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A stylish Tony Hawk arrives on the Nintendo DS. This marks the first Tony Hawk game to appear on a Nintendo handheld without the familiar isometric view. Tony Hawk's American Sk8land takes a lot of the levels and gameplay from the recent Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, but adds stylish visuals, new goals, and online play for a solid Nintendo DS game.
On consoles, Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland featured a somewhat edgy, Teen-rated storyline. Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land tones it down a little, allowing the game to receive an “E” rating. You’ll still hit all of the major milestones but everything is made more suitable for a younger audience. For instance, you’ll still meet Mindy and quickly meet Tony Hawk.
Like any recent Tony Hawk game, in American Sk8land you’ll skate around various levels, looking for people to give you goals. The tasks that you are given range from completing a certain combo to performing a trick on a particular ramp. The game does a good job of making these tasks as intuitive as possible since it often places you right where you’re supposed to be for the task. Hardcore Tony Hawk fans will probably not find a lot of difficulty in American Sk8land but it should offer enough for everyone else. If you’re new to the series, there is an easier more available to make things a bit easier.
If this newfangled story mode is too much for you, American Sk8land also includes a classic mode. This brings Tony Hawk back to its roots of giving you two minutes to complete as many of the ten goals as you can. The tasks that you are given are considerably more difficult than the tasks in story mode too, including scoring over 2 million points in a time frame as a goal. Gamers that blow through the story mode will find a lot to like in the game’s classic mode.
In terms of gameplay, American Sk8land is as solid as ever. The game includes most of the moves that you come to expect from a Tony Hawk game. There are some exclusions like the fact that you’re no longer able to get off your board but the game manages to provide a very tight skateboarding experience. You’ll be able to link up massive combos in the game’s large levels, so that never becomes a problem.
Tony Hawk's American Sk8land is one of the first games to take the Nintendo DS online (and the first third-party game to do so) via Nintendo’a free Wi-Fi Connection Service. The online mode only supports two players which is a bit unfortunate since the levels are so large. Thankfully, you can always know where the other player is since the bottom screen acts as a map. The game includes a fully functional online statistics tracking system as well as four game modes. These modes are trick attack (get the highest score possible), score challenge (the game ends when someone reaches a certain score), combo mombo (where the highest combo wins at the end of the match), and price is wrong (a new mode where you need to score in a certain range without going over). The online mode is easy to use and works very well.
The game’s graphics are great for the Nintendo DS. The game doesn’t attempt to port the console versions to fit within the constraints of the Nintendo DS; instead, the developers changed the art style to a very fitting cel-shading style complete with exaggerated body parts. The skaters all look great and animate very fluidly. The same style is applied to the environments. The game runs very well, though pop-up is a bit of a problem, particularly when looking for hard-to-find items.
The sound is equally impressive. The game includes some songs from the American Wasteland soundtrack including songs from Green Day. Additionally, you’ll be able to use the microphone to record sound effects that can then be made the trick or bail sound effects for the skater. The voice acting is well done, particularly in the story mode. The sound effects should be familiar to those who played the console version and sound great on the Nintendo DS.
Vicarious Visions impressed everyone with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 on the Gameboy Advance because they pushed that system very early in its life. They have done the same with Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land. It has the solid gameplay you expect from the Tony Hawk franchise and adds some online multiplayer and fashionable visuals. -- Michael Taylor, PGNx Media
---- Nov 27, 2005
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