Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4's new levels impress me as much as the rebuilt classics: "This needs to feel like we found this on a hard drive for THPS4 and we revitalized it"

I sit down and pick up my controller, cradle my headphones around my ears, and I am instantly met by the blast beat percussion of The Adolescents' hit song 'Amoeba' – this is Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, but in many ways it's the exact same game I remember playing back in 2001. The team at Iron Galaxy have recreated this cultural touchstone for games and skate culture, but also bring plenty of new ideas to the table.

At a recent preview event I played through a significant chunk of this new remaster and walked away more excited about the new levels and ideas the team are crafting. Of course, you'll be right at home with all of your favorite skaters like Bob Burnquist, Rodney Mullen, and Kareem Campbell to name a few. You'll also find all of the iconic maps of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 fully built from the ground up with loving detail and new twists. During my time with the hands-on build I noticed plenty of new NPCs and dialogue as you shred past them. Funny quips like "The vibes are off" from someone trapped behind a glass wall in Suburbia or folks outside of the El Rey theater recounting old Tony Hawk games of the past. There's enough new here to uncover, even for long-time veterans of the series.

Old skaters, new tricks

The team at Iron Galaxy also crafted entirely new levels for this game, like Waterpark which combines wacky new concepts from the studio with the form and function of the original package. The team doesn't want these newer levels to feel out of place.

"The instructions I gave the level designers for Waterpark was this needs to feel like we found this on a hard drive for 4 and we revitalized it," design manager Mike Rossi tells me. "Like, for some reason, they couldn't put it in the game. But we found it, we redid it, and we made it modern so it feels like it was left on the cutting room floor." Waterpark is just one of a few new levels Iron Galaxy is adding, and the blueprint has left me excited to see what other levels the team have cooking.

The twisting waterslides and rundown abandoned aesthetic of Waterpark fits in with the tone the series has always laid forth. The idea that skaters will flock to anywhere to land a sick trick or spend some time making a mess of things.

Whether you're finding that pesky secret tape or grinding over water valves to drain a pool, the flow of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 is consistent in these new levels. It still feels great to land tricks, reverts, and extend your combos with manuals and the other tools at your disposal. Iron Galaxy has even reworked mechanics like skitching on cars for the levels in THPS3 to allow for a more cohesive experience between the two games.

The classic friction of completing goals with a two minute timer is just as challenging as I remember, but this time around you're able to customize the timer to be up to an hour if you want more time in each of these levels. It's a nice touch, and ultimately one that gives everyone more options. Even having Foundry memorized like the back of my hand, I still feel the pressure of the timer all these years later. Every second in a level counts, and learning to extend your time with a nasty combo string still feels as game-breaking as it did before.

It wouldn't be a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game without a killer soundtrack. THPS 3 + 4 brings the hits, melding classics from the original games with newer hip-hop artists and hardcore bands like Turnstile and Danny Brown to create something entirely new.

I ask Rossi about the process of picking new bands for the soundtrack: "My audio design lead put together a big list of stuff. Activision put together a list and Tony's obviously got his list so, it was a collaborative effort to kind of figure out," he shares. "What do we feel is like a good representative of current skate culture as well. You know, what are skaters listening to, right?" The eclectic mix of genres still embodies the spirit of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater – the soundtrack is still a foundational pillar. It's nice to see it honored, while still evolving to embrace the modern day skate culture as much as how it was 20 years ago.

Players who purchase the deluxe edition will receive the Doom Slayer as a Secret Skater alongside some new special moves and soundtrack options, but some things in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 are still a secret.

I ask Rossi about the Spongebob tease at the end of the Nintendo Switch 2 trailer for the game and he mentions that secret areas in levels are an "expectation" the team has tried to balance. Getting to add fun and exciting areas to the game is something Iron Galaxy is stoked about. "There's still plenty more secrets to come, I wish I could spill them all to you now," Rossi says when I ask him about what else to expect, which leaves me hopeful there are new discoveries worth seeking out.

I walk away from Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 feeling like a kid again. Ready to sink countless hours into learning the perfect combo string in Foundry or searching for hiddens secrets in the frat-filled College. I might be what some people call a functioning adult these days, but it's nice to feel young again, even if my knees don't always agree.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 releases on July 11, 2025 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is in the works, but the release date is still unknown at this time. Keep an eye on our new games 2025 list for updates.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 could be making a major change to Pro Skater 4, with the apparent removal of free-roaming in favor of "streamlined goals"