Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

Fans of the Tony Hawk genre will be pleased with the newest edition to the franchise, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. This game puts a new spin on previous versions of the Tony Hawk genre. You can now roam a free and open area by skateboard or by bike!

The story begins as you playing as a young skater in a small town. You get sick of the constant hassling of the police and your family about their distaste of your skating. So, you head of to Los Angeles. As you exit the bus from you long trip to L.A., you get jumped by some punks that steal all of your gear! Here you meet Mindy. Mindy acts as your guide. She tells you that you have poor style and that you need some change. This is where your adventure begins.

The entire story is quite comical and funny. You basically can run amok throughout L.A., Hollywood, and other locations. There are no levels and no load times. You just do as you please! Most of your traveling will be done by skateboard, but there are many locations where you can get on a bike. To progress through the game, you must gain tips, tricks, and take on various challenges.

By defeating specific challenges, you gain skill points to make your character a more talented skater and biker. You also get money. You use this money to get better clothes, boards, tattoos, haircuts, and other things. There are dozens of barbershops, skate shops, clothes shops, and tattoo parlors for you to visit.

Some of the tricks you perform on your board are: Bert slides, Natas spins handstands, one foot grinds and manuals. You can also perform tricks off your boards. These include wall runs, wall flips, and charged jumps. The controls for performing these stunts are very easy to figure out and movement is quite fluid. The controls have much improved since the previous installments of the Tony Hawk genre.

There are several modes of play available. These include classic, create a trick, focus, and an online mode that is available for consoles that support this.

The graphics of this game are very realistic. The character models are also beautiful. When performing tricks, they look as realistic as they would in real life! The sound track is quite delightful. It features 70's, punk, and rock music. Also, the NPCs (non playable characters) are constantly making funny and crude comics throughout the game.

American Wasteland is available on XBOX 360, XBOX, Playstation 2, Gamecube, and Gameboy Advance. The best graphics are displayed on the XBOX 360 console. This game has an ESRB rating of T for teen. This is because it features blood, crude humor, language, violence, and suggestive themes.