GameCube

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

Nach anfänglicher Skepsis konnte mich American Wasteland in seinen Bann ziehen. Als Fan der Reihe seit dem ersten Teil freute ich mich besonders über den Klassik-Modus und als Freund des Rollbrettsports über das coole Szenario sowie zeitgenössische Tricks und die zahlreichen Legenden, die den Sport in den 80ern und 90ern prägten. Tony Hawk´s American Wasteland legt den Fokus dorthin zurück, wo er hingehört: aufs Skaten.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is a very solid game overall. The tweaks to the core gameplay, the addition of the BMX moves, and the inclusion of a massive city to skate around in are definitely appreciated. Neversoft is constantly improving the game, though it is questionable how they’re going to improve on it next time around. They have been receiving the same question for several years now and they always meet the expectations though.

So, is THAW the best Tony Hawk ever? No, but it's definitely better than the last two. It's a throwback to the old-school Hawk series, yet it's a compromise at the same time. It tries really hard to please both jaded vets and exuberant fanboys, and for the most part, it succeeds, even if the story mode's a little short and on the easy side.

I don't know what the future holds for he Tony Hawk series. And I am guessing it's going to be a little while yet before we get a chance to see the Xbox 360 version in action. It wasn't shown at E3 either. But in the meantime, this is yet another enjoyable game in the THPS series. And just like clockwork I have gone from "Great, another Tony Hawk game" to "This is another great Tony Hawk Game!" I can see the series getting a little tired, and it doesn't quite have that magical "aura" that the first couple did. But nonetheless there's plenty to keep you busy. Learning new tricks alone will be enough for you. But going online is also just as fun, and now you can do it on the Xbox. Another solid game from the skateboarding masters.

The Tony Hawk series is the best skateboarding franchise around, and the developers prove that time and time again with each new release and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is no exception. If you are a fan of the series this game is a no brainier for you to pick up as soon as you can.

With what is essentially the third "reinvention" of the series, Pro Skater being the first and Underground being second, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland sees the series shy away from the unfettered destruction focus of the last two games and head back to its pure skateboarding roots. In fact, the game's story mode is based around old-school skaters, building a skatepark from the ground up and basically earning everything from scratch.

American Wasteland is home to some of the greatest gameplay that you'll ever encounter, but unless your compete online, it mostly goes to waste. Hopefully, Neversoft hears the cries of its hardcore following and makes a sequel that actually has some teeth.

Hawk fans will enjoy it, but Neversoft really needs to put the skill and inventiveness back into the single-player experience.

Tony Hawk veterans will definitely be happy with the gameplay improvements in American Wasteland. You still have the largest trick library thus far and a seamless re-creation of L.A. to skate/BMX in. Fans of the series are sure to fall in love with this newest installment; just not on the GameCube. The dismal graphics and lack of online gameplay is just too huge an obstacle to overcome.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland est un bon jeu de skate, inutile de le nier. Cela dit, la série continue de tourner en rond n'offrant que peu de nouveautés pour le fan de la première heure. On trouvera toujours de quoi faire dans ce nouveau volet, notamment avec le BMX. La découverte des quartiers de la ville a aussi son charme, mais il faut savoir que le fond peine à se renouveler. A réserver aux vrais mordus de la série.

While the gameplay in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is still sharp, and the game still looks and sounds just fine, this seventh installment just seems to lack that special spark that made the series so much fun in the first place. The Tony Hawk series has always worked because even if you stripped away all the goals, pro skaters, and extra fluff packed into each annual installment, the simple act of finding lines and skating freestyle across the levels was great fun. Even with a handful of new tricks, simply skating around and grinding out huge lines only goes so far, especially when the levels are set up to make doing so incredibly easy. It's enough to make you think that maybe the series needs a year off to give it time to incorporate some dramatic new ideas that could revitalize the once-great franchise.

I hope that Neversoft does a lot with the formula before they produce another Tony Hawk game. Make the game longer and the goals harder. Sift through the garbage in the gameplay and keep all of the good, helpful stuff while getting rid of the trash. Overall, fans of the series should probably check this out, but I'd say that Underground is still the best in the series.