Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 tested on PS5 and Xbox Series: does 120fps change the game? - article

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 tested on PS5 and Xbox Series

We have welcomed Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 with great enthusiasm in the past. Vicarious Visions has modernized and revived a beautiful series by re-proposing it on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, but keeping the spirit of the original work intact. Well, we are pleased to say that the update for the next generation consoles of this game is truly remarkable. However, the upgrade process could have been handled better, in fact Activision still asks you for money if you already have the game and want to download the upgrade. we didn't find them during our testing phase. Perhaps the problem lies in the last-gen version upgrade, while we were provided with PS5 and Xbox Series codes which involved a clean install. However, they will probably already have been fixed with a patch that arrived shortly after this article was written. Apart from this premise, the upgrades are very substantial.

The core of the THPS1 + 2 experience is based on two modes, performance and quality, available on all three new consoles. We started the analysis with the Xbox Series S, comparing it to the Xbox One X version. The accompanying graphics enhancements start with enhanced temporal anti-aliasing, which now provides a more stable moving image and less jagged edges. Post-processing receives a slight upgrade: the color palette appears modified to provide a more vivid impact. Effects such as bloom are also improved: light rays are more visible and shadow quality is noticeably higher.

A detailed analysis of Tony Hawk's Pro-Skater 1 + 2 next-gen upgrade.

Watch on YouTube. In fidelity mode THPS1 + 2 aims for a 4K presentation on Series X and PS5, but a dynamic resolution scaler is still active. It is generally not noticeable while playing, but we did notice rather a curious difference in the shadows at a distance between the two machines. The Xbox Series S operates at dynamic 1440p and the resolution variations are more noticeable: the action window appears to be between 1260p and 1440p. Performance is basically at 60fps locked across all platforms. An excellent experience overall, although the only tangible upgrade is anti-aliasing. It could also be argued that the Series S version looks cleaner than the One X, despite the new console having a less computational GPU on paper.

Performance mode is the real star of the show though, allowing all three consoles to run at 120fps. PS5 and Series X rendering at dynamic 1440p (although some Activision advertisements indicate that the PS5 operates at 1080p120), with the HUD rendered in native 4K. Not being equipped with a screen with HDMI 2.1 for this analysis, we did not notice any differences in level between the Xbox and PlayStation, but the PS5 output on the Samsung NU8000 offered a similar image but downscaled it to 1080p120. While DRS is confirmed for performance mode, 1440p appears to be the output resolution for the majority of gameplay time. What about Xbox Series S? Here too the DRS is in action but the graphic compromises are more merciless, with an action window that varies between 720p and 900p.

Our original DF Retro from Tony Hawk's remake compared to the original releases, tested on various platforms.

Watch on YouTube. The good news is that 120fps performance is as solid as 60fps, except for a few minor issues on PS5 and even less on Series S. Series X provides the brightest experience of the three, it is basically stuck at 120fps. On PS5, slight cables do occur when certain visual effects are on stage (such as the rewind effect on the character after a failure), but it is difficult to notice in motion. We've been testing the New York level for quite a while, as John reported some unconvincing points on PS5. There are actually some smudges, but nothing problematic. The Series S version basically places itself in the middle ground between the two flagship consoles, obviously only as far as pure performance is concerned.

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All in all, these slight declines in performance are simply exceptions that prove the rule. Whether you choose to play 60fp or 120fps, the gameplay feels solid and we have to admit that the experience definitely improves by switching to performance mode, so we recommend it on all three consoles. The only qualm here is the lack of 1440p120 support on PS5, a system feature that Microsoft has implemented, unlike Sony. But it's also true that there aren't many titles that run at 120Hz and 4K, so upgrading to an HDMI 2.1 screen isn't critical at the moment.

The final point to consider is loading times. On last-gen they weren't exactly problematic, but with current-gen they definitely improve. A level that takes 14.5 seconds to load on Xbox One X is ready in just five seconds on PS5 and Xbox Series. Sony's machine is slightly faster, just one second, but in practice it means 20% faster, not a little in percentage terms.

We have found that the loading times on the new consoles are on par with the PC version tested on a Core i9 10900K with NVMe SSD with 3.5GB / s read bandwidth. In conclusion, we can say that the strong point of this upgrade to the new generation of Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 + 2 is the 120fps mode: it is truly exceptional. We hope that the problems encountered by some users will be fixed as soon as possible, because the experience is of the highest level.