Does TONY HAWK'S AMERICAN WASTELAND Stand the Test of Time? A Complete Retrospective 

How do you feel about American Wasteland? Are you a fan? Not so much? Let's talk about it!

This is my absolute favorite Tony hawk. I loved this era of skateboarding as well. I played it probably like 3 years after it came out for the first time I was like 8 or 9 and I was hooked on the story the artwork and the music. But I got stuck on a graffiti piece in east LA where I couldn’t find where to tag the piece so I’ll just skate around and stuff. Fast forward into my teenage years I wanted to revisit this game and I enjoyed it even more the second time and passed it. This game isn’t the best but it holds so much nostalgia for me. A true time capsule.

THUG to THAW were the pinnacle of Tony Hawk games, before Skate came out and totally ruined Tony Hawk for us 😂 but Tony Hawk still got a lot of us into skateboarding from his games, and subsequently provided some of the best times of our lives I’m sure

My dude is mad cause the game is "too responsive" isn't that what you want?

I just got this again for the first time in 20 years. I remember when it came out I got in for the ps2, now I have it on xbox. The nostalgia was on overload from the diologue, to the soundtrack. I felt like I was 6 years old again. This and THUG 2 are my favs 💯

you're criminal for muting the soundtrack when you played it

ive been skating since i could walk and i was born in 97 so i grew up playing all these games religiously and AW was one of my favorites. the map was massive and so well designed compared to the other games, it doesnt beat THUG2 for me but its easily in my top 3 with THPS4 as well

I really liked the “park-building” aspect of this game but felt like it could have had more in depth story like underground 🤷‍♂️ this is a solid retrospective!

this game is the biggest influence in my music and skating taste. listening to dead kennedys and playing as andrew reynolds. one of a kind game

YOOOOO I was by just thinking about you this game, good times

I was just talking about this game the other day, great vid, I see you also know the best scene "bag of tricks"

Kayoto Also you are a menace for muting the soundtrack.

‘Bag of Tricks’ guy is a reference/homage to the moving ‘Falling Down’

Only ad I’ve ever clicked on. Good work m8

American wasteland was the last Tony Hawk game I thoroughly played. Loved that game and loved the music. But the beat park editor of the series still goes to THUG (not thug2 they made it worse in thug2)

THAW was about where I fell off the franchise years ago, so I've only just played it for the first time recently and... I love it. It's better than either THUG in my opinion, certainly in terms of story, memorable characters and voice talent but also in the really ambitious expansion of game mechanics. I know it's a lot of mechanics that we'll end up never using, but I always appreciate the options being there so long as they don't get in the way of what makes the core gameplay brilliant. To my mind, the game mechanics were at their peak at THPS4, which is not to say I dislike being able to hop off the board as introduced in THUG, it's just that most of the mechanics introduced after 4 seem less essential and are mostly divergences from skating, first being able to hop off your board in THUG, then having a frustrating focus on other vehicles in THUG2. At least THAW brought it back to skating with boned ollies, bert slides and rail stalls. The one other vehicle it does have - the BMX - also controls pretty great once you're forced to learn how to use it (I ignored it most of the game too 😅). Unfortunately, the story mode is way too easy even on Sick and the classic mode has a lot of levels I'm not super fond of. So at the end of the day it's this really full bag of tricks but it's lacking where it needs to show them off. Despite those shortcomings, I think it surpassed THUG for me. THPS 3 and 4 are still favourites, but THAW is my favourite of the PS2 era games after that. Then THUG, then THUG2. But... I'd probably sooner replay THUG than THAW, just because it actually provides some challenge. THAW is underrated for sure.

great video! as a life long - no breaks taken - tony hawk player i can say this was close to being the last good game of the series.

Doing a Playthrough again after 17 years or so since i last touched it and I love the gameplay for the most part but the Dialog and Voices are Cheesy as ever which was a product of the time. Only thing it falls short still is some of the Missions like the Grinding across Three Pipes to hit the Valves at the Oil Rig or the one I'm on now to Manual through 24 Flags. Also my friend is going back to Underground for his first time and watching him play made me realize the Levels looked way better in Underground than American Wasteland while the Character Models were better in American Wasteland than Underground. Last thing I miss watching him play THUG is the removal of the Demo Tapes that were in the previous games, there's little reason to go back to old areas after you finish everything there.

Th2 underground was the best with petrol scooter I was 12 when that came out lool

As someone who’s played this series since the 1st game, I’ve never cared to play this game. I saw a walkthrough of the story and I thought it was awful

I just played through again because I have been playing reTHAWed. Played it a few times over the years since i got it back in 2005. I like the story because its different and I love the punk aesthetic. I agree how the game feels like a tutorial brings it down a bit and I think some of the goals were annoying. I also hate the game makes you do grafitti/BMX before you get to East LA. If you didn't do them before it pretty much halts progress. All in all I love the game but its not up there with THUG and THPS3 as my favorites.

Great video. I spent so much time on this when it came out. How can I play it now !?!?

The audio used for the BMX bike is the same as from the Matt Hoffman games, so it seems they threw the BMX stuff in for a gimmick or to just use up old assets, but I will never understand why they didn't also use the same BMX bike models from the Mat Hoffman games, it looks so bad and unrealistic in American wasteland. The physics are real bad for it too. As a young teen who was into BMX at the time, I was really bummed out that it sucked so bad and wasn't fleshed out a little more.

Absolutely holds the test of time this is still the best arcade skater game of all time

American Wasteland is still my favourite

“Kye-oto” lol

The last good Tony Hawk game in my opinion

What is the best version ?og Xbox ,360 ,or ps2

Actually, does the Test Of Time stand THAW?

this game is really bad lol bad when i played it when it came out and nothings changed

'promo sm'