Review by WhiteX
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Date: 06.16.06
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Tony Hawk´s American Sk8land

THAS is the first Tony´s DS game, it is presented in full 3D, with one of
the most powerfull engines that ever graced the DS, Vicarious Vision´s Alchemy.
With good music and an unique graphical experience, THAS is a good one to hold on if you are a fan of virtual Skateboarding.

Presentation/graphics 9

I only gave nine because i do not know what God holds in store for the DS,
the graphics on this game are amazing, more so considering that it´s quite old now.
THAS is a full 3d game with the camera on the back of the character, it has some sort of Cartoon look to it, but fear not, it is very fitting to the atmosphere and runs very fast too.
The game has also a lot of content, a classic mode that comes back to the old school Tony Hawk, real music and a lot of DS gimmicks to keep you going.
The only shame are the NPC´s that are mostly the same dudes with different colors.

Music/sound effects 10

Real music in a varied assortment, good and fitting sound effects, you can even record your own "good" and "bad" sounds, the songs play clear and help to build the experience.

Gameplay 7

It is the same old, same old, but with a double screen touch, you get a button for the lip trick, one for the grab...and so on, combining the tricks is very easy and after a good combo and a bail, you get to "Freak out" and recover some of the points.

The ability to walk is over and the game is kinda too easy, you walk around a set place, doing errands, showing you skills until you do a number of things, than a famous skater asks you to do one thing and the stage is over, none of the things they ask are particularly difficult till later in the game and the "natas spin" takes the fun out of a big combo.

DS factor 8

You can draw the bottom of your board, record your voice, see the map on the lower screen, the game is 3D, battle over Wi-Fi, another complete package, the only thing is that the touchscreen tricks sometimes get confused to make due to small icons piled up on top of each other.

Learning curve 7

You will be doing nice tricks and combos in no time, but will take some time of you to discover how to do some of the biggest combo scores. I´d say 15 minutes to learn, 3 hours to tame.

Lasting appeal/game modes 8

Story and classic modes can take a huge chunk of your gaming time, classic is Tony Hawk as before THPS 4, story is the main mode and you can skate online too, so if you like skateboarding games, this one can give you
a good run for your money.

Final considerations

An overall good game, a little old now but worth to get if you ever liked the Tony Hawk experience and perfect to build up the Hype towards
TH´s Downhill Jam.

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