Customer Reviews

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Up until Tony Hawk Underground (THUG) the series enjoyed a steady upward evolution. Although THUG saw some improvements, the graphics and skate venues suddenly went from clean and sharp in Tony Hawk 4 to dingy and forgettable. The goal may have been to create a gritty world but for me it just looked dirty and rushed. Perhaps it's the stress of trying to put out a new game every year but after Tony Hawk 4 the series seemed much less polished. The addition of non-skateboard modes of travel seemed shallow and tacked on and wouldn't have been so bad if they weren't required to complete the game. The driving portions seemed like they were created in about 10 minutes. THUG 2 introduced a new aspect to the series, a disturbing mean spiritedness. The nastiness continues in THAW and even increases giving players the ability to actually smack their skateboard upside a persons head.

Tony Hawk American Wasteland is an improvement on the two THUG games but still leaves a bit to be desired. The game still seems rushed with bugs and occasional stutters in the frame rate. Some of the tricks have gotten so esoteric to have reached the level of bizarre. The biggest problem is that some of the tricks are absolutely essential in completing the game and some are REALLY hard and this is from a person who has completed 6 versions of Tony Hawk. I am currently COMPLETELY stuck trying to do a manual for what looks like about a half a mile of curvy path.

On the upside THAW has six great levels of Classic Tony Hawk that make me long for the old days. There is a significant amount of BMX biking which although inferior to skateboarding is better than the dismal attempts in THUG to incorporate alternate vehicles. The storyline is improved over the previous two games although still focused on destroying property and injuring people.

I think that Activision needs to stop trying to crank out a Tony Hawk game every year because the series is looking extremely strained. I thought the wonderful Aggressive Inline, which came out a few years back, might light a fire under Neversoft to create a tighter game experience but instead Inline faded into obscurity while Tony Hawk has continued its relentless year by year release.

My 11 year old played this game at a friend's house and saved up his money to purchase this game. He was protective of his little sisters and brother by picking this over some of the others. First, this one has girls in it, where other Tony Hawk games do not and he wanted his sister's to have an opportunity to make girl skaters when they are old enough to play. Also, you can turn off the blood that spurts out when people fall off their boards. It also does not contain the graffiti with profanity in the way that others do. We limit the play of this game though b/c we do have younger kids in the house. It seems to be the "cleanest" of the Tony Hawk games and my son loves to be able to make his own skate parks and test them.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 was probably the best game in the series. Since THPS4, we have enjoyed a steady decline in difficulty and overall quality. This new game is so easy, in one sitting you can beat the game and retrieve all the pieces for your homemade skatepark, the "Skate Ranch." I have been a fanatic about these games since the beginning, and since we left the "pro skater" title, the games have become cheesy. The storyline is unbelievable (this game is starting to improve there, however), the character models are weird (all the pedestrians are about 3 feet taller than your character), and now, the game features one level only in story mode! I did enjoy playing through the game, though. Classic mode was fun, with harder goals than the story mode by far, and unlike story mode, you can completely customize your character. Personally, I think the previews made the game look much much cooler than it is. Another game like this and I'm finished with this series.

most of these people are crazy. sure, this isn't the best tony hawk game, but it is really fun and there are some cool new stuff in it.

This Game Is Really Cool!! It has a great story line, exelent graphics, lots of characters to choose from (also hidden characters that you can unlock). Over all this game is GREAT!!!!!!

I liked this game the best untill I got " UNDERGROUND 2".

You start out Tony Hawk's American Wasteland in Hollywood. Actually, you start in a LEVEL that is about 5% the size of the real city of Hollywood. To progress further in the game, you must accomplish various missions and tasks that your smoking hot new friend Molly gives you. This game is really no different than the other T.H.U.G. games, except the levels start to open up and become more expansive as you finish your goals. As far as turning on your system, jumping into a giant video game version of California and skating for miles at a time...it doesn't really happen that way. It sounds great on the advertising campaign, but there ARE levels in this game and until you work at it for a while, you are stuck on one of the smallest first levels of any Tony Hawk. Still a fun game if you like the series, just misleading.

Activision has been spitting out Tony Hawk games every year now for about 7 or 8 years. If my tally is correct there are 5 pro skater games, 2 thug titles, and now American Wasteland. These titles span all the major systems. And you don't need be a rocket scientist to figure out why; the Pro Skater series has made tons and tons of money. Only problem is, they have essentially released the same game time and again, coming up with different titles in recent years to help keep the whole thing fresh.

American Wasteland is simply Tony Hawk's Pro Skater with a bike thrown in for a gimmicky distraction. The same cheesy storyline is presented once again; unrealistic characters with insulting wardrobes parade through the game.

On the good side, the skating is top notch and very fluid. Lots of fun stuff to skate however some of these levels have appeared in at least 2 other Hawk titles. Talk about recycling.
There are a few different pros this time around, at least I think so. I stopped paying a lot of attention the last couple games.

All in all this series is reaching a point of stagnation. Kinda like a singer with one hot single but nothing else of interest; he soon finds himself in the bargain bin once the single falls off the charts.

I have played the tony hawk underground games and they're great, but if you like those then you'll agree with me when I say this thing is a piece of garbage. The graphics suck, that no loading thing is not true, instead of a loading screen your character just sits there not being able to do anything at all! This is a new low for tony hawk games.

This game didnt arrive til almost new year!! It was supposed to be a christmas present for my son but oh well. When I contacted the seller about merely getting a tracking number for my package because it was getting close to Christmas and I was nervous that it hadn't arrived he informed me that he was too busy taking care of his many other customers to look up tracking numbers for me and that for my valuable purchase of under 20 bucks there would be many other merchants on Amazon happy to take my business. He did however have the time to send me over 5 emails bantering back and forth about my purchase and the tracking number calling me inconsiderate and selfish. Oh and shipping was EXCESSIVE for the amount of packaging he put into it and the actual cost of the shipping itself. This man acts like a 2yr old.