Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
October 25,2005 - Some things are considered to improve with age.  A 15-year single malt scotch, a wheel of brie, and The Velvet Underground are examples of things that are just not as well-appreciated in their early years as they eventually come to be.  Gameplay engines don't usually get that kind of grace, though.  Playing through GTA3 after beating San Andreas makes you miss the motorcycles, properties, dual-wielding, and airstrip.  When a gameplay system reaches the point where it can only be reasonably improved through tweaks and ancillary functions rather than complete overhauls, the actual storyline, goals, and activities that you use it to explore become the under-a-microscope focus.  Is this why American Wasteland can feel a little stale sometimes?

Since the replacement of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS) series with the Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG) series, the focus has been changed from what were basically increasingly-epic forms of classic game types (THPS4) to story-oriented goals and character development (THUG1 and forward).  To the Hawkheads among us, these changes were more than just on the surface - they were fundamental shifts to the way that the Tony Hawk games played.  In a sense, they might have been needed; the minor game system changes that have occurred from THUG1, THUG2, and THAW, when compiled with the kind of levels and goals system from THPS4, might not have entirely justified shelling out a fresh $50 each year.  With that shift, though, the series' intellectual property and theming has been put under a microscope.

The change from the THUG premises to the premise of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (THAW) isn't particularly dramatic - rather than building up from a Jersey wannabe to a pro (THUG1) or tearing around the world with Bam (THUG2), you're building up from a Midwestern wannabe to a pro.  Not exactly earth-shattering, but one change is that rather than the location-hopping found in the previous TH games, THAW focuses primarily on Los Angeles, the birthplace of the skater scene.  You get to explore Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Downtown, East L.A., your "Skate Ranch", an oil rig, and a fully-fictional abandoned casino.  Most of us relish at seeing familiar locations in games, and Los Angelinos will probably be pretty happy with the thought of shredding through Hawk-ified versions of their hometown.  THAW relies pretty heavily on the mystique of Los Angeles that appeals to those of us east of the Rockies, the kind of mystique that films like Mulholland Drive explore.  With that, the premise of the game is that you are bored with your hometown, move to L.A., get punked by some guys that steal your gear, and then key in to the local skate scene and help a now-in-hiding skate legend build out the Skate Ranch.  The Skate Ranch a place for you and the local crew to tear up, built with bits and pieces of the areas you skate around to get there.  So how does it all stack up?

The additions to this year's game engine are rather minimal, at least on the skateboarding end of things.  Bert slides have been added, straight out of the heyday of the Z-Boys, but can be a bit hard to control.  Rail stalls are basically grinds that don't go anywhere, which is useful when you want to turn around on an inclined grind surface and don't want to hit the top of the rail or waste time using up the last of your rail balance.  You can do more things when you're off your board, but they're rather easily overlooked.  The BMX gametype, which is almost completely optional, has been refined and actually works pretty well.  It's not as enjoyable as skating quite yet, but the system has been fleshed out and merits taking a look for those of us who've done the skating thing the last, well, 6 times it was available.  Other than that, the goals are very much tinted towards the THUG goal style - minor bits that don't usually involve high scores or insane combos.  There are exceptions, however, but the sad thing about the goal structure is that they've all been dumbed down from even the least challenging of the goals in the THUG games.  You are positioned in the literal exact direction that you need to travel, with little cues for the actions you need to take. 

Those who've played the Hawk games before will find the challenges to be of next-to-zero challenge, with the occasional exception of the "manual for approximately a week straight" style challenges that pop up from time to time.  The game isn't terribly long or short, with about 8 hours in the regular game mode if you take a balanced approach of playing up the BMX, finding gaps and everything else. 

The actual contents of the storyline are pretty cut-and-dry, with a few sometimes annoying characters that guide you through the game.  The dialogue can be stilted and a bit demographic-focused rather than seeming more genuine and laid-back as well, which really detracts from the roots-oriented themes.  The "classic" mode returns yet again, but thanks to the level list being rather short and the goals being simple, this shouldn't pose much of a challenge, either, and can be finished off in a few short hours.  The game's multiplayer is now Xbox Live compatible, and remains solid as usual, though the online community will usually murder you unless you're a serious Hawkhead.  Character and level creation remains flush with options to create just the universe you want to skate in, but the sad part is that you can no longer use a created character in the Story mode.  You must pick from a customizable-through-clothing-and-haircuts template, but it's not quite the same.  Why Neversoft chose to make such a decision is anybody's guess.  Created skaters are still usable online and in the classic mode, though.

