy.
Past Evan: "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2" is one of the coolest games I've ever played.
Present Evan: Okay, you've got me there. It was a pretty cool game. Especially for its time.

This game actually holds up quite well today. It's still very addictive, it's still a lot of fun, and the nostalgia rushed straight to my head when I heard the soundtrack. Ah, middle school. Three years that I never want to see again, and yet I was so in love with Bad Religion, Rage Against the Machine, Millencollin, and that song by Anthrax and Public Enemy.

As you could probably guess, the graphics are sub par, but were amazing at the time.
Why is it that Bob Burnquist looks like a chunky tourist going on a jungle safari?

But if you have a copy of this lying around, please throw it in your PlayStation/PS2/PS3 and rediscover why you liked it in the first place. Forget about the new Tony Hawk games. It's actually pretty nice to rediscover the roots of the franchise.