Tony Hawk's American Wasteland - Review
Added December 1st, 2005 by Serenity Now
Introduction:
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland comes to the Xbox 360 with nothing updated aside from the visuals. Yes, another day, another lazy port. The game is the exact same skateboarding title you’ve heard about on Xbox, except now it costs ten dollars more and you get a few additional polygons.
American Wasteland is, believe it or not, the seventh title in the beloved Tony Hawk series. The franchise returns with a brand-new story mode, no loading times, and Xbox Live capabilities that make this the first Tony Hawk installment on a Microsoft console, not including the Xbox version, to include online play.
‘’Everybody comes to Hollywood. They wanna make it in the neighborhood. They like the smell of it in Hollywood. How could it hurt you when it looks so good?’’ In my review of the Xbox version, I scattered little tidbits of Madonna’s song coincidentally titled ‘’Hollywood’’ throughout the article. Since you probably won’t go back to read my thoughts on the Xbox version, I’m going to include these song lyrics in this review as well. Just thought I should plug you in on that so you don’t get bewildered and freaked out while reading.
Gameplay:
’’Shine your light now. This time it's gotta be good. You get it right now. 'Cause you're in Hollywood.’’ Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland places you on the skateboard of a novice skater named Eric (or whatever name you'd like). When Eric becomes sick and tired of his humdrum town, he boards a bus headed for Hollywood. Eric dreams of being a pro skateboarder and according to him, Hollywood is the ‘’shiznit,’’ and is the absolute ideal scene to pursue his ambitions. Whether it’s the shiznit or not, it has a plethora of young skaters hoping to accomplish the same goal as Eric. Hey, if everybody’s going, it must be good, right?
Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland comes to the Xbox 360 with nothing updated aside from the visuals. Yes, another day, another lazy port. The game is the exact same skateboarding title you’ve heard about on Xbox, except now it costs ten dollars more and you get a few additional polygons.
American Wasteland is, believe it or not, the seventh title in the beloved Tony Hawk series. The franchise returns with a brand-new story mode, no loading times, and Xbox Live capabilities that make this the first Tony Hawk installment on a Microsoft console, not including the Xbox version, to include online play.
‘’Everybody comes to Hollywood. They wanna make it in the neighborhood. They like the smell of it in Hollywood. How could it hurt you when it looks so good?’’ In my review of the Xbox version, I scattered little tidbits of Madonna’s song coincidentally titled ‘’Hollywood’’ throughout the article. Since you probably won’t go back to read my thoughts on the Xbox version, I’m going to include these song lyrics in this review as well. Just thought I should plug you in on that so you don’t get bewildered and freaked out while reading.
Gameplay:
’’Shine your light now. This time it's gotta be good. You get it right now. 'Cause you're in Hollywood.’’ Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland places you on the skateboard of a novice skater named Eric (or whatever name you'd like). When Eric becomes sick and tired of his humdrum town, he boards a bus headed for Hollywood. Eric dreams of being a pro skateboarder and according to him, Hollywood is the ‘’shiznit,’’ and is the absolute ideal scene to pursue his ambitions. Whether it’s the shiznit or not, it has a plethora of young skaters hoping to accomplish the same goal as Eric. Hey, if everybody’s going, it must be good, right?
‘’There's something in the air in Hollywood. The sun is shining like you knew it would. You're ridin' in your car in Hollywood. You got the top down and it feels so good.’’ Mm, the sun is shining indeed. Eric has arrived in Hollywood. Don’t be fooled though, Hollywood is not a friendly town. Soon after Eric’s commencement, his luggage is stolen. This is where you step in. You’ll meet a comic-book artist by the name of Mindy. She’ll help show you around town, giving you directions to the skate shop, clothes outlet, and introducing you to key people you’ll need to become acquainted with if you want to make it to the top of the skating world. She’ll also encourage Eric to stand up for himself and retrieve his belongings back from the hoodlum who snatched them. You’ll have to have an acquired taste to like the story in American Wasteland. It was designed to appeal to hipsters. If you’re similar to me, and don’t exactly take pleasure in people calling each other ‘’tools’’ nearly every cut-scene, you most likely won’t be able to get into American Wasteland’s anecdote. However, Tony Hawk games have never really been about story.
