Game #1116: Tony Hawk's American Sk8land(Nintendo DS)

 Now in true 3D.

 Tony Hawk's American Sk8land was passable on the Gameboy Advance, but this DS version? Now we are talkin'! The GBA offering felt like a scaled-down TH game, but this? This one plays like a scaled-down Tony Hawk's game, and it's more than just a scaled down port, as they opted instead for an original take inspired on a home console counterpart, which I feel plays better to the console's strengths and weaknesses.

 Most of the mechanics that were in American Wasteland are here, however, curiously enough, while American Sk8land on the GBA kept the ability to get off the board in it... it's missing in this one! As far as I can remember, that's the only main mechanic that is really missing in here. Reverts, flatland and grind tricks, wallplants et all are all here. Well, BMX bikes are missing too, but no biggie. There are a few exclusive mechanics in game, though, for instance, you can slow down time for a short while and you get a few easy super specials per combo, which are performed by tapping the touchscreen, which are really convenient. There's a character creator element here, but it's a bit pathetic, as well as Story, Classic and Free Skate modes, making it a decent package. Oh! And we've got a small selection of licensed music, including Green Day, that I quite enjoyed.

 The game has a very colorful, cell-shaded look that makes it pretty unique among Tony Hawk games. Considering it's running on a fairly weak handheld, I think it looks really nice and is a nice fit for the system. The touchscreen doubles as a map, which is something the previous game desperately needed, but, in this one, since the camera is set behind your back, it's a bit redundant. A bit. For you see, the draw distance on collectibles is kinda short, so you'll have to rely on the touchscreen to get the S-K-A-T-E or C-O-M-B-O letters more easily, since they only show up when you are close to them. A bit off-putting at first, but nothing you can't get used to. Plus, the levels themselves are fully rendered, so when it comes to the core skating there's no problem. The game has about 7 skate parks, and they are fairly small, which is understandable. Just like the other ports of the American Sk8land/Wasteland, this game offers an interconnected world, and unlike the GBA version, exits are highlighted. That said, there are no multi-zone goals or goals that unlock later, so there's no real reason to go back to a previous area if you already cleared every goal, unless you are just fooling around.

 The story mode is a pretty decent offering, with about 15 goals per level. You upgrade your stats by fulfilling challenges, like in the home console version, so you must Grind for X amount of seconds to improve your grind, perform X amount of flips in a combo to increase your flip stat, etc. I really like this system, which was introduced in Underground if I remember correctly, but it also makes it easy to fully max out your stats on the first few minutes of your playthrough! That said, the missions themselves... are pathetically easy. Most of the time, after you speak with an NPC the game will place you directly in front of whatever you have to do. What's more, the final challenge before unlocking the final skate park is just performing an acid drop. The game spawns you right in front of the hole, so you just move forwards, hold down R and you cleared it. There are plenty of missions like this. this probably makes it a decent Tony Hawk game to start with.

 The Classic Mode feels a bit like an afterthought, every stage has 3 combo challenges, 3 point challenges, collect C-O-M-B-O, collect S-K-A-T-E, find the hidden tape, and then two other goals that are usually "Grind X rail" and "Natas Spin 4 of these". Eventually the Natas Spin goals turn into flips, but nothing too crazy. It's still extra, bonus content, so it really is better than nothing, but Story Mode is the reason you are playing this game, not Classic.

  This game felt like a perfect scaling down of Tony Hawk. Sure, I think the game could've used some more interesting missions and more bonus unlockables, but it's pretty much the only 3rd person Tony Hawk's game with a cellshaded look, and that alone makes it stand out from the rest. Thankfully, the game plays even better than it looks, as it plays and feels like the other games in the series, albeit at a smaller scale. I had a few crashes with the game, mainly in the final skate park, mashing through the dialogue to restart a certain objective would sometimes crash the game, something I managed to replicate like 3-4 times. My bad for failing such an easy objective(Seriously, it was one of those simple Acid Drop goals). Now, I can only hope that Proving Ground on the DS is just as good, if not better, than this one.

 7.0