Storm In A Teacup
03-21-2006, 01:49 PM
This is a review of Tony Hawks American Wasteland for XBox. I originaly wrote the review at www.reviewcave.com but here it is for all of your enjoyment. :)
Tony Hawks American Wasteland is the seventh in a series of video games. When first started, the series was considered unique, fun, and in depth. But after a release every year, the franchise was quickly becoming stale. So Neversoft invented the series, Tony Hawks Underground, THUG2, and now to attempt to freshen the series even more, Tony Hawks American Wasteland.
Whenever you play a Tony Hawk game on any console it’s usually hard to tell them apart because the always look the same. Gritty, and sometimes dirty looking, the graphics clearly could be improved. The level design of the game gets the same rating because in story mode most levels are generally the same, taking place in the city of Los Angeles. The only time the story mode of the game is different is the last two levels, but one is still in a city, and the other you really only spend five to ten minutes during story mode. There is one other small level called Oil Rig that changes the surroundings in the middle of the game, but because of a glitch I couldn’t return there in Career Mode after I left. Career Mode’s levels aren’t new, but are all from older titles of the franchise. They are better than story modes levels, but after a while become tedious as well.
You are a skater “punk” who has newly arrived to the city, and as soon as you get off the bus you are jumped by two other punks who “take advantage” of you being an “outsider”. Then you meet Mindy, who helps you get your stuff back, and introduces you to more of the important characters in the game. She, and the other characters then teach you simple moves that amaze your character. However, if you have even played one of the other Tony Hawk games then it will be annoying to not have such simple moves unlocked from the beginning. By learning these “rad” moves, and fulfilling skate shop challenges you will eventually be able to compete in a skate park tournament, which is incredibly easy, on either difficulty. You then get one of your mentors in jail, and while trying to free him, you uncover a secret about the skate park that you have been adding to for a while already. In the end, the story is cliché ridden, and can seem not worthwhile to complete. Once it is finished, and you have already completed career mode, you’ll not want to go back, and repeat it again.
The tricks themselves, and some challenges however can be fun, and some spots on certain levels make for a fun time, but eventually it gets quite boring. Editor mode is back once again where you can create your own character, and levels, but creating levels isn’t as fun anymore because you can’t make any goals to go with them anymore, and there are pretty much no new pieces from the last issue. Ever since the beginning of the series each game has always had a stellar soundtrack. But with THAW the soundtrack is basically dead with not much to offer, and the best being pop-punk covers of older bands, of which only half are good.
Neversoft will really have to step up next year if they don’t want to fall flat on their faces because this series gets staler, and staler with each year. Maybe if they improve the graphics, and level design, as well as make story mode better, then they’ll have a really good game on their hands. Until then, their product is only slightly above average.
6 out of 10
Tony Hawks American Wasteland is the seventh in a series of video games. When first started, the series was considered unique, fun, and in depth. But after a release every year, the franchise was quickly becoming stale. So Neversoft invented the series, Tony Hawks Underground, THUG2, and now to attempt to freshen the series even more, Tony Hawks American Wasteland.
Whenever you play a Tony Hawk game on any console it’s usually hard to tell them apart because the always look the same. Gritty, and sometimes dirty looking, the graphics clearly could be improved. The level design of the game gets the same rating because in story mode most levels are generally the same, taking place in the city of Los Angeles. The only time the story mode of the game is different is the last two levels, but one is still in a city, and the other you really only spend five to ten minutes during story mode. There is one other small level called Oil Rig that changes the surroundings in the middle of the game, but because of a glitch I couldn’t return there in Career Mode after I left. Career Mode’s levels aren’t new, but are all from older titles of the franchise. They are better than story modes levels, but after a while become tedious as well.
You are a skater “punk” who has newly arrived to the city, and as soon as you get off the bus you are jumped by two other punks who “take advantage” of you being an “outsider”. Then you meet Mindy, who helps you get your stuff back, and introduces you to more of the important characters in the game. She, and the other characters then teach you simple moves that amaze your character. However, if you have even played one of the other Tony Hawk games then it will be annoying to not have such simple moves unlocked from the beginning. By learning these “rad” moves, and fulfilling skate shop challenges you will eventually be able to compete in a skate park tournament, which is incredibly easy, on either difficulty. You then get one of your mentors in jail, and while trying to free him, you uncover a secret about the skate park that you have been adding to for a while already. In the end, the story is cliché ridden, and can seem not worthwhile to complete. Once it is finished, and you have already completed career mode, you’ll not want to go back, and repeat it again.
The tricks themselves, and some challenges however can be fun, and some spots on certain levels make for a fun time, but eventually it gets quite boring. Editor mode is back once again where you can create your own character, and levels, but creating levels isn’t as fun anymore because you can’t make any goals to go with them anymore, and there are pretty much no new pieces from the last issue. Ever since the beginning of the series each game has always had a stellar soundtrack. But with THAW the soundtrack is basically dead with not much to offer, and the best being pop-punk covers of older bands, of which only half are good.
Neversoft will really have to step up next year if they don’t want to fall flat on their faces because this series gets staler, and staler with each year. Maybe if they improve the graphics, and level design, as well as make story mode better, then they’ll have a really good game on their hands. Until then, their product is only slightly above average.
6 out of 10