Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is a skateboarding video game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision. It is the seventh entry in the Tony Hawk's series and was released initially for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2007 in North America on September 25 and October 1, 2007 in Pin Europe, with several ports for other systems released later.
American Wasteland is the first Tony Hawk's game to support Xbox Live; online play was previously limited to the PlayStation 2 and Microsoft Windows. The Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance versions released as Tony Hawk's American Sk8land on the same day as the console versions. The DS version features Wi-Fi capabilities, and was the first third-party DS game to have online support.
== Contents ==
* 1Gameplay
* 2Story
* 3Re-releases
* 4Soundtrack album
* 5Reception
* 6Notes
* 7References
== Gameplay[edit] ==
See also: Gameplay in the Tony Hawk series
American Wasteland is the first game in the Tony Hawk's franchise that advertised and allowed the possibility for players to play in one vast level via story mode, which actually seamlessly connects a number of levels without loading times in between, along with also being the first game in the series that allows to freely commandeer stray bicycles and perform freestyle BMX techniques similar to skateboarding. A new maneuver, the Bert Slide, was added to skateboarding controls. In the September 2007 edition of Game Informer, a map was shown displaying American Wasteland's Los Angeles with an insert of an overhead view of the Boston stage from Underground 2 for comparison. The Boston level appeared to be about three quarters the size of one American Wasteland area, with the exception of the "Vans Skatepark" and "Casino" areas.
== Story[edit] ==
The game begins with the skater (one of five selectable pre-designed male skaters) boarding a bus to Los Angeles, hoping to get away from the sub-par life in his hometown. Upon arrival in Hollywood, skateboarding punks sucker punch the player and steal his bag only seconds after he gets off of the bus. A local skateboarding enthusiast named Mindy helps the player up and offers to help him change his look to fit in better. After a change in wardrobe, the player is quick to reclaim his bag, but Mindy insists that if he is to fit in, he needs to improve his skating skills, and has a local friend, Duane teach him some tricks, while another skater Ian, offers in exchange for meeting and trying to talk up Mindy (he nervously flees, however). Eventually, the player confronts one of the punks and challenges them to a skating contest for his bag, which the player wins. The punk tries to run off, however, but the player catches up and beats them with his board, reclaiming his bag. After meeting back up with an on-looking Mindy, the player notices her drawing in a sketchbook and compliments her work. Mindy thanks them and reveals she is an artist working on publishing her own skating zine named "American Wasteland" once she has enough money. The player then looks through Mindy's sketchbook to admire her work until he notices a drawing of an awesome skate park, which Mindy reveals to be a local park that actually exists known as the "Skate Ranch". However, she also reveals that it's a "local's only" spot, meaning the player isn't allowed in. But when the player begs to be let in, Mindy, on a whim, decides to show the player anyway, and after clearing up a protest blocking their way, the two head to the ranch's entrance in Beverly Hills.
There, the player meets Mindy's skater friends: Boone, Useless Dave, and Murphy, who deny the player entrance due to being an outsider, but decide that if they can impress them, they'll allow the player entry. With help learning more skills from local skaters, the player proves his skills to the group and is let in. He meets the leader of the group, Iggy VanZandt, a rough type who isn't fond of outsiders. Iggy is also initially hostile to the player, but allows them to crash at the ranch after he gathers wood to help finish his half-pipe. While Iggy skates the half-pipe, the player notes Iggy's skating skills, with the group revealing that Iggy was a professional skater back in the day, but couldn't handle the publicity and dropped out of the public eye. After Iggy compliments the player's work on the half-pipe and leaves, Mindy comes up with an idea to fix the ranch up and make it into a full-on skatepark, which the rest of the group is enthusiastic about. With the help of Murphy's contacts, the group embark on obtaining skate-able pieces from all over L.A.
From here on in, the overall task is to obtain pieces for the Skate Ranch, unlocking new areas in L.A. along the way. Eventually, the player participates in the Tony Hawk AmJam, an amateur skating contest taking place in the Vans Skatepark downtown. He wins the AmJam and is interviewed by Tony Hawk, who asks where he learned a unique trick he used during the contest. The player explains he learned it from Iggy VanZandt, prompting confusion from Hawk who claims that "[Iggy's] been M.I.A. for years". When the player returns to the ranch to show off his victory, they find Iggy is being arrested. Iggy reveals he was living in secrecy to avoid the police for a litany of minor offenses until the player publicly revealed at the AmJam he was still alive. Wanting to make amends for getting Iggy in jail, Mindy suggests the player seek out Iggy's old friends, the Z-Boys, for help, claiming that Tony Alva still hangs out around Santa Monica. Arriving in Santa Monica, the player encounters Tony Alva's posse, and after impressing them, Alva agrees to meet with the player. After explaining his situation with Iggy, Alva agrees to help the player out if he can prove his old-school skating skills, in which they succeed. After impressing Alva, the player learns of Iggy's history with the Z-Boys, with Alva showing the player an old photo of "Green Pipes Point", a legendary snake run that got filled in many years ago. However, the player recognizes Green Pipes Point as being Iggy's ranch. When the player decides to have it dug up to make up for getting Iggy arrested, Alva suggests meeting with his friend Mega, an oil rig worker, who is quick to assist in digging up the snake run after the player does some errands for him on the oil rig itself.
