Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is a reinvention for the stale Tony Hawk franchise. In recent years the game has actually taken the focus away from skating and American Wasteland is definitely a more focused title. The story mode (which is the main mode in the game) begins by allowing you to customise a character, after this you basically skate around in a cleverly disguised tutorial level. Rather than take place in lots of different locations, the entire game takes place in Los Angeles. The first NPC you meet (Mindy) introduces you to the general surroundings of LA and shows you where to find equipment, tasks and other important landmarks scattered throughout the levels. The game doesn't actually include any loading though and you're free to skate around and complete tasks at your perusal. The story mode features a good storyline, as you start off as an amateur dreaming of being a skating champion.
Whoa man, look at that detail..
Whilst the game does take place in one large city, there are still mini levels in the city which break up the action a little. This is acceptable though because if you could just skate around in one giant city the game would become very confusing very fast. The story mode starts off really slow though and we wish there was a way to skip the tutorial levels, those who play Tony Hawk frequently are going to play the game for about an hour before having any fun. The tasks in the story mode are a lot more focused. The story mode also includes BMX riding, which is a new addition to the game. This actually works a little better than we expected and it isn't overdone so the riding doesn't become repetitive and tedious. At times controlling the bike can be a little difficult and the physics aren't as honed as well as the skateboarding physics but the BMX riding is quite enjoyable.
Aside from the story mode players can also play in classic mode, which was first introduced in THUG2. The classic mode is a lot more linear. The classic mode gives you a time limit and a set number of goals to complete, most of the levels in the game are taken from either the original Tony Hawk title or Tony Hawk 2. The classic mode is a lot of fun for when you don't want to leap into the story mode, but just want a quick run for a large score.
Aside from the classic mode and the story mode it is also possible to customise a lot of the game's options with the "create a" options. All of these "create a" options (which range from create a park to create a trick) are implemented in basically the same way as the previous titles, but they do help to extend the lifespan, and their absence would definitely be noticed. The multiplayer options have always been a highlight of the Tony Hawk series and in this game Neversoft have added even more options to the mix. The classic mode allows two players to join in at once and play co-op to achieve the same goal, such as collecting all the SKATE letters. All of the previous multiplayer options have also made the cut, including the online play. The online play can be a lot of fun, although a lot of the people online are incredibly skilled.
I have no friends...
The Playstation 2 controller is one of the best ways to control the action in Tony Hawk, but the Xbox 360 has four shoulder buttons and this makes it very easy to control the game. This means that the Xbox 360 version is only second to the Playstation 2 in terms of control. There are a few new moves in the game including grind stalls, boned ollies, off footed modified, wall flips and runs. None of the inclusions are huge, but Neversoft have really covered just about every aspect of skateboarding now so there isn't much else they can add.
During the story mode as you skate along to the next area you have to go through a bland backdrop before you get to the next level, which is a little disappointing. It would have been good if more effort was put into the areas that you won't skate in for as long. If you're a die-hard fan then you'll be happy to know that it's actually possible to pull off a large combo throughout all the levels, but our attempts were very unsuccessful.
Graphically Tony Hawk's American Wasteland could have been a great demonstration of the power of the Xbox 360, but unfortunately the game looks below average. The game isn't a large upgrade from it's Xbox counterpart and even though the game can run in a higher resolution, it doesn't make much of a difference. The colours are definitely brighter but the textures just look outdated at times. The frame-rate does remain consistent throughout the entire game though.
Most of the sound is okay and the soundtrack is very varied with a large genre of music. The sound effects are good, but this is because the sound effects were basically perfected with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3. The game does include custom soundtrack support, so if you don't want to listen to the music on offer then you can always just listen to your own soundtrack.
Fair enough then
There is a lot to do in the game and the story mode alone should keep most people entertained for a long time. The story mode is a little shorter than in previous titles, but this could be because there are less pointless challenges to complete. There are a few very good unlockables and then there is the multiplayer and the online play, which means the game will last a lengthy amount of time if you want to go through everything.
Even though there isn't anything remarkably wrong with Tony Hawk's American Wasteland it is still a difficult title to recommend. If you've just purchased an Xbox 360 then you want a next generation experience and unfortunately THAW doesn't deliver this. There are no Xbox 360 bonuses and the graphics look the same as the original Xbox version. If you like the Tony Hawk franchise then THAW is a step in the right direction, but Tony Hawk isn't really doing a 360 just yet.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland and Gun are available in a double pack for a RRP of $109.95 for a short time only.
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