Tony Hawk's: American SK8Land

[chuddy_2001uk]

Bignds gives Touchds his full lowdown on the first Nintendo Wi-Fi enabled game to hit the shores of the UK! Get In!




Back in 2001 when the Gameboy Advance was near launch, every developer who signed on to the GBA were eager to exploit the new hardware’s ability, quite a few games caught my eye but ultimately I went with Super Mario Advance and Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2. I was amazed by both games, especially Tony Hawks, Vicarious Visions did a certainly brilliant job. The game pretty much so kicked started the “isometric 3D” view for the GBA, the controls were excellent and fluid, graphics were amazing considering we’ve just come from a 2D Gameboy Colour. Five renditions later all of which proved to be widely excepted and we are near the GBA launch of American Sk8land a game which in hand shares a similar name to the highly rated console version which is released at the end of the month and the same name as the DS version coming mid November. While they do both share the same name there are few similarities between both handheld versions, more notably the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection connectivity in the DS version.

Story and Presentation- “Wanna go on a road trip?”

Story mode, quite obviously the main mode of the game starts off with you winning a contest somewhere in the Midwest in your hometown. The first cut scene sees your character lifting up a trophy high above his head; you are then greeted by the birdman himself- Tony Hawk. He congratulates you on your victory and offers you a place on his bus to go to where it all started- LA.

When you reach Hollywood you are greeted by self proclaimed “local skater chick” Mindy (who sounds a lot like a Rugrat), who’s character is a large part in the console game but is pretty toned down for Sk8land which is fine, seeing as how most of the game has been for it to reach a more wider audience.

A mission or two later and you are treated to another cut scene, this time detailing the biggest aim in story mode. You find yourself in the company of Mindy again, and then along pops Tony Hawk the two get talking and up comes the topic of “The American Skateland”, a legendary skate park thought to be now extinct. All three of you hit the place but find it completely trashed, thus brings you to the main goal of story mode- return American Skateland (or as it is more referred to in the game as “the warehouse”) to its former glory. You’ll have to earn all the cash you can to purchase pieces for the park by carrying out various tasks.



While the story isn’t the reason you play Tony Hawks it does give reason to the game.

Oh and everything is presented so very well.

The cut scenes can be classed as comic slides, with very nice voiceovers, which in turn brings the game to life. Menus are very simple to navigate and the backdrop art is a nice décor. Getting online is a simple procedure of pressing a few buttons provided you’ve already configured your Wi-Fi details.

Gameplay-

I’m going to start by applauding Vicarious Visions for the control scheme. Anyone familiar with the console incarnations (more notably the PS/2 versions) will feel right at home with the button layout. After picking up the game on the bus ride home I fired it up and didn’t even need to look at the manual, everything just felt so right.

In terms of controlling your characters movements, I’ve always found it easier with the d-pad in TH games. So this one handles pretty great.

Pretty much everything you can do on your board in its bigger brothers you can do here right down to the latest addition in THAW, the “Bert slide”. B to ollie, A to grab, X to grind and Y to do a flip trick flip, as always to pull of different grabs, grinds and flips you’ve got use them in conjunction with different direction buttons. The shoulder buttons are used in almost the same way as the console version with L being used to perform a Berts slide while alternating with “left” and “right” on the d-pad and R being used to revert.

The touch screen has been used in a truly inventive way. When ever your special meter reaches its peak you can tap the little eyeball in the left lower part of the touch screen to put your self in focus mode, which is, in case you didn’t know, a type of “slow motion” that can help you, as everything slows down, helps you maintain your balance in a grind/manual or lets you put that extra bit of detail in your combo. While this is a clever way of triggering Focus, its not in a very cleverly thought out position, as its right next to the d-pad, so if your trying to get that 90-second long manual and you’ve built up enough in your special meter to get into focus, your going to have to very quickly tap the icon on the touch screen, then go back to the control pad to maintain balance, which could result you bailing in some serious fashion. On the upside, performing a special has never been simpler. For instance, when you are in a grind, and your special meter is full, an icon of a guy grinding comes up at the very right part of the touch screen, so doing a special is as easy touching the icon, this works the same way in manuals and air tricks. As you progress through the story, more icons are added, so when I perform a manual, two icons will be there and I have the simple choice of picking which one to perform. Gone are the days of trying to remember a long combination and it certainly does use the touch screen in a useful manner.