While Mega works on digging up GPP, the player learns from Mindy that Boone has been kidnapped by his old street gang and needs rescuing from East L.A., but the gang in question, the Black Widowz, controls passage through the only tunnel leading to the area, prompting the player to join the gang to be allowed entry. After passing the initiation tests, the player successfully joins the Widowz and makes his way to East L.A., eventually rescuing Boone and grabbing new pieces for the ranch once there. When Mega finishes digging up Green Pipes Point, the player gets a phone call from Iggy in jail, who explains that his bail is posted and he'll be out of jail shortly. When the player explains the restoration of GPP, Iggy is furious; he explains that he doesn't own the land GPP is on, nor does he have enough money to buy it himself, and that once publicity of GPP hits, the real owner will sell it. Sure enough, the player arrives to find the real owner has locked up the ranch and makes plans to sell it. Iggy returns to the now locked up skate ranch enraged, the player apologizing to no avail. Their tempers flare and Iggy punches out the player for the trouble they've caused, who then snaps at Mindy, claiming her desire to improve the ranch caused all of this to happen. Mindy storms off, but when the player tries to apologize as she leaves, Murphy, Dave, and Boone take him away to discuss something important.
The group informs the player that Tony Hawk is currently in the area, believing that if they can convince him and other local pros to be in a "Save Green Pipes Point" video, they can sell the video online, and use the proceeds to save the ranch from the auction block. The player then rounds up several pros throughout L.A., including pro BMX rider Mat Hoffman for the video. Iggy later catches up with the group in East L.A. and reconciles with the player about their argument, also assuring him that Mindy will eventually forgive them for their argument as well. The group then learns of a vacant casino nearby, and decide to trash it as the finale for the video. They eventually succeed, as Murphy informs the group that the video has just made enough money to buy the ranch back through online pre-orders alone. Leaving the casino, the group are met by the police due to their trespassing and vandalism. In order to distract the police so the rest of the gang can escape and purchase GPP from the auction block, the player skates all the way through East L.A., downtown, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills to get back to the ranch in one long run, evading the police all the way. The player succeeds and waits at the ranch and for Iggy to arrive. Iggy triumphantly reveals he now completely owns the Skate Ranch and Green Pipes Point. To celebrate, he throws a party at the ranch, with everyone in town invited. At the party, Mindy returns and the player apologizes for their argument: Mindy accepts their apology and shows off she has just published the first issue of her dream magazine, "American Wasteland", with the player featured on the cover. Iggy eavesdrops on the conversation and reveals to Mindy that the player helped in getting the magazine published using the funds for the video; she is flattered and the two kiss.
== Re-releases[edit] ==
American Wasteland was also released on the Xbox 360 in 2007 on November 22 in North America and December 2 in Europe as a launch title and a Microsoft Windows port was issued by Aspyr in 2008 on February 6 in North America and April 7 in Europe. An additional 'Collector's Edition' was also released for the PlayStation 2, which added two exclusive characters and two exclusive levels, including a documentary titled "Making of Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
".
== Soundtrack album ==
The American Wasteland soundtrack features a lineup of punk-based bands, each covering a song from a classic punk rock or hardcore punk group, the album features all 14 previously-unreleased covers that were recorded for the game. The soundtrack reached number 148 on The Billboard Top 200, number 4 on Billboard Top Soundtracks, and number 10 on Billboard Top Independent Albums. The cover art is a homage to the cover of the 1979 album London Calling by The Clash which, in turn, is a homage to the cover of Elvis Presley's first album. The back cover art is a homage to the back cover art of self-titled album of The Clash. IGN gave the soundtrack a 4.1/10, stating that the soundtrack is aimed towards emo-lovers instead of punk, given that most of the participating bands play in the genre.
Category:2007 video games
Category:Gamecube Games
Category:Video Games
Category:Nintendo Video Games