When you're falling back to solid ground, you can initiate a transitional move, such as a footplant, revert, or manual, to keep the combo multiplier growing while you speed toward the next ramp or rail. If you key in a button sequence in the air or near an edge, your onscreen persona will kick, grab, grind, or handplant just as you've indicated. Literally every button on the system is put to use to let you go wild on those surfaces. As you manipulate the D pad and ride your board around one of the game's expansive 3D skate parks, you'll notice plenty of edges, rails, ramps, quarter pipes, or other interesting surfaces with which to interact. And that aspect is definitely in full force in Tony Hawk's Proving Ground.
Performing realistic tricks and learning how to link them together into monumentally lengthy chains has always been the hallmark of the Tony Hawk series. You can also try to outscore other players in the wireless or online modes all while exploring the surrounding environment and performing tricks at your own whim or pace. You can build your own custom skater and skate park in the story mode, as well as tackle challenges for up to seven skate parks in the classic mode. That experiment must not have been popular with the powers that be because the newest game, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, takes the series back to its open-ended roots.
If you've been keeping up with the Tony Hawk series on the DS, you'll recall that the previous game, Downhill Jam, shifted the focus from linking sick tricks together in free-roam skate parks to doing so in claustrophobic downhill courses.