5-0 On The Go: Tony Hawk's American Sk8Land Ollies Onto the DS

Much like with skateboarding, Tony Hawk has left his mark on video gaming. Starting with the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the Sony PlayStation back in 1999, gamers have seen new Tony Hawk games every year since, spanning consoles, mobile phones, and handheld gaming systems.

Unlike the console-based games, many of which have seen ports or scaled-down versions for the Game Boy Advance, Tony Hawk's American Sk8Land is a full-on, unique game that utilizes some source material from the most recent Tony Hawk game-- Tony's Hawk's American Wasteland-- but maintains its own identity, thanks to some key features.

The main thing that players will notice once they pop American Sk8Land into their DS units is that the game's graphics engine is completely new. The realistic-looking skaters from games past have been replaced by cel-shaded skaters, which animate smoothly and actually look pretty good. The game's multiple stages, which span the state of California, also look good as buildings, cars, and other objects whip by the on-screen skater as he (or she) attempts to rack up points and accomplish various objectives.

The transition to cel-shading sacrifices nothing on the gameplay end of American Sk8Land; in fact, with smoother animations for tricks, the game actually plays better than expected. Combine that with the additional two face buttons on the DS, and you finally have a very close facsimile to the "old-school" Pro Skater games from 1999 through 2001.

There are some notable changes to the traditional control scheme, however. Developer Vicarious Visions has managed to implement the touch screen in a couple of different ways. Once a skater maxes out his (or her) Special meter, there are up to three different signature tricks that can be performed. Traditionally, players in the past had to enter a special command on the directional pad and then press a face button to complete the trick; however, in American Sk8Land, players can use the stylus and touch an icon that automatically attempts the trick without special entry from the directional pad. The other big change is Focus, which also can be activated once the Special meter is full. This slows down time and allows players to land bigger tricks and combinations without error or loss of balance. Aside from these changes, though, the core gameplay is as solid as it's ever been.

American Sk8Land boasts several different modes of play. The meat of single-player play is the Story Mode, which follows the journey of your created skater as he (or she) traverses the state of California in search of pieces with which to populate a popular abandoned warehouse-turned-skate park. The gameplay is fairly open-ended, as you can stop to talk to people and accomplish the tasks that they give you in return for money... which is then used to buy even more pieces for the warehouse. These tasks range from tutorial-style objectives (such as grinding or maintaining a manual) to complex combos and high-score challenges. Each area also has its own Pro Skater who provides the ultimate challenge-- much like a boss character.

Aside from the Story Mode, solo players can indulge in the Classic Mode, which plays similarly to the first three Pro Skater games. Players are presented with a series of objectives, such as scoring a set amount of points in a combo or run or collecting the letters S-K-A-T-E. Each run is timed, so players must strategize which objectives that they wish to accomplish in each run. Once enough objectives are achieved in a stage, the next stage will open.

If you're looking to test your skills against an opponent, players can wirelessly play against others... or they can use the Nintendo DS' Wi-Fi capability to compete with players worldwide. Unfortunately, for any of the multiplayer modes, each player must have a copy of the game... so single-card multiplayer is not possible. There are five different modes of play once you get connected, ranging from scoring runs to combo contests. The Wi-Fi connection is stable and certainly allows for a host of varying opponents and skill levels, which can keep even the best players on their toes.

One specific area of achievement that has not yet been mentioned is American Sk8Land's sound. Thirteen songs from Tony Hawk's American Wasteland have been compressed to fit on the tiny DS game card, and the sound quality is pretty impressive. There's also a fair amount of speech compressed onto the card, as well as the trademark crisp sound effects, such as rail grinding and trucks hitting the pavement. While the transition to cel-shading brings the Tony Hawk universe to another level, the quality and sheer amount of sound that comes out of the DS speakers is remarkable.

Despite the long list of positives, American Sk8Land certainly is not perfect. While Vicarious Visions did a good job implementing the touch screen into the core gameplay engine, it never feels truly intuitive. While players can map special tricks to directional pad commands, it's a bit of a process to do so. Also, the objectives in the Story Mode are extremely repetitive and mostly uninspired-- even in later stages of play. Many players will ask themselves, "Am I doing this again?" Lastly, although the cel-shading looks good, long-time fans of the Pro Skater games may balk at the new, cartoon-like visuals... especially when combined with the game's occasionally flat humor.

Overall, however, the verdict on Tony Hawk's American Sk8Land is overwhelmingly positive. Vicarious Visions took a few chances and demonstrated a bit of wizardry with the DS hardware here, and it generally pays off. This is as close as you can get to playing a very convincing Tony Hawk game on the go. As long as you have an open mind about the visuals and don't mind trying to adjust to using the stylus for certain functions, there's a lot to like about this game. It's not quite radical... but it's definitely non-heinous.