Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 grinds into view, due out this year

After a few years out of the spotlight and months of teases from the Hawkman himself, Activision’s Tony Hawk skateboarding game franchise is finally returning with a brand new entry this year. And it’s going back to its classic roots.

In fact, the game will be called Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5, despite several additional entries that followed 2002’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4. Those later games expanded out and arguably overcomplicated the game design, so using the original series branding seems like a nod towards the simplicity of the past.

Game Informer has the first exclusive story on the game, and it sounds like it’ll feature all new levels but with the familiar controller-based gameplay of old – but also, curiously, missions where you can shoot projectiles. That part doesn’t sound too appealing on paper, but we’ll give it the benefit of the doubt until we can actually try the game for ourselves.