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Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

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Gaming's best (and only) skateboarding franchise is still the one to beat

Words: Dan Amrich, GamesRadar US

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Ever seen a fat skateboarder? If you're going to pull off flip tricks and delicate balance moves, being light on your feet helps. That's what makes Tony Hawk's American Wasteland such a paradox - it's gained a lot of heft as a franchise over the years, but now it's starting to be weighed down by its own legacy.

Granted, if it ain't broke, don't fix it - the Hawk mantra has always been to extend the skateboarding experience rather than fundamentally change it. And THAW definitely offers extension: a huge, sprawling Los Angeles, yours to explore without loading times getting in the way. (Well, they're there, but you get to skate through them as you travel from, say, Hollywood to Beverly Hills, or Downtown to East L.A.)

Like the Underground series, the single-player mode unfolds as a story. This time, a punk from the sticks moves to the City of Angels and ultimately helps his motley crew of outcast friends to build the greatest skatepark ever known to man. The story-driven but largely non-linear structure compels you to keep playing, but old-school players will also find a rich and completely independent Classic Mode full of simpler, goal-oriented objectives scattered around polished levels they already know and love.