Neversoft Expands Tony Hawk Series
Tony Hawk's skateboarding series has long dominated the extreme sports genre, and to avoid further stagnation, Neversoft is mixing things up. First screens.
The Tony Hawk series exploded onto the video game scene in 1999, igniting the extreme sports frenzy in the process. But the franchise has started to stagnate, and to remedy this, developer Neversoft has retooled how you play the game.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland's most obvious new feature is its use of just one city instead of several as in previous versions. You can move from area to area within the city and never have to get out of the game. There are distinct neighbourhoods - effectively levels - but these stream seamlessly together as you move between them.
This attempt to keep you in the game world all the time extends to character customisation, which in previous instalments was a jarring, tedious process. All the same options are still there (and there are many new ones as well), but now you simply walk into a store and alter your appearance on the fly.
The game continues with the story aspects introduced into the series with the first Tony Hawk Underground game, and Neversoft have tried to make it a more cinematic experience, by including more non-playable cut-scenes.
Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is padding up for release on all current consoles later this year with an Xbox 360 release to follow.
Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo Games
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