You might not think that a sports title could make it onto a Greatest Games list, but THPS2 is one of those rare accomplishments that presented the real-world event it was trying to ape so enticingly well - that we all ended up going out and attempting to be skaters ourselves. Of course the events in the game were heavily stylised and WAY over the top, but so perfectly fine-tuned were the trick-mechanics and the physics system presented that we easily lost entire days just skating about pulling triple kick-flips and benihanas as the summer months trickled away. EA's Skate series would attempt to replicate this idea of showcasing an uber-cool extreme sport in a purely explorative sense - and they would somewhat succeed for a short time too - but the pleasure in playing the early Tony Hawk's games was increased exponentially by one of the greatest soundtracks in the history of gaming. Say what you want about some of these bands now, but when you were pulling off mile-long grinds and 900° spins as something like Papa Roach's Blood Brothers fired away behind you - it was pure bliss.
