Bikes have also been added to try anything new since the developers at Neversoft have been stripped of any new ideas. The use of the right analog stick for controls is different enough to warrant their inclusion, but the wildly rotating camera means you'll spend most of your time on the skateboard unless required to use something else.

If the story is becoming more absurd than you could imagine (and it will), classic mode takes us back to the first few Tony Hawk titles. The enclosed environments offer basic high score and "find item X" type challenges. Tony Hawk vets will have no problem flying through these five environments.

Online via Xbox Live is fun, especially since the game doesn't begin until the host says it does. You can freely ride around the environments at your leisure until the actual competition starts. This is an enjoyable way to use the chat features provided by Live, which will likely bring more enjoyment than the game itself.

People can complain about the various franchises that need to be retired, but it's hard to make a case for why the Tony Hawk series shouldn't be the first to go. Wasteland is a mess, and the challenges have become stupid to the point where you begin to ask yourself why you bother playing anymore. The final sticking point (the $60 price) makes this a weak attempt at hiding in the launch lineup.

Tony Hawk's American Wasteland is rated T (Teen) by the ESRB for Blood, Crude Humor, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence. This game can also be found on: GameCube, PC, PS2, and Xbox.