Like any free roaming game, the only way you can progress in Project 8 is by undertaking (and fulfilling) missions from random people that’ll unlock newer venues and level up your skill as well. Remember when I said the game was easy on newcomers? Yeah well, you’re lucky it’s so since pulling off an amateur rating in any of your missions isn’t all that hard; don’t worry though, you even have your pro and sick ratings to go after in case you’re a veteran of the series (I made my peace with amateur ratings). Some of these quests can be pretty simple while some can get on your nerves since most of them are time based but luckily you don’t have to complete all of them to progress to the next level. Impressing pedestrians and fulfilling these missions will earn you Stokens that are basically the currency of the game and they can be used to purchase new threads, signature moves, skateboards and lots more.
New to this series is the inclusion of the Nail a Trick mode that allows you to create your very own unique tricks on the fly. You can enter this mode by either pressing down on both the analogue sticks as soon as you Ollie of a surface or you can even access this mode by approaching a nail icon floating in the middle of the road. As soon as you begin nailing the trick (sounds pretty obscene huh?) the game slows down drastically and the camera shifts down to your feet. The right analogue stick controls the movement of your right leg while the left analogue stick controls your left leg and during the time that you’re in slow motion you’re supposed to come up with as many combos as possible (that’s the whole inventing trick part by the way)… all while making sure you land back on the board or you’ll end up racking up an impressive hospital bill.
There’s no doubt about the fact that Project 8 is a good looking game; it sports the shine and polish of a next gen game and the entire game is one cohesive (no load times baby) playground but certain erratic frame rate issues keep popping up from time to time. Your skater displays some amusing rag doll physics (courtesy of the Havok engine off course) and every tumble can be enhanced by pressing the ‘Y’ button.
All in all, Project 8 is a fun game no doubt, and it’s got tons of stuff to keep you entertained for hours (including a multiplayer mode which we never tried out); even if you’re a newcomer to the series, hang in there for a while and you may just end up enjoying yourself.
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