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Good: No load times, level design, vast array of moves, Classic Mode

Bad: Soundtrack, inconsistent difficulty, 'radar' system

Does it feel "next-gen": Most definitely not

Another year, another Tony Hawk. While most of the sequels merely introduced new moves and abilities, THAW presents gamers with a fully free-roaming Los Angeles. This is a welcome departure, as the "let's go to lots of different cities" format predictably ran out of places to visit. Your skater can travel from the first area of the city to the very last, with absolutely no load time (outside of the initial boot-up). It's truly the most significant upgrade in the basic Tony Hawk formula since THPS4 abandoned the 2-minute time limit in favor of the current method of selecting missions at your own pace. While a free-roaming LA is a great idea (and it works well), it's still not enough to completely re-invent a series that has been milked dry for years.

Gameplay in the Tony Hawk series has undergone numerous facelifts throughout it's history. Whether it's the inclusion of manuals, reverts, or on-foot control, each title has tried to add something new and helpful, allowing gamers even more massive combo possibilities. It seems that Neversoft is starting to run out of ideas, however, considering that this entry adds next to nothing in terms of new moves or abilities. The new Bert Slide controls awkwardly and isn't useful, and the new on-foot flips and wallruns are similarly unnecessary. In fact, they only serve to make it easier to 'cheat' objectives (especially the "secret tapes" in Classic Mode).

Objectives are assigned by skating up to various people on the street and pressing X. Random bums will yell out tricks to perform, and other skaters will compete against you in trick challenges. Some objectives are simply confusing and nonsensical. For instance, one mission involves trying to scare off some wool protestors. Somehow, getting big combos on top of a building causes a giant T-rex head to fall onto a passing bus, which then drives towards the group and scares them away. It really doesn't make much sense, and I'd rather have more skating-based objectives that test the gamer's skill level. Some missions are ridiculously easy, while others are amazingly difficult. There's not much in-between, which is a shame.

Missions are either for cash or Skate Land Ranch pieces. Cash objectives are indicated by a dollar sign on the 'radar', while Ranch pieces are indicated by a star. This radar system is terrible and very hard to follow. It's located at the top of the screen, and it's really difficult to read and entirely not useful. Skate Land Ranch is a big part of the story, and is the stomping ground of a fictional legendary skater named Iggy Van Zandt. When your character arrives in LA, it doesn't take long for him to help make SLR a skating mecca. Completing the 'star' missions will add parts of the city to the Ranch, whether it be velvet movie theater ropes, a giant radio tower, or the aforementioned T-rex head. Thankfully, level design is as good as the previous Tony Hawk games. Countless amounts of combo-ready lines and ramps are scattered everywhere throughout Los Angeles, making it fun to simply skate around leisurely while not on a mission. There are also bikes scattered about, which you can ride whenever you'd like. Some missions are bike-specific, and they can actually be pretty fun.

Recent games in the series (especially THUG2) have become less Tony Hawk and more Jackass Skateboarding. Bam Margera and his gang of brain-damaged misfits were all over the story mode, being generally annoying and easily despicable. Thankfully, Bam is not a major part of THAW at all, and the story mode is more about skating than pranks. This means far less stupid objectives like running around a city in a shopping cart. Unfortunately, the new story is full of more juvenile skater humor that is about as far from clever or funny as you can get.

Classic Mode is a welcome return, and allows gamers to play through older levels with the original 2-minute system. While very short, it's a welcome break when you're tired of completing objectives. Xbox Live offers a ton of different game modes, and most of them are pretty entertaining. Trick Attack, Graffiti, and Elimiskate were my personal favorites.

Song selection for Tony Hawk soundtracks have been consistently terrible for the most part. While some previous games would sometimes include 4 or 5 listenable songs, this new one has almost none. It's chock-full of awful pop-punk bands that are all the rage on the cesspool known as MTV. You can imagine my surprise when I heard the 1970 classic "Peace Frog" by The Doors. Honestly, the custom soundtrack options on the Xbox 360 saved my life with this game. If I wasn't able to plug in my iPod and listen to my own playlists, I'd be forced to turn off every song except Peace Frog. Voice acting is about what's expected for the series, which isn't saying too much. Tony Hawk in particular doesn't have an ounce of charisma in his body. Graphically, THAW is almost completely identical to the PS2 and Xbox Tony Hawk games. At no point was I impressed with any aspect of the visuals.

While the new sense of freedom and lack of load times are great additions, it's simply not enough to change the fundamentals of Tony Hawk gaming. Hardcore fans of the series will certainly enjoy it (considering it's basically just more of what they love), but if you're getting tired of the same gameplay year after year, this won't help matters.

Graphics: C-

Sound: D+

First Play: B

Last Play: C+

Gameplay: B-

Overall: 83% B