THPS 3+4‘s New Photo Mode Is A Powerful Tool You Should Be Using

2020’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 didn’t include a photo mode. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 fixes this mistake and includes the popular option, and as you’d expect, it’s great for taking photos of your skater doing cool stuff. But it’s also a very powerful tool that you should use to find goals, collectibles, and new paths.

Out now on every platform, THPS 3+4 is a fantastic remake of PS2-era skating games Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. You can read my full review over here, where I gush more about it, but one thing I didn’t mention in that write-up is THPS 3+4′s excellent photo mode. This wasn’t available in THPS 1+2, and it bummed a lot of fans out. But developer Iron Galaxy added photo mode to THPS 3+4, and I’ve already spotted some awesome shots online using the mode. That’s how it’s intended to be used.

Let’s talk about the other way you can use photo mode in THPS 3+4. Close the blinds. Turn off your phone. Whisper. We gotta keep this a secret. It’s dirty. I feel naughty doing it. But if you pause the game and click the photo mode option in THPS 3+4, you can then use the camera to zoom around every level and find all the various goals, collectibles, gaps, and more without the timer ticking down or having to actually skate anywhere. And you won’t be punished for this at all.

Look, I feel bad doing this, but it has helped me a lot. When I was going back through the game and cleaning up some levels where I missed a few hidden stat points, I used photo mode to locate them and make a plan to reach them. I also used it a few times to spot the very hidden secret tapes in some of the levels. It’s been a while since I’ve played the OG games, okay? I don’t remember everything. And photo mode was a useful tool.

Now, I share this information with you. Don’t tell anyone where you heard it from, and be prepared to feel a bit guilty abusing a fun feature like photo mode in this way. If you can deal with that shame, then you’ll easily find all the cash and tapes hidden in every Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 level. People will think you are an expert skater. I won’t tell them otherwise.

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