[img] http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/arti...3064406898.jpg [/img]

On closer inspection you can see that nothing has been substituted with the button mapping, this is largely due to the fact the other two nonexistent buttons were used to get off your board, which brings us to the only fundamental loss of THAS in comparison to THAW- you cant get off your board.

The whole purpose of getting of your board was a) cause havoc and b) to mix up combos. To answer point a- as I mentioned earlier the whole experience has been toned down and has gone from its “underground” reputation to more of a “group of skaters following their dreams” and with that change the game has gone from a 16+/M to a 3+/E, matching Nintendo’s criteria for “games to reach all audiences”.

While mixing up has now gone back to the way it was in THPS4 (i.e. doing manuals in between tricks) that “helping hand” has come back in another form, with the touch screen map (which is always on the screen while skating). In previous TH games at times, I used to find it pretty hard finding all five skate letters with in two minutes, this isn’t the case anymore- the map details all the necessities that you must find to clear the goal, so both the “combo” and “skate”(when of course in classic mode or online classic) letters appear in their exact location and at times the other random objects you must recover in a story mission, so its just a simple matter of reaching said items. This can work two ways- either help you out or just make things a little bit too easy.

Other game options include- Classic, which is obviously set out like previous Hawk games, Free skate which is just you and the level, and your free to enjoy your self, Wireless which is either locally or online via the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, the Skate shop where you can edit your tricks, and all your customisation needs in one place and Options which does what it says on the tin (and even has a cool throw back to the GBA days, with “Legacy Cam” which puts you in camera perspective of the GBA titles).

The game takes place in LA, with interconnecting Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Downtown LA and East LA, you can skate in the warehouse over the stuff you’ve bought, there are two other levels but I’ll let you uncover those for yourself.



If you’ve played the console outing, then you’ll see what a great job they’ve done in translating everything to Sk8land, I even had both games up at the same time, and the differences are pretty mild.

This is the closest thing to 3D “free roaming” on the DS and certainly does put you in an extensive world.

When you look back at the most recent TH games you can see just how much customisation you have over your character, so Vicarious Visions were bound to have a field day when they announced this title for the touch screened handheld. You have control of everything your characters every bit of material possession, from what their deck looks like, to their graffiti tag to even their voiceovers when they perform a special or even when they bail.

Putting your own design on your board or making your graffiti tag can be called a more “advanced” version of the custom decal engine found in NFSU2 and MKDS.
To give a more personal touch to the game you can even record a short 5 second voiceover for your character, one for when they hear good news or perform a special and one for when they hear bad news or bail. Hey, it saves me from swearing out loud when I screw up a massive combo.

Of course the other major draw to this game is The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. This is the other premier game of the services launch (alongside Mario Kart DS).

While waiting at the bus stop, which is right out side the shopping centre, I decided to scan for available hot spots, but to my expectations and dismay I found nothing, so I proceeded to play my story mode. Soon after arriving home I saved my story and immediately went straight to the online options and ten minutes and a bit of configuring and I was online.

Once I was all set up and opened up my account, I peaked around the online options, which are- head to head, either between a randomly selected opponent or a friend, you can play classic mode online with your best scores going to rank up with the best in the world, check out how others faired on the score boards, up date your custom art, or play a downloaded goal.

When playing online, in head to head, you are limited to a two player match. Both players start in “the lobby” which is a free skate and your there until one player challenges the other to either the basic options of trick attack, combo mambo, high score challenge and new option “the price is wrong” where you have to be the first to get in a set score range. Horse and Graffiti modes didn’t make the cut much to the dismay of some fans although the provided options are enough to keep you busy.

My main complaint with head to head is when you often search for a random match, you have to wait for up to five minutes or sometimes you don’t even get a match, but this happens about 20% of the time and can be expected in the first week after launch..



