Tony Hawk's American Sk8land

"A Great Port Not To Be Overlooked"

I had my doubts about this game before I bought it. Besides, I had played the GBC and GBA Tony Hawk games, which were far from great games in my opinion, so I wasn't expecting too much here either.
My expectations were far exceeded.

Story
The story mode in this game is actually pretty good. You are a talented skateboarder who meets Tony Hawk. He has you come out to the west coast with him, where you meet a girl, Mindy, who has a dream of rebuilding a legendary skatepark in a warehouse. Throughout the game you meet professional skateboarders who help you put together pieces for the warehouse.

It's a pretty linear storyline but it's better than nothing. The voice acting is pretty good and the cut-scenes are well drawn.

Sound
The sounds and music are great in this game. There is a 13 track playlist of songs which you can edit to your tastes. The sounds are typical of a Tony Hawk game. Nothing seems to be missing, and nothing really stood out either.

There is also a feature which allows you to have custom sounds for wiping out and for performing special tricks. Using the microphone you can record a "good" and "bad" sound clip. Cool feature.

Controls
Pretty standard here. If you have played another Tony Hawk game before, you shouldn't have any trouble. The touch screen isn't utilized very Some of the more advanced maneuvers are difficult to get used to, but otherwise the controls are very solid.

Graphics
Very solid. I was impressed for how good the graphics looked. The only minor problem is the character faces, they look a bit.. corny.. and bland. Other than that, everything looks very nice, especially the level design.

Gameplay
The gameplay here is fantastic, any fan of the series will not be disappointed. The levels are big and dynamic, you won't get easily bored playing any of them. They are all very unique from each other as well.

There are tons of tricks in the game, and there isn't much you can't do that you can do in the console versions of the Tony Hawk series. The only think I can think of is walking around off your board, though the game doesn't really present times where that would be necessary. One cool trick feature that is exclusive to this game is touch-screen specials- you simply touch one of three icons on the screen when your special bar is filled up, rather than having to remember the directional combinations to execute them.

The different gameplay modes are nice too. There is story mode, where you simply play like you would in free skate mode, only there are people you can talk to for challenges to earn cash (to buy pieces for your warehouse).

There is classic mode, which is like the first Tony Hawk games- you have two minutes to accomplish a set of goals for each of the levels. Any goals you don't accomplish can be done in successive runs.

Multiplayer has at least 5 games (listed in the manual). Free Skate, Score Challenge, and Trick Attack are all back, but old favorites like Horse and Graffiti Tag are sadly not. Wifi is a cool add, however. It is a little unfortunate that only two people can play together at once, rather than 4 or even 8.

A few other cool features of this game are the deck and graffiti editors, which allow you to design art using the stylus. Your art then is shown on your deck (which barely gets seen) and selected places in levels where you can spraypaint. You can also constantly change your characters outfit, tricks, and your skatepark.

Challenge
Story modes challenges are sadly a little too easy- even up to the very last level. There are a few which offer a short challenge, but you won't get stuck on any of them. Classic modes challenges are a little better, but still lack the kind of difficulty you face on the console games.

Of course, the real challenge of this game lies in how much you want to push your high scores, combo scores, and how much multiplayer action you are going to be doing. The sky is the limit if you face the right opponents!

Score
Story- 5/10
Sound- 10/10
Controls- 9/10
Graphics- 18/20
Gameplay- 20/20
Challenge- 5/15
Replayability- 15/15

Total- 82/100

Final Word
This game is a great add to anyones collection. The game looks and plays wonderfully, and there are plenty of game modes and features to fool around with. Fans and newcomers to the series will both love this game!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/06