There's a difference between innovation and simply adding heaps of new stuff into a game. Project 8, the previous game in the Tony Hawk series, introduced us to Nail-the-Trick, a move that allowed you to zoom in on the trick and manipulate your skater's feet and board. In Proving Ground, Neversoft have pretty much extended this option to everything they can, giving you ‘Nail' control over manuals and grabs as well. While this is all well and good, it's this type of en masse design philosophy that permeates Proving Ground, resulting in a somewhat desultory and unfocused overall experience.

The game as a whole is a little bit awkward. It really does feel almost archaic coming back to the Tony Hawk controls. Of course, the TH games have always been fast-paced, so it's not really valid to complain about having to hammer a lot of buttons to get insane combos going. But there's also the fact that Skate has recently come out of the gates with a brand new and (once you get over the learning curve) intuitive control interface. With both games releasing so close together, comparisons are invariably going to be made between the two.

Proving Ground departs a little bit from previous Tony Hawk games by using a tripartite career structure. In keeping with its rather esoteric presentation (this really is a skating game for those people who are ‘in the know' when it comes to skating culture) you get to choose your own skating ‘style'. First up there is the Rigger option, which focuses primarily on manipulating the environment to increase your chances of an awesome line. If you go down the Rigger path you'll be placing ramps and rails all over the place in order to collect nails and odds and ends in an effort to impress other riggers... apparently. I don't know; it all comes off as pretty silly to me, especially the fact that your bum skater apparently owns a whole warehouse in which to create all of these cool things. The editor itself is very limited, and you need to actually buy extra pieces with the money you earn out in the game world (money is earned by completing spot challenges and story missions), so in the end the Rigger path was probably my least liked option.

The second path is that of the Hardcore skater. Tremble in your boots citizens because apparently all of your hard-earned tax dollars go towards financing tough-looking skaters with a penchant for tattoos and "skating on the edge, dude!” The Hardcore path is all about impressing very tough looking men by performing difficult bowl-carving and slash-grind moves, as well as gaining extra points for skating close to other competitors and the like. It's pretty airy fairy, if you ask me, with the whole thing coming across as almost a parody of itself. It doesn't help that I have no idea who most of the ‘famous' hardcore skaters are. So when someone yells out, "Hey check it out, it's –insert awesome famous skater's name here-!!” it means absolutely nothing because I have no idea who –insert awesome famous skater's name here- is. But of course, Neversoft are kind enough to include a short, grainy video clip of some smelly kid performing tricks in front of a fish-eye camera. Awesome.

The third option is career skating, which is more in line with what most of us are used to in these games: getting into competitions, getting videos and photos into magazines and so on. The only big problem with this is that you're forced to do everything yourself. If you'll allow another comparison to Skate – that game has an always-on replay system, so if you find yourself doing something totally legendary you simply need to pause the game and rewind the footage to find the clip you want to save. Proving Ground is completely the opposite, working on a system where you have to actually choose the time and place where you're going to impress, which just plain sucks. Not only does this limit the amount of funny shenanigans you can show your mates, it adds undue stress on you during the important moments of filming or taking pictures. Add to this the fact that you have to manually take photos by clicking the right thumbstick in and you have a completely frustrating and interruptive recording system.

What the tripartite career system does is allow you to carve your own distinctive path throughout the game's main cities (which themselves are incongruously pushed together and linked by large bridges). What it does not do, however, is give you any sense of freedom. Exploring the world can be quite good fun and some gamers will get a blast out of being able to place ramps anywhere, anytime. You do get a sense of freedom when just cruising around. However the career challenges are very specific and require you to hit particular lines, usually within a time limit. So where Skate allows you to choose the time and place of a challenge, allowing you to discover your own lines and favourite spots, Proving Ground forces you down a pre-determined path all the time.

Proving Ground looks okay but is at times quite an ugly game. This is most apparent when watching the game's characters, which all look like they've all been hit with the ugly stick and then burnt with it too. There's also a very strange glowing-mouth effect going on whenever they speak. The game's environments are urban, dirty and dingy, which suits the game's main pitch. Textures are nicely detailed but overall the game doesn't really come across as being much of a looker.

The soundtrack is, again, okay but there's nothing here that really stands out. Custom soundtracks are not supported, which is a fairly glaring oversight in my humble opinion. I found the voice work to be serviceable but none of the pro skaters really deliver their lines with any kind of believability, with most of them coming across as rather bored and uninterested.

My biggest gripe with the game is the way that it really feels like it's talking down to you. Throughout most of the game you're treated like a complete moron and it's as if the game itself is almost too cool for you to even be allowed to play it. This comes across as a bit strange because throughout the whole game you're pretty much getting told that you need to learn this new skill or take on that new challenge. You never really feel like you're on top of it.

This mood to the game is also a bit strange seeing as the game itself really does seem to cater to those hardcore Tony Hawk gamers, to the point where if you even attempt to step online you'll most likely be transported straight to Noobstown within milliseconds. If you can't pull of multi-million point combos then you're pretty much ostracised. As a result it seems that Proving Ground can't really decide exactly what audience it's trying to target, to the detriment of the game's direction, presentation and overall mood.