Tony Hawk's American Wasteland (PS2)

This outing sees a number of cool new additions, including the ability to switch to BMXs for the entire game, an expansive (and load time-free) Los Angeles cityscape, more tricks and moves than ever before and improved “Freak Out” abilities that see your rider destroying their board post-wipeout in a series of increasingly comical exercises in deck destruction.

Finally, the inclusion of in-game shops throw up a raft of customisation options from tattoos to clothing, and the soundtrack features a slew of decent tracks, including a remix from none other than Tony Hawk himself.

The lowdown: Although you can now also ride a bike, the familiar and understandably unchanged control system is as tight and responsive as ever and with the additional freedom to roam, enormous combinations of tricks are slightly easier to achieve than before. Graphically this is very much business as usual, although the Xbox 360 remix naturally looks by far the sexiest. Most exciting moment: Finding rails, cables, benches and vehicles to grind the hell out of has never been easier or more satisfying, and combined with the new handstand tricks can produce some memorable combos. Since you ask: As well as original music by artists from Chemical Brothers to Sham 69, American Wasteland will also feature an unreleased Tony Hawk remix of Bloc Party’s “Like Eating Glass”. The bottom line: It’s Tony Hawk pumped up and ready for action. Nick Gillett

Note the nice border work on the bedding plants Believes green hair is an anti-authority statement (his mum dyed it for him) A freak accident had deprived him of the ability to rotate his head He hadn't seen Pulp Fiction, and foolishly agreed to change his "digs" in the basement

Get It!


Good idea, badly-ish executed.   February 26, 2006
Mail-order Christ (Brighton, England.)
11 out of 14 found this review helpful

The idea of one big city to skate around in sounds nice. Sadly, that's not the case at all. There are eight small, distinct areas of California to explore in Story mode, which are all linked up either by bland corridors or coach journeys. Also, unlike the THUG games, you do not get to use your created character in Story mode. Luckily, there really aren't any loading times, otherwise it would be a bit of an insult. It is fun to play, so credit where it's due, but it's not particularly challenging until the last level which is absolute murder on Sick mode. Conversely, Classic mode is almost impossible to complete, because you need every single goal finished in order to unlock the prize, which I haven't yet done. Sad as it is to say, the franchise now just comes across like it's flogging a dead horse. Bye.


Rubbish.   February 23, 2006
3 out of 10 found this review helpful

Having played every one of the Tony Hawk games to date, I had to buy this one as well as the 'no loading screens' feature did seem appealing. I could not have been more dissapointed. After playing the game, you can just sense the supreme lack of effort that has gone into it - the story mode is close to appalling. The goals lay set out at your feet, and only a simply button press will do it - there are just under 100 of these to complete and so it quickly becomes tedious. Even sick mode is easily completed, even for a Tony Hawk's beginner.
Classic mode is better, but as with story mode, the levels are weak. Some classic levels are there like The Mall, but the inclusion of fairly standard levels like Chicago make it unchallenging and boring.
And one more thing, the different characters and save files that must be created for classic mode and story (you cannot use the same for both!) quickly becomes irritating and confusing.

It seems clear that the Activision team are simply releasing these games with as little effort as possible, just to rake in the money. I do not recommend this to any gamer, instead, try the older games, or THUG 1 or 2, which provide much more value for money, better levels and more challenging gameplay.
Hugely dissapointing.