Tony Hawk 4 does away with the two-minute time limit so commonly associated with the genre. While this takes away the exciting challenge of trying to accomplish all of a level's objectives in one run, the game's larger levels would make such an effort impossible anyway. Instead, goals in Tony Hawk 4 are spread throughout the level in the form of various bystanders with big arrows floating above their heads. Skating up to them and hitting the grab-trick button will make them talk and will start the goal, which in turn starts a timer. Many of the goals are the same sort that the series has featured all along. You'll still have to reach certain score plateaus by pulling off long strings of tricks, you'll still have to collect or break various goal-specific items, and you'll still collect the letters that spell "skate." New types of objectives include some combo-based goals that ask you to beat a specific score with one combo. You'll also have to collect letters that spell the word "combo"--without landing your combo until the word is complete. The size of each area lets the game pack a lot more goals into each of the game's nine levels, and some goals are only available once other objectives have been competed. Completing a goal also earns you upgrades for your skater, such as cash, new slots for special tricks, or stat points.