Gamers who have played previous installments will know what to anticipate when it comes to the missions -- ‘’land a 2,000 point combo,’’ ‘’smack the jerk who stole your baggage,’’ ‘’ollie the actor,’’ etc. American Wasteland doesn’t actually bring anything new or fresh to the table. After seven incarnations of different variations of these types of tasks, the franchise has become rather stale. But honestly, what else can they possibly think of for players to perform on a skateboard, and now, BMX bicycle? Well, apparently not much because you’ve been doing these same missions for nearly a decade. You’d have thought with the launch of a new system they would expand a little.
American Wasteland’s gameplay brings one substantial new aspect to its recipe, and that’s online play. A truckload of modes are here for your enjoyment, including all of the ones integrated in the offline play. Certain modes are exclusive to this game’s online capabilities since you can only play with two people offline, and quite frankly, you need more than a couple of people to entirely benefit from games such as Capture the Flag. Another online-only mode is Elimiskate, which is the same as Trick Attack except now the player with the smallest amount of points after a round will be eliminated. Once again, this mode couldn’t be done offline as American Wasteland only supports up to two players on one system.
In American Wasteland, you’ll gain stat points by collecting special icons littered throughout each level in Classic Mode, and you'll attain new tricks via Story Mode. After a few levels, you’ll have your stats maxed and your tricks list filled to the brim. These RPG attributes have always been one of my favorite facets of Tony Hawk titles. American Wasteland gives you the sense that you’re truly improving as you make your way through the game. On the dark side of things, it’s much too easy to max out your stats early on.
Classic Mode makes a comeback along with all your favorite skaters and those ‘’create a skater/park/trick’’ gimmicks that in fact usually transfer into some good times. Sadly, no exclusive features were added for the Xbox 360 edition. Yes, you can ride on a BMX bike in American Wasteland, and true, you can hop online via Xbox Live, but the honest-to-goodness truth is you could do all of this in the original, cheaper, last-generation version.
All of your favorite modes make an appearance once again -- Graffiti, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Slap!, and my personal favorite, Trick Attack. American Wasteland combines all of these celebrated modes as well as some other, more distinctive ones. Firefight immediately comes to mind. The name says it all; you can shoot fireballs from your skateboard -- the higher your combo, the bigger the fireball. Firefight is an extremely enjoyable game and almost rivals Trick Attack as my favorite mode.
You’ve seen everything Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland has to offer in regard to its gameplay. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Nothing has been added, and why Neversoft expects people to purchase a game with no modernizations is beyond me. I don’t mean to sound negative, that’s just the dead truth. Let’s hope this won’t be the case with other ports in the future because if this continues, many will be turned off from gaming due to the amount of voracity within the industry. No updates aside, American Wasteland’s gameplay is very slick, smooth, and just an overall blast to play, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise. However, if you own the Xbox version and are hoping for some key enhancements to the Xbox 360 rendition’s gameplay, be prepared to be disappointed.
Graphics:
American Wasteland won’t be winning any awards for its graphics. The visuals have been improved, no doubt, but I honestly think if the developers would have really tried, they could have accomplished the Xbox 360 version’s level of graphics on the original Xbox. The only thing that proves though is that the Xbox still had some life in it because the textures, lighting effects, and animations have definitely received a face-lift, and the environments appear cleaned up. The character models come across significantly sharper, and your character, as well as other personnel, seem to have more realistic movements.
Gamers who have played previous installments will know what to anticipate when it comes to the missions -- ‘’land a 2,000 point combo,’’ ‘’smack the jerk who stole your baggage,’’ ‘’ollie the actor,’’ etc. American Wasteland doesn’t actually bring anything new or fresh to the table. After seven incarnations of different variations of these types of tasks, the franchise has become rather stale. But honestly, what else can they possibly think of for players to perform on a skateboard, and now, BMX bicycle? Well, apparently not much because you’ve been doing these same missions for nearly a decade. You’d have thought with the launch of a new system they would expand a little.
