Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3... er... American Sk8land
In the beginning of this game you are assaulted with one of the most generic stories of all time. Blah, blah, blah... save this... publish that... do this trick... skate here... oh my god it's Tony Hawk... and so on and so forth. When I first played, i was dumbstruck by the graphics, to say the least. They feature cel shading at its best, or at least on a handheld. The controls sometimes posed a problem. Trying to press the X and B buttons at the same time without pressing the A or Y buttons in the process is like trying to jump off a skyscraper and land on your tongue. The gameplay formula stayed true to the formula of American Wasteland, and the Underground versions of the game. Talk to this person... do this for them... yay, $250. The sound was stunning... plain and simple. The songs in teh soundtrack were crap, but they played in the background incredibly clearly, but i don't know if i want to hear "I LIKE DIRT" perfectly clearly.(Yes, one of the songs is called "I Like Dirt") There is a park editor, but it is hard to describe it in a way that is not calling it a piece of sh**. There is no way to place the ramps/ half pipes/ rails you buy wherever you want, because there is a pre-chosen set of ramps/ half pipes/ rails for a certain place in the warehouse. It includes a "classic" mode, which follows its PS1 and N64 predecessors, which is a nice break from the run around and do random stuff formula of story mode. Although it includes classic mode, it is too freaking short.
In conclusion, my final reaction to the entire package is "Meh." It could have utilized the DS functionality better. It would have been SO cool if there was an easy way to control a game like this with the touch screen, but what are you gonna do?