One has to wonder what has happened to the Tony Hawk series as of late. The series began dying out, so Activision put out it’s Underground game, a refreshing new addition that was fun to play yet featured too many similarities to previous installments. THUG 2 was just more repetition that caused almost endless boredom. However, this negligence is greatly overshadowed by Tony Hawk’s first foray onto the Xbox 360, Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland.

The fact that the game can be played in high resolution truly only makes the games flaws, including its terrible graphics and sloppy animations, all the more apparent. Can Activision truly be any more lazy? One would figure that they would at least try to make a solid first appearance on next-gen consoles, however that is not so. Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, or THAW for short, really should have been thawed out prior to its release, since it will leave gamers feeling nothing but icy resentment towards the game.

The main factor contributing to how bad the game truly is lies in the game’s graphics engine. Similarly to Activision’s other game on the Xbox 360, Gun, THAW looks exactly the same on the Xbox 360 as it does on its current-gen counterparts (noticing a trend here from Activision yet?). How hard can it really be to at least re-work the graphics somewhat to at least make it look like it fits on the Xbox 360? Why did they even release the game at all on next-gen if they wanted to make it look so bad? Questions that will never be answered, of course.

These graphical failures lie in the fact that THAW uses the same exact graphics engine as its Xbox and PS2 counterpart. The same exact graphics engine as its predecessors, THUG and THUG 2. For that matter, the same exact graphics engine that was used in the old Tony Hawk games. Yes, friends, that is why the graphics look so terrible. The graphics engine might as well be from the 90’s. Sure, it has been improved somewhat along the way, but that doesn’t make the game look any better.

The story mode of the game is just as bad as THUG and THUG 2. Basically, you start out as a no name skater and try to build your way to prominence by completing repetitive, lame objectives as you progress. By completing objectives, you can earn points to upgrade your skater, making you more able to pull off better tricks and get better air time. All the is good and all, but the simple fact that the story is so bad makes it unforgiving.

Additionally, this IS a Tony Hawk game. What that means is that the game feels exactly like every other Tony Hawk game that has ever been made. It controls the exact same, feels the exact same, hell, it is the exact same. Granted, there are a few new tricks and touch-ups, but the game just feels too much like the previous installments to actually provide any real enjoyment.

THAW does have an online mode however, and that can be fun for a little while. Up to eight players can compete in the various Tony Hawk modes. The usual modes make their return, including S-K-A-T-E, Tag, and others. These modes are indeed fun, but the fact that nothing of any substantial value was added to the game leaves the player wanting a whole lot more than what was offered.

Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland turns out to be simply a boring game. It bears nothing of any value that is worth mentioning. The game is repetitive and nauseating at times due to how much it feels like all those other games that you poured hundreds upon hundreds of hours in to. Activision should definitely have spent more time on this one, me thinks.

Given the ridiculous popularity of the Madden series, it wasn’t surprising in the least that Madden 06 for the Xbox 360, the first Madden on a next-gen system, was going to by hyped, hyped, and hyped up some more. The Madden series is one of the most popular franchise of games of all time and, especially considering EA now exclusively owns the NFL license, it dominates to football market for games. However, domination of a market doesn’t mean that the company, in this case EA, is going to put out the best product possible. In fact, the product usually lies on the opposite end of the spectrum. Sadly, that dark side is where Madden’s next-gen debut finds itself.

The biggest problem with Madden 06 for the Xbox 360 is that it feels like a step backward in the series. Rather than taking advantage of all that the Xbox 360 has to offer, the developers took the predictable step and scaled down Madden considerably. They took out many gameplay modes and many in game features and options that made Madden what it is. However, knowing EA, this was expected. What they obviously plan to do is save these features that Madden fans came to expect from the current-gen titles and slowly inject them into future releases of the Madden games on the next-gen. Basically, what this means is that gamers will have to go through the whole process of waiting for Madden to get better all over again. What have you done, EA?!

Let’s talk about the good first: Madden looks good. Yes, obviously, this is the best looking Madden game ever made. Character models look more realistic than ever before and are just gleaming with authenticity, stadiums are true to their real life forms and make the gamer feel as if they are really playing there, and the crowds have been improved a step up from their usual non-existant paper machete forms.

Even more impressive is the arsenal of animations that Madden now comes packed with. There are thousands of new animations in Madden 06 that previous iterations of the game did not have. From tackling to running to jumping to throwing to catching, Madden 06 is simply filled with great animations that cap off its realistic look and make it feel like a great game.

Gameplay wise, know that Madden 06 is not simply a port of its console brethren. No, it has been completely reworked and is an entirely new - and worse - game than those that can be found on the current-gen consoles. The controls and core dynamics of the game remain the same, indeed, but the game feels completely different due to the fact that many of the features and controls that gamers loved have been removed.

