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Tony Hawk's American Sk8land

Platform: DS Release Date: 2005 Players: 1-2 Nintendo Wifi Connection Game

Every once in a while game developers get a little ambitous and try to push the boundaries. American Sk8land is a very ambitous game for the DS. Did the developers succeed or try a little too hard?

And 5 minutes later Tony was in the ER room...

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land (THAS) branches apart from the newer Underground series and plays more like the Pro Skater series. Instead of doing the gags and weird things that were in Underground 2, the goals are doing certain tricks and combos. This is a change for the better and keeps THAS from having the annoying goals from the previous game. The controls are really tight which is surprising for a 3d DS game. The game controls just almost exactly like the PS1 Tony Hawk games which is a very good thing. It is very easy to do all the flips, grabs, and grinds. Also instead of having to memorize all those special tricks thankfully THAS lets you just press one of the touch screen buttons to perform them easily. The Story mode takes the skater you created across California to raise money to rebuilda skatepark called "American Sk8land". The story is told through impressive and well directed voiced over cutscenes. A problem with them though is that the sound is pretty quiet during them and the subtitles move too fast so you might not catch what is happening the first time you watch them if there is too much background noise. Each area will have several people that each have their own problems that need to be solved. The problems range from helping a photographer get a good picture to proving how good you are at a competition. None of them are that hard and most of them are so easy that all it takes is one trick to beat them. Rarely will you have to retry a goal.

Doing a special trick is now easier than ever.

The Classic mode returns and is better for those looking for a challenge. In classic mode your skater has 2 minutes to complete as many of the goals shown to you before the level starts. These goals are much better and are things such as getting a high score, collecting the S-K-A-T-E letters, and finding the secret tape. This mode is also the mode you will want to play if you have limited time. It is very easy to do 2 or 3 tries and shut the game off for later. The levels are designed very well and have many areas that are good for combos. There is one problem though, they aren't too creative. Previous games (such as THPS 3&4) had some over the top levels that were fun to skate around in. THAS takes place in California so you will mostly be skating around different areas of Los Angeles. The last level is a warehouse that you can customize and is a fun level but the others are a little bland at times compared to some in the other games.

Surprisingly THAS's audio is very much like the console games. There are 13 licensed songs that play in the background. You can pick and choose which songs you want to play and which ones to not play. The songs are mostly pretty good with only a few bad songs. The music does tend to be a little quiet and can easily be muffled by a little background noise. The voice overs in the cut scenes are all pretty good. Tony Hawk and a fan of his are pretty much the only people you will hear in the cutscenes but their voices are good and the audio quality is surprising since it is coming from a cartridge. There isn't too much to say about the audio but what's there is very good.

If you keep doing that you are going to throw up!

American Sk8land is one good looking DS game. The game moves at a fast 60 frames per second with no slow down. This is a very good thing because slowdown could easily ruin a long combo run. The cel-shaded graphics look very good on the DS and help mask the system's low 3d power. When in motion, the game's fluid animations look great. All the tricks look just like they would in real life and there even are some funny ones thrown in. The map on the touch screen may not look very good but it is useful. It helps when you need to find the SKATE and COMBO letters and to find new goals. THAS looks just as good, if not better, than the PS1 games which is impressive for a handheld title. A nice way to use the second screen. Hopefully the cel-shaded style will be used in many other games.

Here is the part where the developers pushed the boundaries. American Sk8land launced with the Wifi Connection and has some impressive online play. THAS allows you to do much more than all the other Wifi games so far. You can watch replays, post your highscores, and even download a new goal. It is surprising that a 3rd party developer is the one that used the Wifi Connection the best so far. When online, there are several things you can do. You can find another person and choose a mode to play. The nice thing is that it works kind of like a lobby. When matched, both skaters are in freeskate mode so they can just mess around and find good areas to get combos. At anytime one person can choose a mode and the other can choose to accept it or not. It is a little dissapointing that only 2 skaters can play at a time but it was probably because of the DS's limited power. Also you can go for a run on classic mode when online and try to get a highscore. Of course the people who do have the high scores are so high that probably no one will ever beat it, but it is always fun to try. A nice thing that was added is the downloadable goals. The goals are updated fairly often and when you download one it erases the previous one to save memory. The goals don't take too long but it is a nice way to make the game last longer.

Two skaters battling it out

American Sk8land will last you a long time. Like Mariokart, it is easy to just turn on the game every few days and play for 10-15 minutes and shut it off and be done. The story mode and classic mode take about 8 hours to beat both which is a good length. The main things that bump up the replay value are high scores and multiplayer. It is always fun to try to beat your high score and get as close as you can to the leaders online. The scores are only for classic mode so those that want to compete online using the story mode might be dissapointed. The offline multiplayer is pretty much the same as the online. The only problem is that each player will need their own game. When online it sometimes can be hard to find other players (because of the low sales of the game) but most of the time it won't take too long. Once you find another person just keep playing against them for as long as you both can stay on.

Closing Comments

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land is a great handheld title. It is easy to play for short burst or during a long car trip. While it can be quiet at times and the story mode is easy, the game's classic and online modes are great just by themselves. The Wifi play is surprisingly deep and has the feel of a community. While the level design isn't the most creative, the levels are fun and have good combo areas. Lately THAS has been dropping in price so now is the best time to pick up the game.

Gameplay: 8.5/10 Audio: 8.5/10 Graphics: 9/10 Replay Value: 8.5/10 Overall: 8.5/10

Pros: -3d Tony Hawk gameplay, on the road! -Cool cel-shaded graphics -Great online play

Cons: -Not as creative as previous TH games -Way too quiet -So easy a baby could beat it