American Wasteland’s gameplay brings one substantial new aspect to its recipe, and that’s online play. A truckload of modes are here for your enjoyment, including all of the ones integrated in the offline play. Certain modes are exclusive to this game’s online capabilities since you can only play with two people offline, and quite frankly, you need more than a couple of people to entirely benefit from games such as Capture the Flag. Another online-only mode is Elimiskate, which is the same as Trick Attack except now the player with the smallest amount of points after a round will be eliminated. Once again, this mode couldn’t be done offline as American Wasteland only supports up to two players on one system.
In American Wasteland, you’ll gain stat points by collecting special icons littered throughout each level in Classic Mode, and you'll attain new tricks via Story Mode. After a few levels, you’ll have your stats maxed and your tricks list filled to the brim. These RPG attributes have always been one of my favorite facets of Tony Hawk titles. American Wasteland gives you the sense that you’re truly improving as you make your way through the game. On the dark side of things, it’s much too easy to max out your stats early on.
Classic Mode makes a comeback along with all your favorite skaters and those ‘’create a skater/park/trick’’ gimmicks that in fact usually transfer into some good times. Sadly, no exclusive features were added for the Xbox 360 edition. Yes, you can ride on a BMX bike in American Wasteland, and true, you can hop online via Xbox Live, but the honest-to-goodness truth is you could do all of this in the original, cheaper, last-generation version.
All of your favorite modes make an appearance once again -- Graffiti, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, Slap!, and my personal favorite, Trick Attack. American Wasteland combines all of these celebrated modes as well as some other, more distinctive ones. Firefight immediately comes to mind. The name says it all; you can shoot fireballs from your skateboard -- the higher your combo, the bigger the fireball. Firefight is an extremely enjoyable game and almost rivals Trick Attack as my favorite mode.
You’ve seen everything Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland has to offer in regard to its gameplay. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Nothing has been added, and why Neversoft expects people to purchase a game with no modernizations is beyond me. I don’t mean to sound negative, that’s just the dead truth. Let’s hope this won’t be the case with other ports in the future because if this continues, many will be turned off from gaming due to the amount of voracity within the industry. No updates aside, American Wasteland’s gameplay is very slick, smooth, and just an overall blast to play, especially if you’re a fan of the franchise. However, if you own the Xbox version and are hoping for some key enhancements to the Xbox 360 rendition’s gameplay, be prepared to be disappointed.
Graphics:
American Wasteland won’t be winning any awards for its graphics. The visuals have been improved, no doubt, but I honestly think if the developers would have really tried, they could have accomplished the Xbox 360 version’s level of graphics on the original Xbox. The only thing that proves though is that the Xbox still had some life in it because the textures, lighting effects, and animations have definitely received a face-lift, and the environments appear cleaned up. The character models come across significantly sharper, and your character, as well as other personnel, seem to have more realistic movements.
Are bright, vivacious, and deep colors your cup of tea in video games? If so, you’ll endorse of American Wasteland’s art direction. Even the box-art is of vivid color. I immensely admired this aspect of its visuals. It doesn’t change the fact that the graphics aren’t the best, especially for a next-gen game, but it sure helps its overall sentiment. Another strongpoint is the maps featured. They’re very large, and each has a great deal of profundity. However, the superb atmosphere still doesn’t change the reality that these mediocre visuals could have been done on Xbox. If you’re solely looking for eye-candy, you best be looking elsewhere.
Audio:
The Doors, Bad Religion and the Scissor Sisters are just some of the bands included in Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland’s comprehensive soundtrack, a mostly alternative rock/pop affair. There is a very marginal amount rap bundled in, including ‘’Burn Hollywood Down’’ by Public Enemy. I’ll be honest with you though, I’d rather listen to a custom soundtrack, and, as you should know by now, every Xbox 360 game supports this feature.
