Fazz drops in with the PS2 version of the latest Hawk title
Publisher: Activision
Sun, 13 November 2005
by: Fazz
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So, it's time for another release from Neversoft and Activision's enormously popular "Tony Hawk Pro Skater" series. One many of us have been waiting with a certain amount of apprehension for. Sure, we at Buttonhole HQ love our skateboarding games, but is there more to this new release than we've seen before?
In my opinion, Yes. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is, for lack of a better term, one monster of a game. It is the very first completely free-roaming Tony Hawk game yet. The majority of the game takes place entirely in Los Angeles. But thrown in for good measure in other parts of the game are some classic levels from past Tony Hawk games, some newly revised levels, and the ability to ride BMX as well as simply skating and a whole host of other goodies.
The first noticeable thing about THAW is its complete lack of the level-based structure we've come to know and love (and sometimes loathe) from the earlier games. Basically, you can hop on your board or bike and cruise around the entirety of Los Angeles. Of course this is no free-session. You'll come across loads of different challenges, tasks and missions you'll have to complete to unlock other parts of the game. These missions, like the Tony Hawk Underground releases before it, range from the simple and mundane, to the outright wacky and silly.
 | | Skatin' up a storm, just like Fazz and Mugwai. |
The main part of the game is almost a story, wherein you get to choose one of 5 fairly generic characters. You move from the sticks to the big smoke in hopes of being a skate superstar, and in the process, create the most mind-blowing skate-heaven ever conceived, aptly named "American Wasteland".
Basically you need to scoot around Los Angeles and Beverly Hills finding obscure parks, of which make up the whole of American Wasteland. You'll need to prove yourself over and over again to all the local skate gangs, who really don't take too kindly to your out-of-town manner and funky style.
The promise of a load-screen free roaming environment brought to me thoughts of GTA: San Andreas. While this is technically true, inside the game you'll need to unlock new areas of Los Angeles to explore by doing various trick combos and performing tasks. Once unlocked, these areas are accessed via a tunnel, which in essence transports you between different areas of the game, seamlessly, but still feeling as though you're moving between levels.
As you progress onwards from Hollywood through Beverly Hills, into Downtown past East LA and out to the sea front at Santa Monica, you'll come across a seemingly endless sprawl of landscapes, buildings, rails and other structures that will eventually make up your ultimate goal: American Wasteland. During the process of the game, you'll be placed into the exact positions to launch, ollie, grind and rail your way to success, whether you use the game's help and leniency is up to you.
At stages in the game you can take short detours to do different tasks and earn yourself a little bit of the old green, and in turn pick up stats, new boards, new clothes, new everything. This in turn makes your quest for American Wasteland that little bit easier each step you take. Sometimes you'll even come across some seedy looking characters that are willing to spill a few dollars for a show of your newly found skateboarding ability… again giving you a little bit of help along the way.
So while you may think that tearing around Los Angeles on a skateboard and BMX could seem like a real fun time, the game has a few added bits of goodness. As with the last Tony Hawk release, we have back again the "Classic" mode we all love so much. This time though, it actually feels and plays like the older versions. It has levels we've seen in earlier releases, and some newer ones I haven't played before. Also along for the ride is all the fun of the 2-player games and the free-skate option where you can basically roam any unlocked area of the game and create mind-blowing combos and find new and hidden lines and skate spots for later use in the game it's self. Wrapped into the package are all the usual THPS bonuses and silly cheats and un-lockable characters you'd expect from a Tony Hawk game of this size.
 | | Queer eye for the skate guy. |
The graphics are actually pretty impressive for the dated Sony Playstation 2. It looks and runs fairly seamlessly throughout. The soundtrack is full of what you'd expect, endless streams of garbage punk-rock songs, but also a few classic rock tracks to get the mood going. As for controller feel and general playability, I found this Tony Hawk game to be the best playing version since THPS 3. I was never a massive fan of #4 or the "Underground" series, and just found them to be a bit outlandish and wacky. Needless to say, all the really silly and crazy driving of bizarre machines and other such silliness has been thankfully abolished and we're back to what started it all...Skating.
All in all I think the guys at Neversoft have made a vast improvement on the last couple of Tony Hawk releases. The game plays well, looks great and most of all, is really fun.
by: Fazz
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More articles by Fazz
So yeah... if you're a fan of the Tony Hawk franchise, or love playing those skate games to death like I do, I'd recommend taking a look at Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. | |
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