Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

"When I said Thug 1 Was the last good game in the series, I was right. (Haven't played sk8land)"

The Tony Hawk Series is dying. It's too bad... it was an awesome series.

Story: 7/10
I know that story isn't what Tony Hawk's about, but since they decided to put one in, they should at least put in a good one. Basically, you're a skater punk from a "farm" or whatever who goes to Hollywood, where his greeting is a punch in the pace, getting mugged, and being told to go back to "Kensucky". Very polite.

I don't really find it that interesting. The THUG1 story was good, because there was a lot of stuff. I don't really see a lot of stuff here. But like I said, story isn't what Tony Hawk games are about.

Gameplay: 5/10
Yeah, the series is dying. Great skating is always what people have loved about Tony Hawk, and unfortunately, it's going away.

First of all, a lot of tricks (Like Caveman) have been nerfed. They were so easy to do before, now you have to press a whole bunch of buttons in some weird way to do it.

Also, they put too much emphasis on that you can get off your board. They really didn't change the skating that much for the better, but they made a bunch of stuff that you can do with your board, like slap people with it or throw it at people.

I don't like the introduction of money into the game either. It's supposed to be a skating game where you just skate, not get money to get better stuff! Come on, Neversoft, focus more on skating.

Music: 8/10
Now, besides great skating, what I loved about the Tony Hawk games was that it always had awesome skate music. It kind of died there in Underground 2 also. I'm just gonna go out straight and say it about THUG2. Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash is NOT skate music! But it was OK in THUS2, because there was a bunch of good stuff to make up for it.

There's still some good stuff here (Holiday, for example), but I'm afraid they're putting crap in it. (My Chemical Romance). I don't want to keep going about the music, because everyone has different opinions, but still. Put back the good skate stuff, Neversoft!

Graphics: 7/10
Nothing special, really. Looks just like THUG1 and 2, but somehow, people's sprites look even more blocky and chunky. You'd think they'd make it better over time, not worse....

And another thing I don't like. In every other Tony Hawk game, you can change your hair style, clothes, whatever, whenever you wanted. Here, you have to have cash, which I don't like.

Bad, Bad Neversoft. You'll have to do better next time.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/19/05