|
The Tony Hawk franchise faces getting stale on the Gameboy Advance. Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land is the sixth Tony Hawk game in as many years for the Gameboy Advance. Due to limitations in the hardware, the differences between the new versions are less dramatic than they are on consoles. While American Wasteland is the third major subset of the Tony Hawk series, the Gameboy Advance equivalent – American Sk8land – doesn’t feel radically different from the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 of the system’s launch.
The primary mode of American Sk8land is the story mode. Like any recent Tony Hawk game, in American Sk8land you’ll skate around various levels, looking for people to give you goals. The tasks aren’t particularly difficult since 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.
American Sk8land also includes a classic mode. This brings Tony Hawk back to its roots of giving you two minutes to complete as goals as you can. The tasks that you are given are considerably more difficult than the tasks in story mode too, ranging from setting high scores and collecting the infamous video tapes (or letters to spell “skate”). Gamers that blow through the story mode will find a lot to like in the game’s classic mode.
The gameplay remains as tight as ever in American Sk8land. The game still makes pulling off the various run outs, grinds, manuals, ollies and reverts as easy and intuitive as possible on the Gameboy Advance. You’ll find plenty of opportunities in the large levels to string together massive combos, particularly if you’ve played one of the previous games on the GBA.
Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land includes a multiplayer mode. The game modes include horse, tag and trick attack, like previous versions of the game. You can play multiplayer by linking up to another GBA or passing around one handheld.
The game remains as visually impressive as it has always been on the Gameboy Advance. In case you don’t know, Tony Hawk's American on the GBA uses an isometric viewpoint to give you the impression that the game is in 3D. New to this version is the somewhat cel-shaded look made to coincide with the cel-shaded look of the Nintendo DS version of the game. The environments in the game still look great and like the console versions, there isn’t loading between the different areas of the game. Of course, you’ll be able to grind the Hollywood sign. The character models are good though the animation is king thanks to the fluidness.
The game’s audio performs just as well. The game’s sound effects accurately capture the sounds of skating. You’ll hear the skateboard hit the pavement, grind on rails, and hit the ramps. You’ll also hear the groans of a nasty bail. Everything sounds very real. The background music isn’t quite as plentiful but is good nonetheless.
Tony Hawk’s American Sk8land is a solid skating game for the Nintendo DS. However, because the game is so similar to previous versions, it gets harder to recommend the game as a new purchase. American Sk8land is a better game, but only marginally so it isn’t really worth the price of admission unless you’re a hardcore Tony Hawk fan (and don’t have a Nintendo DS or PSP) and absolutely need a new fix of portable Tony Hawk action. -- Michael Taylor, PGNx Media
---- Nov 27, 2005
|
