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If THPS4 had the same format as 3 it probably wouldn't have been bad but people would have been saying what they say about Call of Duty now about the series back then. There would have been nothing wrong with the game to retain the same format as its predcessors but they reached a point where the freshness of the game was depleted and they were just sticking to a functional formula.
But what 4 brought to the table was a totally different take on career mode. So as a game it revitalized the experience at a time when sticking to the same concept wouldn't have won over the audience. Not everyone would buy into the new way of doing things but the important thing is that it showed recognition on the part of the devs that they understood that there was a threat of stagnation for a yearly series and attempted to respond to it.
If THPS4 had a standard career mode then the game we're getting here would be fine, I'd know what to expect. However the fact that levels that weren't designed to be explored in the same way as previous games are being adapted to fit that format without any way to take advantage of the broader concepts introduced by THPS4 through its level design is going to be a missed opportunity, undeniably.
Activision support states (quote):
"After completing Career mode, the New Game+ option gives you a chance to return to the tour with all the stat upgrades you acquired in your first playthrough, but expect more challenging goals and tougher tricks to land."
THPS4's levels are more sprawling with considerably more elevation to them. Alcatraz has you spiraling upwards around the winding paths to reach the peak. College has bowls on top of the faculty buildings that you'd never see unless you went exploring. The Shipyard is dotted with small half-pipes inside the shipping containers that you Spine Transfer between.
Plus THPS4's levels have several spots that feel disconnected or unnecessary unless you understand them in context. Alcatraz and London both have big, empty spaces in them that, in a two-minute assault run of the level will make you wonder why they're there (you can even see one of the Alcatraz flatland spots in one of the preview shots). That's because in THPS4 these areas are used for competitions (in Alcatraz there's a piece of construction equipment that drives back and forth and you can do tricks off it during the specific objective that uses that area while the London empty space is used as a flatland competition zone, meaning it makes sense that there's nothing to trick off down there). The Zoo has the aviary and the aquarium areas that feel separate from the main part of the level (they're out of the way and not necessarily somewhere that feels entirely integrated with the level, since the aviary has its own objective associated with its small area while the aquarium had to be unlocked by completing another objective to open it up, and it had its own objective within once it was). These level design concepts worked properly in THPS4's more open-ended design but I think that design is going to fall flat or go to waste without its career structure propping it up.
It says it includes the original tours from both.