I know most of whoever reads this doesn't care, but I'm going to review a video game.
But of course I'm going to tell it the long way.
Every now and then I get into trends when it comes to video games. For awhile the trend was Madden 2006. Now for the past week it has been Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. We have 3 and 4. I played 4 and beat it, then played 3 and beat it, then decided to keep on playing 4 until I realized I'm way too good at this game and it's getting pretty boring playing it. So I look at my funds and end up going out Saturday and buying Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. It was one of the cutting edge video games with its "no loading" feature which is part of what I'll talk about.
Graphics I'll give good credit for. Games are always getting better when it comes to graphics, and this was no exception. The only thing i got beef with is the lip-synch, or lack thereof. The talking, lip movements, and hand movements were almost always off. At this age of videogames this is just a sign of laziness.
The no loading is true... but not without its share of bugs. There are many levels in the game, but its all part of Los Angeles. But here's the catch... you don't skate right into them, you skate through what I call loading zones. Your skater moves through a large corridor that connects the two areas. There's skateable objects in these zones but for the most part they are kinda dead, no people ever. While you skate in these loading zones the screen can flicker, the game can skip, and the lights and colors can get all crazy. I'm still highly impressed nonetheless. It was the ONE thing Playstation had that gaming systems like Nintendo had a one-up on... loading screens. It looks pretty weak, but its better then loading I think.
The story is good, but short. It can also be very confusing and misleading. In the beginning it looks like the object of the game is to get moves, get good, get sponsored, and become a pro. But the deeper you get into the story the more it brings you away from that storyline and puts you into a completely different one. Also the game progress itself is kind of confusing. You have the option of riding the BMX bike, which is cool, but I didn't have a big urge to jump right on the bike. If you don't do the bike side-missions you find yourself sidetracked for an hour in the three parts of the city doing bike missions so you can carry on with the storyplot. The same goes with the tagging. It's something cool, but not something I was crazy to do. Halfway through the game I was told I had to complete all of them. It took me 3 hours to do all the tagging side-missions. There are 3 in each city. If they would of told me to make sure I do these things I would've done them. So thats the only real problem with the story, other then it being pretty cheesey at points. And like I said, it's very short and leaves some questions unanswered.
The classic mode is much like THPS 3. You have to get high, pro, and sick scores, find the secret tape, and other odd objectives. So far I've only unearthed I think Minneapolis and Santa Cruz. I'm hoping Philadelphia will be in there but I doubt it.
The game scores huge with the creation. You can create your own player, park, tag, and trick. The customization for the player is phenomenal. My dude wears an Alkaline Trio t-shirt and Etnies (which IS me basically). So I found that to be tons of fun.
Overall then the game isn't halfbad. Not as good as THPS 4 in my opinion or Underground, but definately a gooden. I can't wait for Project 8 to come out now.
But of course I'm going to tell it the long way.
Every now and then I get into trends when it comes to video games. For awhile the trend was Madden 2006. Now for the past week it has been Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. We have 3 and 4. I played 4 and beat it, then played 3 and beat it, then decided to keep on playing 4 until I realized I'm way too good at this game and it's getting pretty boring playing it. So I look at my funds and end up going out Saturday and buying Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. It was one of the cutting edge video games with its "no loading" feature which is part of what I'll talk about.
Graphics I'll give good credit for. Games are always getting better when it comes to graphics, and this was no exception. The only thing i got beef with is the lip-synch, or lack thereof. The talking, lip movements, and hand movements were almost always off. At this age of videogames this is just a sign of laziness.
The no loading is true... but not without its share of bugs. There are many levels in the game, but its all part of Los Angeles. But here's the catch... you don't skate right into them, you skate through what I call loading zones. Your skater moves through a large corridor that connects the two areas. There's skateable objects in these zones but for the most part they are kinda dead, no people ever. While you skate in these loading zones the screen can flicker, the game can skip, and the lights and colors can get all crazy. I'm still highly impressed nonetheless. It was the ONE thing Playstation had that gaming systems like Nintendo had a one-up on... loading screens. It looks pretty weak, but its better then loading I think.
The story is good, but short. It can also be very confusing and misleading. In the beginning it looks like the object of the game is to get moves, get good, get sponsored, and become a pro. But the deeper you get into the story the more it brings you away from that storyline and puts you into a completely different one. Also the game progress itself is kind of confusing. You have the option of riding the BMX bike, which is cool, but I didn't have a big urge to jump right on the bike. If you don't do the bike side-missions you find yourself sidetracked for an hour in the three parts of the city doing bike missions so you can carry on with the storyplot. The same goes with the tagging. It's something cool, but not something I was crazy to do. Halfway through the game I was told I had to complete all of them. It took me 3 hours to do all the tagging side-missions. There are 3 in each city. If they would of told me to make sure I do these things I would've done them. So thats the only real problem with the story, other then it being pretty cheesey at points. And like I said, it's very short and leaves some questions unanswered.
The classic mode is much like THPS 3. You have to get high, pro, and sick scores, find the secret tape, and other odd objectives. So far I've only unearthed I think Minneapolis and Santa Cruz. I'm hoping Philadelphia will be in there but I doubt it.
The game scores huge with the creation. You can create your own player, park, tag, and trick. The customization for the player is phenomenal. My dude wears an Alkaline Trio t-shirt and Etnies (which IS me basically). So I found that to be tons of fun.
Overall then the game isn't halfbad. Not as good as THPS 4 in my opinion or Underground, but definately a gooden. I can't wait for Project 8 to come out now.
ontothenext:
Relationships are a waste of time, its alot easier to whore yourself. yeah i dont know about video games...