Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

"~~~ Not the Greatest Game Ever, But Not The Worst, Either ~~~"

'Tony Hawk's American Wasteland' (or known by its abbreviation too, T.H.AW.), is yet another installment in Neversoft's (probably) biggest-selling, and most well-known, franchise. This isn't a bad addition to the 'Tony Hawk' series, but it isn't the best, either.

The game stars you as a skater trying to make it into the big leagues. At the beginning of the game, you chose from 5 (I believe it's 5) different players. That player hops on a bus, hoping to, well, become a big skating star! After some guys steal your stuff, you meet Mindy, who is a somewhat punk girl.

First of all, what I find very annoying about this game is that you have to learn some tricks over the course of the game; you don't start out with all of the tricks at the beginning of the game. As I have played many a 'Tony Hawk' game, this was somewhat annoying to me.

Let's just say that the graphics aren't the greatest. The backgrounds and environments look pretty good, but in cutscenes, some of the characters look pretty bad. The lip-synching is sometimes off, and the subtitles are sometimes incorrect (someone says something, but the subtitle says something else).

The soundtrack isn't the best in this game, either. Sure, there are a few not bad tracks, but there have been better soundtracks in past games in the 'Tony Hawk' series. I have most of the songs turned off on the my 'Demolition Radio' (it's a Sirius satellite radio, didn't you know?), however, I do in most other games in this series, too, too. The best songs (in my opinion) are: The Thundercats- I Like Dirt and Thrice- Image (although it is actually called 'Image of the Invisible, as far as I know). The sound effects are like other 'Tony Hawk' games (to be more specific, 'T.H.U.G. 2') ...as far as I know (like one other reviewer wrote).

The story is, as you can probably tell, like 'T.H.U.G.'; a skater trying to make it big. Altohugh this one has its share of differences, some of it is the same.

Now, let's go on to the scoreboard:

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GRAPHICS: 6.5/10
MUSIC/SOUND EFFECTS: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 6.5/10
COVER ART: 9/10
OVERALL: 8/10

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NOTE: In the 'Get the Green Top' mission, I think I might have a glitch; the counter-thing won't go up (usually). That's the reason for gameplay getting a 6.5.

Overall, this was a fairly enjoyable game, but 'T.H.U.G.' is superior. Also, another thing that annoys me about this game is that you can't go to a mission from view missions; you have to go to the actual guy! Also, I don't know why this is, but you can't get special tricks; you have to unlock the additional spots or something... I dunno, that might just be in story mode. Anyway, overall, this was a fairly enjoyable game.

{ 8/10 }
TheGreenGoblin_

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/05/06