As far as graphics go, the game looks a bit cleaner than the previous installments, though there are still a few graphical glitches that pop up from time to time, and a few bad textures littered throughout.  One of the big promises of THAW was the "continuous world" idea, where you can skate from area to area throughout the game rather than using a level-select menu.  It's nice in idea, but rather poor in execution.  The areas in between the main skating levels are incredibly bare, have framerate skips, and slow down the action for some reason.  After a while, you'll be taking the bus simply because it's faster and less, well, boring, thus rather negating the streaming-world concept that GTA San Andreas perfected.  In any case, it's a clean-looking effort on an HD set, but doesn't vary enough from its predecessors to look like a completely new game.  Audio-wise, it's consistent with previous outings in that the soundtrack is generally a love-it-or-hate-it affair, chock full of punk rock and hip-hop.  The game's sound effects and ambient noises are clean and enjoyable as usual.

In the end, the question remains about whether or not it's worth purchasing, renting, or neither.  In the case of the gotta-have-more Hawkheads (which this reviewer could be considered), it's a give-and-take.  We've suffered through rather silly storylines to get our fixes before.  On the other hand, we won't find any actual challenges in the game to conquer, just motions to go through that unlock the full set of options that we're looking for.  To the more sane non-Hawkhead, the game has been designed for you from the ground up; you should find plenty to play through in this game.  However, given a recomendation option to the non-Hawkhead, THPS4 would still be the logical choice, provided its more prominent cast, depth of game goals, and price.  Given that the game engine has reached a point where we can't realistically expect big changes for our hard-earned $50, the game's minor-at-best changes to the game design are to be expected.   However, with the braindead goals, non-charismatic cast of characters, and relatively limited level list, the game is unfortunately relegated to rental status, with its best points making us reminiscent of the days when you actually had to be good to beat a Tony Hawk game.Some things are considered to improve with age.  A 15-year single malt scotch, a wheel of brie, and The Velvet Underground are examples of things that are just not as well-appreciated in their early years as they eventually come to be.  Gameplay engines don't usually get that kind of grace, though.  Playing through GTA3 after beating San Andreas makes you miss the motorcycles, properties, dual-wielding, and airstrip.  When a gameplay system reaches the point where it can only be reasonably improved through tweaks and ancillary functions rather than complete overhauls, the actual storyline, goals, and activities that you use it to explore become the under-a-microscope focus.  Is this why American Wasteland can feel a little stale sometimes?

Since the replacement of the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater (THPS) series with the Tony Hawk's Underground (THUG) series, the focus has been changed from what were basically increasingly-epic forms of classic game types (THPS4) to story-oriented goals and character development (THUG1 and forward).  To the Hawkheads among us, these changes were more than just on the surface - they were fundamental shifts to the way that the Tony Hawk games played.  In a sense, they might have been needed; the minor game system changes that have occurred from THUG1, THUG2, and THAW, when compiled with the kind of levels and goals system from THPS4, might not have entirely justified shelling out a fresh $50 each year.  With that shift, though, the series' intellectual property and theming has been put under a microscope.

The change from the THUG premises to the premise of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (THAW) isn't particularly dramatic - rather than building up from a Jersey wannabe to a pro (THUG1) or tearing around the world with Bam (THUG2), you're building up from a Midwestern wannabe to a pro.  Not exactly earth-shattering, but one change is that rather than the location-hopping found in the previous TH games, THAW focuses primarily on Los Angeles, the birthplace of the skater scene.  You get to explore Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Downtown, East L.A., your "Skate Ranch", an oil rig, and a fully-fictional abandoned casino.  Most of us relish at seeing familiar locations in games, and Los Angelinos will probably be pretty happy with the thought of shredding through Hawk-ified versions of their hometown.  THAW relies pretty heavily on the mystique of Los Angeles that appeals to those of us east of the Rockies, the kind of mystique that films like Mulholland Drive explore.  With that, the premise of the game is that you are bored with your hometown, move to L.A., get punked by some guys that steal your gear, and then key in to the local skate scene and help a now-in-hiding skate legend build out the Skate Ranch.  The Skate Ranch a place for you and the local crew to tear up, built with bits and pieces of the areas you skate around to get there.  So how does it all stack up?

