Been playing lots of Tony Hawk games lately

Today I was playing Tony Hawk's Proving Ground on my DS. Picked it up last month after spending a day with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 on my Playstation. You know, just to see what the hell was being done with the series. I have sort of mixed feelings about it.

On one hand, I like the fact that a skilled player can now continue a combo indefinitely. There aren't tricks that will instantly end your line anymore, at least, as long as you know how to use them properly. They range from the vitally useful (reverts, aggro kicks, spine transfers, acid/bank drops, etc. - and I'm aware most of those aren't unique to Proving Ground) to the completely useless, but awesome (bert slides, footplants, flatland tricks, natas spins, focus mode, etc.). Also, as far as I can tell, the nollie button is gone. I don't miss it. Never used it in the old games and wouldn't use it in this one. One curiosity in the DS version of Proving Ground is the stylus tricks. There's no reason those need to be there. They don't add anything to the game, and they're not implemented well at all.

On the other hand, it's now become virtually impossible to bail. You don't bail when you jump straight into a wall. You don't bail when you go off a quarterpipe, catch air, and land on flat land. You don't bail pretty much ever unless you lose your balance in a grind or a manual or hold a trick too long. It really has gotten far too easy. And even when you do bail, you can save your score with the Freak Out system, which, frankly, is pretty lame. While I understand that the style of gameplay is more "arcade" oriented, it's just gotten to the point where the challenge has been sucked right out of it, especially for players who've been around the series for a while.

So I really hope they go back to the drawing board with it. Maybe a more challenging gameplay style is in order? I'm not talking Skate-style realism here, but at least something a little less cartoonish (and yeah, I'm aware it's even been toned down since THUG2 - the low point of the main series in my opinion).