Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

(untitled review)

(I know, what better way to start my first a review with a god-awful pun?)

Hello all, I noticed that this game has not been REVIEWED yet, so I thought I would start my list of reviewed games HERE. Now, for those of you who don't know how I rate these games, I separate the game into 10 categories, decided by what system it is on, what type of genre game it is, and whether it is a lone game, or in a series. Each category gets a rating of 0, .25, .5, .75, and 1. At the end of the review, we add up all of the categories to get a score from 0, to 10. (The overall rating was given before the thorough review, so it might not match up EXACTLY.) As well as the review, I will also put in a scale that determines what type of ideal audience the game would be good for. It would scale for a game "Just 4 Kids" to the most "UNDERGROUND" (no pun intended for THIS review) gamers. For this review, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland will be separated in these categories:

Plot (Yes, there is a plot)
Gameplay
Soundtrack
Difficulty
Design/Graphics
Comparison (to predecessor and/or successor)
Characters (and the game character's customization)
Multiplayer (Local/Online in this case)
Achievements (XBox Achievements, how rewarding they are, diffuculty to obtain, etc.)
and
THE END (Rewards or content given for the completion of game, and/or end of plot in-game)

Okay, without further ado, we shall begin!

PLOT

("Spoiler" Alert)

In the beginning of the game, after choosing a pre-custom skater, you get off a bus on its way to Los Angeles, only to be punched in the face, called "Ken-Sucky" and have your stuff taken away. This incident leads to your character being approached by one of the NPC protagonists, Mindy. She advises you to get a haircut and get new clothes, and then warns you to learn how to skate by going to various locals in order to do missions to help you get better. Later, the character locates one of the punks who stole your stuff, and bets you to a skate off. Winning will result in the punk running away, causing you to have to smack him in the face (I enjoyed this part ). You then see Mindy sketching a magazine cover, and mentions what is known as the "skate ranch" or just "ranch", but will be later known as Green Pipes Point. This then leads you into meeting Boone, Murphy, and Useless Dave, co-owners of the ranch (Iggy being the "owner") and will be thrown into a mission where you collect wood for the main ramp at the ranch. This leads to speculations of gaining pieces for the ranch (this includes the freaking HOLLYWOOD SIGN, by the way), and just making it as cool as it could be. Later in the game, your character then joins the AMJAM in Vans Park, Iggy gets arrested after you reveal his location, and that he is still alive (and kicking), you make a video (with some other ACTUAL professional skateboarders and BMX pro Mat Hoffman) to buy the ranch from Bernie (not a really important character), rescue Boone from a East L.A. gang, and loot an abandoned casino for more parts for your ranch and the video.

(TL;DR) You get pieces for a skatepark, and do missions, get money, and skate.

(And that is what you missed on last week's episode of Degrassi) No, really, this is practically a lot to take in, and this is a SKATEBOARDING videogame. But, a good plot= a good game. I enjoyed the story as much as the gameplay, so I am giving it a .75

Gameplay

THAW uses the same physics and mechanics as its six predecessors when playing the game. Also, there are five modes. Story Mode, Classic Mode, Freeskate Mode, 2-Player Mode, and Create-A-Mode, where you can make a trick, skater, deck, or even your own park. In Classic mode, you complete specific missions, and you also unlock a total of six levels (Minneapolis, Santa Cruz, The Mall, Chicago, Kyoto, and The Ruins). But the missions in classic mode can me more than a tad difficult at times, so it is not entirely the best Tony Hawk game with a classic mode. With this amount of modes and gameplay, I give the gameplay modes and the famaliarity from the first six "Tony Hawk's"s in the series, I give this category another .75

Oh, did I mention that THAW is the only Tony Hawk game where you could also ride BMX?!

Soundtrack

The music in THAW is a mix of hip-hop, punk, and rock music, which is the usual for a Tony Hawk game. Luckilly, any songs that you do not like, you have the ability to turn off in the options menu. But I found myself only turning off TWO songs, out of the 63 songs there were. So for that, this is getting a 1

Difficulty

There are 3 difficulties, Easy, Normal, and Sick. So this game is good for those who start the series on this one game, or if you have been through thick and thin throughout the entire series from the release of THPS 1. Classic Mode has 2 difficulties as well, Normal and Sick. So in order to get the full 100% completion of THAW, you would need to beat the main story THREE times, and beat the classic mode TWICE. This could be very difficult for first-timers, so I will give this category a rating of .5

Design/Graphics

The graphics are greatly improved from THUG2, so this is what would lead to almost perfected designs in THP8 and THPG. I barely came over any glitches in the game in either modes, the environment looks phenomenal, and it was smooth during the game. (Although, the game was not really the smoothest in history of gaming.) And so, innovation from THAW led to THP8 and THPG to have great graphics as well, so this category receives a .75

Characters

As well as your own customized character, you meet many people in the game that help you through your journey. If only every other character wasn't an asshole! Boone, Iggy, Joey B., Murphy, etc. If I had a dollar for every time I was insulted, called a name, yelled at, had obscenities thrown at me, etc., I could buy this game AGAIN. But about half the characters are somewhat funny, nice, and such, so instead of a 0, this category is getting a .5

Achievements

This is the first Tony Hawk game to have achievements on the XBox 360 edition, so that is why this category is here. 900/1000 G is SIMPLE to obtain, 100/1000 requires an amount of work. .90 is closer to 1 than .75, so this category gets a perfect 1

Comparison

If THAW wins in 5-9 categories against either the predecessor or the successor, the respective win gets .5 points. 3-4 categories, .25 points. If THAW wins in 2, 1, or none, 0.

THUG2 vs. THAW (Story, Graphics, Characters, Soundtrack, Gameplay)= .5!
THP8 vs. THAW (Achievements) = 0...

0.5
+
0.0
=
0.5

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is practically dead online, but there is FREAKING ONLINE MULTIPLAYER! For that alone, this category gets a 1

THE END.

I did not tell you the entire story before... I know, sorry. But here is the rest. After you finish up in the Casino, the police figure out what is going on with your video project to save Green Pipes Point, and they will try to capture you at no matter what cost. You escape them by skating throughout the entire game's map, and finally come to the ranch, Iggy gets the park, and you have a big party to celebrate. Not really a huge ending, but you do unlock secret characters when you beat the game on each difficulty, and you get to play the entire finished park at the end, WITH ALL THE PROS FEATURED IN THE ENTIRE GAME, so if that is not enough to give it a .75, I have no idea what is.

Okay, time to count it all up!

.5 + .5 + .5 = 1.5

.75 + .75 + .75 + .75 = 3.0

1 + 1 + 1 = 3

3+3+1.5= 7.5

I gave THAW a complete rating of 7.5 out of 10. This is classified as a GREAT XBox game.

This game is for:

Just4Kids x (Rated T)
Family x (Rated T)
Casual x (Alternative Sports Game [Intense at TIMES])
Recreational {YES}
Professional {YES}
Veteran {YES}
Hardcore x (Too Soft for most)
Underground x (Too Soft for most)

I am sorry if this was a bit long, I just like writing reviews as detailed as I possibly can. I thank you all for reading this, and I wish you a happy time frame. Later!

-Wildcat