Fun, but lacking the magic it once had.
The gameplay in Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is probably the best in the series. With an arsenal of hundreds of different tricks, there are virtually an infinite number of different combos you can pull off. In THAW they've added a couple of new moves including Street Tricks, Bert Slides and some more Natas Spins which are welcome additions. The BMX bike rides well and is fun for a break from the skateboarding.
Graphics:
Probably weakest point in the Tony Hawk series is its' graphics. Although they are definitely not terrible, the graphics are not very far above average, if even.
Sound:
Tony Hawk games and awesome soundtracks go together like Peanut Butter and Jelly, so don't be surprised that THAW is no exception. The music is great to skate to and the voice acting is good as well (probably could be better but it's a skateboarding game people, who cares about the voice acting as long as it's from the real skaters.)
Value:
With tons of different modes, including 3 ways to beat Story Mode, 2 ways to beat Classic mode (playing through all 5 will unlock you different skaters) and tons of multiplayer modes (including online and off) THAW could keep you coming back for many many hours.
Sick Tricks (Pros):
- Another Tony Hawk game just like the others!
- Ability to create your own Skater, Graffit Tag, Trick and Skate Park
- New BMX bike
- No Loading screens in Story Mode
- New Co-op Classic Mode
Faceplants (Cons):
- Another Tony Hawk game just like the others...
- Although the BMX is cool it really has nothing to do with the game and is barely a part of the story mode
- About 50% or more of the Story Mode is or feels like a tutorial
- Story feels too familiar or overused
- Lost A LOT of the Bam Margera type humour that I loved in THUG 2
- Also lost a lot of the craziness the series always had like skating in Zoos, fighting the undead in New Orleans, etc. etc.
Bottom Line:
If you like the Tony Hawk series then this will definitely be a great addition. If you're getting sick of the series you might want to try an SSX game or something along those lines. If you loved the Bam Margera vs Tony Hawk kind of humour and story like I did then you might want to skip this one and hope to the God of Skate Geeks that they make THUG 3: World Destruction Tour 2.