Namely, defensive alignments and playmaker have been removed. No longer can you bring up the secondary to show blitz or pull off for a deep pass, and no longer can you audible a blitzing linebacker back into pass coverage. Why EA removed these are unknown, but it makes the customization before snap basically impossible and it simply isn’t as much fun and isn’t as strategic as before. Additionally, offensive shifts have also been removed, leaving only hot routes and motion in the player’s arsenal.

Arguably the only new addition that is actually any good is the new play calling screen. This new screen is drastically improved over anything found in current-gen versions of the game. The best part about the new play calling is how it’s organized. Now you can get a coach’s suggestion as well as Madden’s suggestion, sort a play by formation, type, or even the go-to receiver. This is very useful if you have one main player on the team, such as a Marvin Harrison or Randy Moss.

Madden 06 just turns out being the bare roots of what Madden is on the current-gen consoles. The game is a let down in many respects. There was so much hype building up to the next-gen football games and Madden made an extremely poor showing. Hopefully future games will learn from its mistakes.

Finally, it has arrived. After two successful installments in the highly prestigious series, Amped 3 has hit shelves for the Xbox 360. Most of the hype generated for the game has been minimal due to Microsoft selling the license of Amped and a couple other of its sports games to 2K Sports, the new force on the field of the sports genre. So the real question now arrives: does Amped 3 repeat the quality of its predecessors?

Although that question will be answered later, there are a couple strange aspects of Amped 3. Namely, one must wonder why it was developed exclusively for the Xbox 360. Despite the fact that, in the past, Amped has been Xbox exclusive due to Microsoft owning the license, now that 2K Sports owns the license, it is truly a strange thing indeed that the game would only appear on Microsoft’s next-gen console.

While that speculation may never be answered, what is known is that this version of Amped was completely reworked. Simply put, Amped 3 is an even better game due to this fact. Amped 2 reflected the fact that the Amped series was getting a little played out in its current form, and Amped 3 having been completely redone breathes new life into the apparently dying series.

Strangely enough, Amped 3 actually has a storyline. Although it’s a bit like a THUG style storyline, meaning it isn’t exactly the most interesting, it is present nonetheless. Basically, your crew’s money was stolen and you are separated from them. You go by yourself to Utah to try and get back the money and, eventually, reunite with your crew. In the meantime, you can enjoy the fresh slopes and pull off some crazy tricks on your snowboard. Although this story can get very crazy and doesn’t always flow, it’s craziness and originality is actually very amusing and it’s surprisingly fun to continue playing just to advance to the next step in the story.

The game’s presentation is equally as unique but strangely refreshing. From the menu to the cut-scenes, the quality varies from a paper machete look to true next-gen graphical prowess. The artistic style is unmatched by any other next-gen game at this time. Comic books, anime, and plenty more inspire the unique artistic style that is presented and successfully executed by the game’s designers.

In game, Amped 3 looks absolutely gorgeous. As expected, the characters are incredibly detailed and beautifully drawn. The animations and tricks are incredibly smooth and look amazing. The environments are also expensive and are filled with trees, rails, jumps, and, of course, plenty of soft snow.

However, this isn’t the best aspect of the visual presentation of the game. That honor goes to how big the maps are, the free roaming ability of it, and how incredibly detailed these maps are. The game allows you to see for apparently miles into the distance and see all of the trees and slopes down there. Even more incredibly, is that these are actual parts of the game that can be visited by simply snowboarding there. It is incredibly how expansive the scope of the game is and how the game was drawn so beautifully even at great distances. This in itself gives the game an unmatched beauty compared to any extreme sports game that came before it.

Similarly to the past two games, the actual snowboarding dynamics aren’t exactly the best. They tend to be solid and well thought out, but there simply aren’t enough tricks and not enough variety, not to mention that it can sometimes be ridiculously difficult to pull off certain things, to actually make the snowboarding itself all that much fun. If there was one problem that should have been fixed with the transfer, it was this. Sadly, it wasn’t.

Amped 3 does have a redeeming factor in solid online play, however. Xbox Live offers a solid experience where gamers who enjoyed the game can go online, hook up with others, and execute some crazy tricks in the presence of others. There are a variety of unique, fun modes that players should enjoy.

Overall, Amped 3 offers a mixed experience. The presentation is extraordinary and really adds to the experience. The storyline is strangely appealing. However, it suffers similar fate to its brethren in that the core gameplay mechanics can be a bit faulty and boring at times. Despite this, Amped 3 is still a fun game that many will be satisfied with.