The voice-acting and things of that nature are decent, and some of the comments will cause you to laugh, especially if you’re into this type of culture. ‘’Want a massage with that facial?’’ I giggled. As far as I could tell, the sound effects are spot-on. All in all, American Wasteland’s audio is splendid.
Controls:
‘’Push the button. Don't push the button. Trip the station. Change the channel.’’ As stated about the Xbox translation, the controls luckily aren’t as confusing as that verse. The LB and RB buttons are used to spin, and aside from that, the controls are identical to the Xbox version. The X button still flips the board and the B button is still used for grabs. And don’t worry about what they did with the Y button because it’s still used to activate a grind. All in all, American Wasteland features your classic Tony Hawk layout, and where I come from, that’s a good thing.
Replay:
Classic Mode, Story Mode, and the ‘’create’’ modes will definitely give you enough content to keep yourself occupied for several hours. I recall saying in my review of the Xbox version that the Xbox 360 rendition was coming out in a few weeks, and if you knew for sure you were purchasing American Wasteland, to wait for that interpretation. Well, we’ve finally reached launch and I still stand by my word. If you’re a devotee of the Tony Hawk franchise, you’ll find a good deal to love here.
Audio:
The Doors, Bad Religion and the Scissor Sisters are just some of the bands included in Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland’s comprehensive soundtrack, a mostly alternative rock/pop affair. There is a very marginal amount rap bundled in, including ‘’Burn Hollywood Down’’ by Public Enemy. I’ll be honest with you though, I’d rather listen to a custom soundtrack, and, as you should know by now, every Xbox 360 game supports this feature.
The voice-acting and things of that nature are decent, and some of the comments will cause you to laugh, especially if you’re into this type of culture. ‘’Want a massage with that facial?’’ I giggled. As far as I could tell, the sound effects are spot-on. All in all, American Wasteland’s audio is splendid.
Controls:
‘’Push the button. Don't push the button. Trip the station. Change the channel.’’ As stated about the Xbox translation, the controls luckily aren’t as confusing as that verse. The LB and RB buttons are used to spin, and aside from that, the controls are identical to the Xbox version. The X button still flips the board and the B button is still used for grabs. And don’t worry about what they did with the Y button because it’s still used to activate a grind. All in all, American Wasteland features your classic Tony Hawk layout, and where I come from, that’s a good thing.
Replay:
Classic Mode, Story Mode, and the ‘’create’’ modes will definitely give you enough content to keep yourself occupied for several hours. I recall saying in my review of the Xbox version that the Xbox 360 rendition was coming out in a few weeks, and if you knew for sure you were purchasing American Wasteland, to wait for that interpretation. Well, we’ve finally reached launch and I still stand by my word. If you’re a devotee of the Tony Hawk franchise, you’ll find a good deal to love here.
Summary:
This bird has flown on the Xbox, and it continues to fly after migrating to the Xbox 360. What’s heartbreaking is that it didn’t gain any knowledge when migrating from console to console. Sure, it has a new coat of fur, a full belly, and a smile on its face, but it’s the same bird you knew many moons ago. That’s pretty much all that’s left to say, and I’m going to leave it up to you take that however you will.
In all seriousness, all you get in the Xbox 360 rendition is mildly enhanced visuals and a new controller to bust tricks on. If Tony Hawk games are your thing, you may want to check this one out, but that’s only if you haven’t played last generation’s version.
This bird has flown on the Xbox, and it continues to fly after migrating to the Xbox 360. What’s heartbreaking is that it didn’t gain any knowledge when migrating from console to console. Sure, it has a new coat of fur, a full belly, and a smile on its face, but it’s the same bird you knew many moons ago. That’s pretty much all that’s left to say, and I’m going to leave it up to you take that however you will.
In all seriousness, all you get in the Xbox 360 rendition is mildly enhanced visuals and a new controller to bust tricks on. If Tony Hawk games are your thing, you may want to check this one out, but that’s only if you haven’t played last generation’s version.
