Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5: 10 Extreme Sports Sequels We Actually Needed

4. FreekStyle

You have to hand it to EA BIG, once they figured out the instant-fun nature of mapping a trick control scheme to the shoulder buttons, they were off to the races. SSX was all well and good, but it was NBA Street, Facebreaker and in particular Freekstyle here, that took things in bold new directions. Essentially existing to see if the SSX framework could work with another sport, control-wise everything remained mostly the same - save for when you kickstarted your boost meter, the whole view swooshed around in a 360 slow-motion arc, before the drop to the ground heralded in a Burnout-style speed boost, the controlling of which either meant you could snatch a first place from the jaws of defeat, or wipe out on a tree at 200mph. With a host of ridiculous characters (think SSX's Eddie but with way more tattoos and shouting), a selection of twisting courses complete with hidden pathways and a group of real-world MX superstars scanned in to give it a sense of authenticity, it's a real shame this didn't catch on more at launch.