Playing classic mode online is pretty much the same deal, and after you’ve finished a run you can choose to upload your stats or even your replay of the run to www.american-sk8land.com for you to be ranked up amongst the best. There are different tables for each level and for each feat i.e. a board for the longest manual, highest score etc. This addition certainly adds a wealth of life span to the game, with the ultimate goal of getting your self at the top spot in each board.

The custom art has sparked a new community, and at the previously mentioned site you can upload your art or just download new ones to your system.

Each week a new downloadable goal is released to add even further playtime.

In order to get the most out of online, you’ll have to be registered to www.american-sk8land.com, here you can make your own or join a “Sk8 Crew” (which is a basic version of a clan), upload your stats to your profile. The sites main purpose is to sync things with the DS and your computer.


Graphics- Cell Shading- It’s the new black

Most Developers have only started to unearth the fact that a good-looking game doesn’t have to look life like. With that said, im going to go as far as saying THAS is probably the prettiest DS game out there.

THAS is quite obviously a cell-shaded skater and runs at a velvety smooth 60FPS and that really shines through. The lighting effects in the levels are the best ive seen on the DS, (only marginally beaten by SM64DS). Honestly, when you do play the game, just stop for a second and look around, you’ll see what im talking about. Vicarious Visions new what they were doing and in result they’ve created an amazingly good-looking game in full 3D, and when I say full 3D I mean it, no “2.5D” substituting. Take time out to have a look around, you’ll see every bit of detail is there. Quite frankly, play this, then look at Ultimate Spiderman on the consoles, its quite nearly the same engine, and they look near identical.

Sound- A licensed soundtrack? On a DS game? Shoot me.
This is the first non-music centred DS game with a fully licensed sound track. Skate along to Greenday online anyone? Thirteen of the console versions tracks have made it to the DS version and adds further production quality to the game. The tunes suit the game and is nice touch.

In terms of character voiceovers, well as mentioned earlier, all the pros who make an appearance in the game are real thing, and they all sound pretty good.

Sound effects sound crisp and pretty life like.

Conclusion

This game can easily be ranked in the top 5 most polished DS games, because in what ever way you look at it, it succeeds in all areas, be it game play, life span, graphics or sound.

Overall

Presentation/Story-
8/10
Very well presented game and the story, while not exactly all the depth in the world adds meaning to the story mode.

Gameplay-
9/10
Another clap to Vicarious Visions control mapping and just the way they captured the essence of TH on consoles.

Sound-
9/10
The licensed sound track, character voiceovers and all the effects lead this to a 9 in the sound department.

Graphics-
10/10
I’m a huge fan of the games graphics engine, seriously, screen shots oft his look nice but they don’t do it justice in the slightest, play it, that’s all I can say, then you can see just how good this looks.

Lifespan-
10/10
Decent length story mode, classic mode, multiplayer locally, online multiplayer, downloadable goals, trying to get yourself on the global score boards, if that isn’t enough for you then im going to throw a rather large axe at your face.

Overall (based on average)-
9.2

[ShadowMarth]

The first part sounds a tad rushed, but overall a GREAT review, very nice and long, informative and such. Just wish I had the money for the game...

[bignds]

Hope you guys enjoy the review, would like to hear more thoughts on it, thanks.

[theONE]

i liked it.. but i dont like long reviews... less is more in my opinion

[Euan]

I like your review style, with the topic sentences, but occasionally you add one too many paragraphs in there. Overall, this review and you have convinced me at some point to get a Tony Hawks game - either American Skateland or American Wasteland (er, I think) - damn you!

[LancerZWarrior]

id really like to get this game, i love tony hawk on the console versions and have never played tony hawk online. id really like to see how well i stack up. i really need to get my hands on this game

[FSR Mafia]

um... k?

[mario_master64]

a great review bignds. youv'e kinda ade me want the game.

[superman]

nice review very convencing but the storty line still doesnt add up to the original underground, im a skater so of couse i have to have the game (once u build the park with all the stolen stuff it never gets to old to skate)

[TRSDS]

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