Customise your moves.
Cheating is always an annoyance to those of us who just want to play the game fairly. You can set up a room that allows players of a certain skill to enter, however I found that even when I chose the lowest rank of players they were unbelievable good skaters, although the idea is a good one I’m just not sure how well it was implemented.
If you don’t have any friends online the experience can be frustrating, in particular when you play the game modes that require trick points to be scored. Tony Hawk's American Wasteland has a ranking system, and it appears that many players are cheating their way to top of the leader board. One player managed to accumulate 750,000 points in one trick, meaning that there is no way of beating this person, unless you know the same ‘cheat’. Now, I’m not entirely familiar with the Tony Hawk’s series but I’m sure you can’t achieve this many points in one trick.
Click for larger imageYou’ll also have players who will take over a certain area of the map, where the best tricks can be performed. These skaters will dominate these positions for the duration of the game racking up the points, it’s a dog eat dog world when it comes to rankings, so you’ll often see skaters racing for those crucial spots. Aside from these minor irritations, the beauty of the online play lies in the variety of game modes. Stick with a group of friends and you’ll have some great times online.
Click for larger imageCustomising your moves using the trick editor is a great and essential tool in helping you perform the most complicated tricks with relative ease. You can even create your own tricks and your own skate parks, it’s a game that does have something for everyone.
Despite some of the down points of Activision’s latest skateboarding game it’s still worth a look. At times you'll feel like a rabbit on a merry go round (by this I mean you'll be hopping up and down and spinning around so often, you'll be as dizzy as a blonde), but that's skating games for you. You should be able to find something that will keep you playing, with me it’s the online play. Whilst newcomers to the series will be pleasantly surprised, old timers will still enjoy the experience. Single player story mode is a chore but has its moments, classic mode is still great fun, and Activision have done a fine job in creating an exciting online mode.
Pros
Excellent learning curve
Fun environments
Excellent online play
Customizable moves
Cons
Unlocking tricks before you can use them
The BMX
Story-line, voice acting
Under par graphics
Occasionally humourous, ocassionally frustrating but ultimately good fun, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is a great deal of fun for the newcomer, take it online and you'll coming back for more.
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