The additions to this year's game engine are rather minimal, at least on the skateboarding end of things.  Bert slides have been added, straight out of the heyday of the Z-Boys, but can be a bit hard to control.  Rail stalls are basically grinds that don't go anywhere, which is useful when you want to turn around on an inclined grind surface and don't want to hit the top of the rail or waste time using up the last of your rail balance.  You can do more things when you're off your board, but they're rather easily overlooked.  The BMX gametype, which is almost completely optional, has been refined and actually works pretty well.  It's not as enjoyable as skating quite yet, but the system has been fleshed out and merits taking a look for those of us who've done the skating thing the last, well, 6 times it was available.  Other than that, the goals are very much tinted towards the THUG goal style - minor bits that don't usually involve high scores or insane combos.  There are exceptions, however, but the sad thing about the goal structure is that they've all been dumbed down from even the least challenging of the goals in the THUG games.  You are positioned in the literal exact direction that you need to travel, with little cues for the actions you need to take.  Those who've played the Hawk games before will find the challenges to be of next-to-zero challenge, with the occasional exception of the "manual for approximately a week straight" style challenges that pop up from time to time.  The game isn't terribly long or short, with about 8 hours in the regular game mode if you take a balanced approach of playing up the BMX, finding gaps and everything else.  The actual contents of the storyline are pretty cut-and-dry, with a few sometimes annoying characters that guide you through the game.  The dialogue can be stilted and a bit demographic-focused rather than seeming more genuine and laid-back as well, which really detracts from the roots-oriented themes.  The "classic" mode returns yet again, but thanks to the level list being rather short and the goals being simple, this shouldn't pose much of a challenge, either, and can be finished off in a few short hours.  The game's multiplayer is now Xbox Live compatible, and remains solid as usual, though the online community will usually murder you unless you're a serious Hawkhead.  Character and level creation remains flush with options to create just the universe you want to skate in, but the sad part is that you can no longer use a created character in the Story mode.  You must pick from a customizable-through-clothing-and-haircuts template, but it's not quite the same.  Why Neversoft chose to make such a decision is anybody's guess.  Created skaters are still usable online and in the classic mode, though.

As far as graphics go, the game looks a bit cleaner than the previous installments, though there are still a few graphical glitches that pop up from time to time, and a few bad textures littered throughout.  One of the big promises of THAW was the "continuous world" idea, where you can skate from area to area throughout the game rather than using a level-select menu.  It's nice in idea, but rather poor in execution.  The areas in between the main skating levels are incredibly bare, have framerate skips, and slow down the action for some reason.  After a while, you'll be taking the bus simply because it's faster and less, well, boring, thus rather negating the streaming-world concept that GTA San Andreas perfected.  In any case, it's a clean-looking effort on an HD set, but doesn't vary enough from its predecessors to look like a completely new game.  Audio-wise, it's consistent with previous outings in that the soundtrack is generally a love-it-or-hate-it affair, chock full of punk rock and hip-hop.  The game's sound effects and ambient noises are clean and enjoyable as usual.

In the end, the question remains about whether or not it's worth purchasing, renting, or neither.  In the case of the gotta-have-more Hawkheads (which this reviewer could be considered), it's a give-and-take.  We've suffered through rather silly storylines to get our fixes before.  On the other hand, we won't find any actual challenges in the game to conquer, just motions to go through that unlock the full set of options that we're looking for.  To the more sane non-Hawkhead, the game has been designed for you from the ground up; you should find plenty to play through in this game.  However, given a recomendation option to the non-Hawkhead, THPS4 would still be the logical choice, provided its more prominent cast, depth of game goals, and price.  Given that the game engine has reached a point where we can't realistically expect big changes for our hard-earned $50, the game's minor-at-best changes to the game design are to be expected.   However, with the braindead goals, non-charismatic cast of characters, and relatively limited level list, the game is unfortunately relegated to rental status, with its best points making us reminiscent of the days when you actually had to be good to beat a Tony Hawk game.

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