It’s good to see it back, but also slightly upsetting to see what it’s become. Meanwhile, the Mall stage from the original Tony Hawk has seemingly been closed down at some point over the past 20 years and is now the sort of run-down, decrepit location you see in YouTube videos of people breaking into long-abandoned buildings.

Not many sports games can get away with a cast that mostly consists of people in their 40s and 50s but this does (though a bunch of new, fresher faces have also been added, just in case). The real-life pro skaters from the first two games return here too, but their character models are based on what they look like today, not in 1999. This idea extends beyond graphical fidelity, too: this is a game that knows it’s been released more than two decades after the original and isn’t afraid to embrace it.

Since many of this game’s players will be fans of the original, though, it’s important to point out that serious work has gone into this upgrade and it isn’t simply an aggressive upscaling of the original assets: this is a brand new take on an old game.

Granted, when you judge it on its own merits it may not be too overwhelming: the level of detail in each stage, each skater’s outfit, even each skateboard may be considered the norm by today’s visual standards.

Tony hawk pro skater 3 review