Do a simple search for Tony Hawk on this very site and discover just how
many games in this series have been released over the last couple of years.
A high number, right? Maybe even a bit alarmingly high?

Still they manage to maintain a high level regarding the quality of the games,
at least in those of them that I've played since the first Playstation title.

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land takes a step up on Nintendo's handheld systems from the 2D-days of the Gameboy Advance to the 3D of Nintendo DS, thus making it more true to the original console version.

Because this is a handheld title, Vicarious Visions have been given the job of
shaping the world of Tony Hawk to the small screen.

The core gameplay of Tony Hawk's American Sk8land is as always to skate around different levels and score tricks on your skateboard linking them together in series to gain points. Heaps of jumps, halfpipes and rails are found everywhere in each level for you to play with, providing almost endless possibilities. This is very much consistent to every Tony Hawk game ever made, and it's good to see that it's still in full effect.

Several modes are presented, including the story and classic mode. Story takes you on a mission to rebuild an abandoned skate park to its former glory. Accompanied by Tony himself and your new friend Mindy, you embark on this great adventure. Cash is needed to buy parts for American Sk8land, and is easily earned by doing various favors for characters in the game, while never leaving your skateboard. Easy living if you ask me. You gain skill as you progress, ideally ending up as the king of all skaters, with a finished
American Sk8land to boot.

The story mode is not eternal however, so when you're done with that it's on to the classic mode which is, well, classic. You know, "Find the hidden tape", "Collect S-K-A-T-E", and the goals we know from earlier titles from the Tony Hawk franchise.

Spanning over 7 levels, there's a lot to do before you can claim total victory.

New to Tony Hawk is the wireless multiplayer option enabling you to challenge friends and foes over what we call the internet. As always with the DS, the integration is seamless and very easy to use, provided you are in a wireless hotspot or have a wireless network at home.

Vicarious Visions decided to do a twist on the graphics in this one, and opted for the more cartoony look. This is surely done to keep the frame rate decent by using textures with fewer details, while still dishing out something that feels very fresh and nice to look at. And speaking of framerate, it is excellent. I noticed no slow-downs while playing American Sk8land, which is impressive given the hardware it is running on and the size of the levels.

As mentioned, the toon-style has a unsullied feeling to it, and it gives a great 3D-effect without being too complex or noisy to follow on the small screen. Cell-shadin can be very pretty if done properly, and it certainly shows here.

It's safe to say that the developers have aimed for a very stylish look, both in the menus and the game itself, making use of vibrant colors and well defined boundaries where objects start and end.

A very slick look indeed, well pulled off.

Featuring 13 tracks from the likes of Green Day and Dead Kennedys is an impressive feat on a handheld non-disc based system like the DS is, though some tracks are slightly cut to fit. It is of course not up to par compared to what you would hear on, say, a CD, but I still found myself fairly impressed with what the game delivers. Unfortunately, I found the sound to be thin and weak, without the proper 'punch' rock should have. I don't know if it's because of the capabilities of the machine (or lack thereof), or the compression that the songs had to endure, but it's a tad annoying. Songs can be removed from the playlist at will, so if there's any track in particular you're sick of you don't need to hear it.

This game also incorporates speech with the cutscenes found in the story mode. Nobody in their right mind would by any means, describe it as Oscar winning material, but paired with the cartoony graphics it's easy to get away with stuff like that. In the end it suits the visual style of the game well.

The sound effects are seemingly simply pulled from the other Tony Hawk games, and every screech, grind and "ouch" should be familiar to fans of the franchise.

If you have played the Playstation Tony Hawk games, you will feel right at home in American Sk8land. In fact, I had no troubles at all just picking up the game and playing it like this wasn't a new platform at all. Even if this is your first venture into to wonderful Tony Hawk games you will learn the ropes in no time thanks to the easy and responsive controls and the good learning curve.

The obvious difference between American Sk8land and its console counterparts is, of course, the touchscreen. Luckily it doesn't interfere much with the button based gameplay, only adding minor stuff like extra tricks triggered by on-screen icons and the more important "freak out"-mode which allows you to salvage some points should you mess up and fall off your skateboard. Oh, and of course the map is located on the lower screen. It proves to be extremely useful during the classic-mode as a guide to where the SKATE and COMBO letters are, and gives a very practical overall impression on the level you're thrashing around in. The map is a great addition to the game, and in retrospect it's almost hard to imagine playing without it.

Tony Hawk's American Sk8land is a pleasure to play and should be essential in every DS collection. A great interface, smooth gameplay and pretty graphics make a combination likely to succeed with most gamers who are interested in these kinds of games.

Fans of the series and newcomers alike will enjoy hours collecting goals or just goofing around on their boards. It's pure pleasure for your DS.

A fantastic job has been done by Vicarious Visions in order to make this feel as good as it has done on consoles for years.

Not failing to do so, and we've got ourselves a winner!


The Apex:

• Vivid and beautiful graphics, great framerate.
• Excellent controls.
• WIFI-capabilities.