GodMoon.com - Tony Hawk-s American Wasteland - 4 stars (Tony Hawk has seen better days)

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland review:4 stars (Tony Hawk has seen better days) - 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 nasty 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 the 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.

4 stars (Tony Hawk has seen better days) - U ...