The remake of every skateboarder's favorite series is officially released, and Iron Galaxy nailed the look and feel of the original with plenty of quality-of-life updates and added features. Movement on the skateboard feels natural, and they did a great job making every trick or combo feel exhilarating and not clunky, as you will always gain momentum and speed after a perfect landing. Grinding, which is my favorite trick to master, is super responsive and will quickly become your favorite skill because multiple grinds and tricks quickly add multipliers to your score so that you can rack up points. There are new levels to explore, like Waterpark and Movie Studio, and you can expect to see some of the classics, like Oil Rig or Carnival. There is also a create-a-park mode for those who are super creative and want to build out their own special skate park. On top of new maps and features, the game as a whole saw plenty of updates with 60fps support, better lighting, and a needed upgrade to play physics, so landing difficult tricks is much more rewarding because landing is not as easy as it may have been before.

Master Trick Accuracy and Control with These Recommended Settings:

Tony Haw’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 has introduced tons of much-needed upgrades, and the overall look and feel are crisp and natural, but that also means you will find yourself wiping out more often if you are not landing level and facing the right way. As your momentum takes you through ramps, half pipes, and grinding from rail to rail, you will find yourself focusing more on balance and board direction than anything else. Fortunately, as part of the upgrades introduced in this remake, settings were overhauled, and you can now fully remap any buttons as well as your movement input stick. When it comes to remapping controls or specific buttons, you will mostly rely on personal performance, but there are a few recommendations I have to make things seem more natural when playing. First, I would encourage remapping your A/O button to the right trigger, especially if you are using the right thumbstick to be your movement control. This will prevent you from taking your thumbs off your movement stick to hit a specific jump or time your ollie. Plus, you will naturally move faster when in the crouch position when holding down the right trigger.

If you are struggling with your timing and landing tricks consistently, I would recommend keeping the stance and landing indicator on to make sure you are in the right position to successfully land a trick. Knowing which stance you are in will help you predict the type of trick you will be able to pull off, and using a non-dominant foot to start off a trick will give you a nice multiplier but will also be harder to land. You can also toggle the camera view to 4 different selections (Default, low, far & near). I do not think any of these make a significant difference, but preference is important when playing a game that relies on precision after a bunch of movement. Lastly, if you are struggling with a specific skill or main aspect of the game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4 has mods that can be turned on to help. These different mod selections consist of balancing mods for several moves like grinds, skitching, and even instant recovery, so if you are trying to beat the clock, you may rely on this to maximize your session time. These can make the game more enjoyable, but a few are major crutches, so I would not rely on these heavily if you are looking to learn and master these skills.

How to Improve Trick Control in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4 with KontrolFreek

Now that we have covered the basics of the game and recommended settings, let's dive into the ultimate tool for ensuring precision and movement mastery, KontrolFreeks. In a game like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 + 4, movement and momentum are the keys to success and high scoring because if you can always land perfectly or ensure perfect balance while grinding, you will be reaching high scores in no time. When it comes to movement and rapid thumbstick directional changes, you may encounter instances of slippage, especially if you are mid-air trying to land a high skill move while maintaining your balance. KontrolFreek Omni performance Thumbstick has the largest surface area, and with its cross-hatch concave design, your thumb will be so snug that slippage will hardly cross your mind.

The Omni Performance Thumbstick’s low rise height is the entry-level height for KontrolFreeks, so even if you have never equipped them, they will quickly feel natural. From balancing grinds, landing vert tricks, and mastering bowls and half pipes, you will be relying heavily on your board's positioning while holding your thumbstick in the correct direction to land and cash in on your points. The cross-hatch texture ensures you can trust your thumbsticks for all kinds of wild tricks and movement changes while providing plenty of comfort as the soft proprietary rubber material almost wraps around your thumb. If you are looking to put the grip and surface area of the Omni Performance Thumbsticks, I would challenge you to work on your grind into a vert trick or reverse, this will require a level of balance and thumbstick control to make sure you hit the rail correctly or maintain balance as you dismount with a Kickflip or McTwist vert trick.

How to Get the Most Points Possible From Any Trick or Grind to Unlock Maps Faster

When you start Tony Hawk Pro Skater’s 3 + 4, you will quickly find yourself grinding goals to unlock new maps and areas for you to explore. When it comes to the goals, every level will have a Sick Score, followed by Pro Score and High Score, but if you are able to achieve the Sick Score, you will also achieve the other 2, so in 1 round you could essentially knock out 3 goals in 1. In order to hit the Sick Score, you will need to put up some serious points, and to do that, you will need to understand how points work. Depending on the difficulty, longevity (if grinding), or your board's stance, you have a chance to quickly add multipliers and stack combos to turn a small grind into a 15K point trick. I would recommend learning how to grind first, as combining grinds with vert tricks is a fast way to build up your special and gain a combo boost as well. If you are able to link several grinds together with a vert trick, hit each transition, and you will see just how fast points accumulate. You have to make sure to land it, I have found 50/50 grinds which can be started by pushing forward at the time you begin to grind are the easiest to balance but when adding vert tricks such as kickflip you will need to quickly spin to ensure you land properly or else you will finish a long combo flat footed and waste everything. Once you have mastered grinding, you are on your way to being a consistent top scorer and hopefully unlocking new maps with ease.