Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land (Second Opinion) Review

Are you obsessed with Hollywood and its supposed movie star lifestyle? Do you skateboard? Does the phrase “California Uber Alles” make you happy? How about “Deutschland Uber Alles”? If you answered yes to all of these questions, then you’re most certainly looking at the right game. However if you find liberal conspiracy music about California being fascist disheartening in a Skateboarding game, perhaps THAS is too much for you.

A testament to the way video games can potentially shape society; since the original THPS was released, we’ve seen a national obsession with skateboarding grow sporadically. In light of Neversoft’s continuous efforts to produce a Pro Skater game every year, we find a series which has evolved from a game that featured so few tricks and variations that it ran stale in a matter of days mature into an ultra-unrealistic skater’s dream. Now that this series has appeared on just about every console it’s had the chance to make a showing on. Other developers would be hard pressed to make an extreme sports game, let alone a skateboarding game! Other companies have tried, and the only success found in the last five years has been bittersweet at best. What struck some gamers as hideous and unbearable, the 2D GBC games, and the isometric GBA games still fared well commercially, and critically. So after seeing Tony Hawk launch with the Game Boy Advance, he seems right at home on the DS.

Fully decked out with stylish surprises around every corner, everything has changed since you last played a game from the series. Well, that is, unless you’ve played American Wasteland, which truly isn’t that far off from Sk8land. They both have the same levels, characters, tricks, and many of the same goals. What truly sets it apart though, is the fact that Neversoft went out on a limb just for the DS, and made Sk8land into a more innovative experience, rather than just another remake.

Until just recently, my DS had been looking pretty pathetic. The only play time it received for nearly a month prior to Sk8land was the occasional visit to my ugly Chihuahua in Nintendogs. But other than that, I had little use for my touch screen, only owning a few games that utilized the feature well. But now, I’ve found a more sensible answer to my touch screen woe, balance. American Sk8land uses the touch screen for a map, for special tricks, going into slow motion, and also allows your character to “freak out”, all at the tap of a stylus.

Throughout the game’s seven California-inspired levels, you’ll be surrounded with many unlikely characters who are all willing to pay varied amounts. It can be from a minimum of $250 to upwards of $1000, usually just to watch you skate. With this inspiration, I got the idea that I could be a pro skater. Unfortunately, upon stepping on the skateboard I found out just how unrealistic Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land is. I couldn’t do a Japan Air 900, I couldn’t ollie onto roofs, and my kickflip was non-existant. My character in Sk8land however, does multiple backflips, massive combos, and has no sense of gravity whatsoever.

Divided between Story mode, and Classic mode, there’s something for everyone. In story mode you work alongside your buddy Mindy (poor voice-overs), and Tony Hawk to build the ultimate skatepark. Within about three hours, you’ll start out a newbie to the skating world, and progress all the way to Tony Alva status. I know that doesn’t sound very reasonable, but THAS is still a refreshing game complimenting Wasteland. The classic mode does everything the first four Tony Hawk games did. You rack up scores, hit objects, and grind the right rails to complete a list of goals for the same seven levels found on Story. This adds on only a few more hours, giving you at least another reason to play the game as you might need one after you’ve done everything there is to do in Story mode.