Tony Hawk's American Wasteland Review

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is the latest game in the Tony Hawk franchise, following the rediculously popular Tony Hawk Pro Skater series (THPS 1 through 4), and Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG 1 and 2). Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is available on X Box, Playstation and Gamecube, with an updated version for X Box 360 comming out, and versions for Gameboy and PSP on the way, too (Tony Hawk's American Sk8land). Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is rated T.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (THAW) takes the game series in another a new direction - a rebel punk who's tired of dealing with your father's tough rules, you head off to LA to prove yourself as a hard core skater. As soon as you get off the bus in LA you're beat up and robbed, but luckily for you a hot punker girl takes pity on you and forces you to change your clothes and get a haircut. Kind of like your dad was telling you to do. The dad you just ran away from.

But at least the robbers didn't take your skateboard, and for the rest of the game you get to skate around LA, learning new tricks and getting better clothes and haircuts. The game is open, as in you can do whatever you want - sort of. There is a story, and you have to follow it if you want to open up other areas to skate in. Plus, there's not much else to do besides the story, except skating challenges to gain stat points, or perform tricks for this creepy guy who pays you. But the story is fun to follow. Through the game, you get to meet some famous skaters, do some skateboarding, and become famous yourself (in the game. Alva still won't know you in real life).

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland's gameplay is the same as every other Tony Hawk video game. Exactly the same. There are new trick and control options, so the controls are slightly more complicated than on Underground II. But if you've played any of the other games, you will know what to do with Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.

Among the new moves is the Bert Slide - if you've seen Lords of Dogtown, you've seen piles of Bert Slides (sliding the board sideways while you go low to the ground, usualy planting a hand).

The controls for when you are off of your skateboard are also a lot better - you can jump, flip and climb to secret places. Plus, the game features a BMX bike that you can hop on and ride. The bike controls are similar to the skateboard controls, so learning how to ride isn't hard.

Beyond these controls and new moves, the game feels slightly smoother than Underground II. That's sort of the motto for this game - "A Little Better." Everything about the game is a little better than the last game. Gameplay is a little smoother, you have a little more control, things seems a little less awkward. So, if you liked the other games in the Tony Hawk series, you should love Tony Hawk's American Wasteland!

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland's story mode is fun, but you feel a little oddly confined. When it comes to following the story, THAW holds your hand and drags you through it.

For example, when you first start out, everyone treats you like a total beginner. This can be frustrating if you've played the other games (like most people). The first trick Tony Hawk's American Wasteland teaches you is the Caveman. You to talk to this guy with spiky hair, and promise to introduce him to your hot punk chick friend. Then suddenly you are teleported to the perfect spot to learn to Caveman, and to learn to grind. The game tells you what buttons to push, when to push them, and does everything for you. This can be great for hard tricks, I suppose, and for people brand new to Tony Hawk games. But if you just got Tony Hawk's Underground II last winter, then you likely remember how to do a Caveman and how to grind. Of course, you can just ignore the storyline, but not if you want to unlock the rest of the map. And you can't skip these sections, or do them out of order. THAW tries to be like Grand Theft Auto, but falls far short. You have the freedom to do whatever you want, but there's not much else to do.

Of course, the good game designers at Neversoft anticipated this complaint, so to make up for it they put a Classic Mode into the game, just like in the last few Tony Hawk games.

In Tony Hawk's American Wasteland's Classic Mode, you get to play through six levels, doing all the stuff that you enjoyed doing back in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (collecting S-K-A-T-E, tapes, pulling off objectives within time limits, etc.). You can chose to play as a character you made (stupidly, not the one from Story Mode), or from a short list of famous skaters.

One new feature to Classic Mode is Co-Op play, which ROCKS! It's just like another two-player mode, but it's fun to try and get the challenges done with a buddy.

The sucky part about Classic Mode is that it is short. Six levels. you can beat the entire thing in an hour or two. Honestly. That's a let down, but it should give you some fun. With Tony Hawk's Underground, the Classic Mode was like a second game. With American Wasteland, Classic Mode is more of a fun bonus.

Read about Online Play, Create-A-Everything, Multiplayer and the Bottom Line on the next page...