As usual, many people complained that Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 was too short and that it could be beaten in a weekend -- despite the large amount of unlockable goodies in the game. With Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Neversoft has done a lot of research on what players want in a sequel and as a result, they have crammed over 200 goals into the single-player mode. However, the thing that has us most excited about THPS4 is the improved online mode.

As you probably know, last year's game allowed up to 4 players online. This year's edition will feature up to 8 players at a time. And if you wish, you can divide people into 2 teams of four players. Needless to say, the addition of the team mode should make online gameplay much more interesting. Four on four battles of Slap anyone?

The level editor in THPS4 has also improved. This time around you'll be able to add goals and such to your park. And if time permits, Neversoft will allow users to download official levels to a memory card for unlimited replay value. Sweet.

More information on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 later.

With three Tony Hawk games under their belt, you would think that Neversoft has run out of new features to include in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4. After all, Tony Hawk 3 was a near perfect game, right? Well, believe it or not, THPS4 will be even more deep than its predecessor.

For example, the new Career mode actually plays similar to a basic RPG. You can freely skate around each level (in 60 fps) without a time limit and talk to who ever you want. If you talk to certain people, they will ask you to help them out. For instance, if you find Steve Caballero and talk to him, he will request your help in keeping the local youngsters from getting out of control. Simply pull off the tricks that the kids yell out to you and if you do well, Steve will give you an award for your assistance.

Needless to say, Tony Hawk 4 is jam packed with challenges similar to the one above. To keep the game fresh, there are even a number of mini-games for you to participate in. Chat with the tennis player near the tennis court and he will challenge you to a game of one on one tennis. The humorous part is that your character will use his skateboard as his "racket". In addition to tennis, there will also be a basketball mini game as well.

The create a character, level editor, and online modes will also return in Tony Hawk 4. No word on what new additions will be made to those modes -- but knowing Neversoft, it is almost guaranteed that new items will be thrown in. More info on Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 later.