Instead of buying Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD..

[kahbee]

Get American Wasteland.

TL:DR:
Because it's awesome.

The new game sucks so why not enjoy what feels like Tony Hawk?
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There was mixed opinions on THAW so why do I recommend it in specific?
Because:
1. I personally think it was better than the 6 games before it and
2. It has running master servers with an active PC multiplayer community. Over 200 people online during the most active times. The multiplayer mode in this game kills HD's.

Of course, the lack of multiplayer and bad porting isn't the only thing wrong with THPSHD. The physics are horrible. THAW's are very smooth and feel like an enhanced version of THPS1's physics whereas HD feels like a poor attempted recreation of them.


As for THAW's content you get four create-a-modes, large customizable soundtrack, story and co-op classic mode, local and online MP, easily moddable, a launcher for mapping keys and settings, in-game always tells the right things to press, saved games always load properly, game works fine in W7, and the physics are great.
Also, the Steam overlay works great with it :)


So what I'm getting at is if you're looking to get a Tony Hawk fix on PC and don't need super graphics then just get THAW instead of HD.
I know it's an old game but overall I do think it's much better and it actually feels like a Tony Hawk game should.

Trust me. When you start playing it you'll truly feel right at home unlike with this new game.

Feel free to add me if you have any questions or want to play Tony Hawk online (Thug 1, 2, or THAW) with me.
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In case you end up getting the game then:

There are a few things to do with THAW that I recommend in order to make it a bit better. Keep in mind, it's from 2005 so a bit outdated. These are completely optional. Might sound like a lot of work but it only takes a few minutes.

*After the game is installed go here: http://thps-mods.com/mods.php and download the official patch. Just fixes a bug or two.

*Run the game's official launcher to set your gamepad up. Then download the launcher off the link above. Put it in the same folder as your THAW exe. Run it and select the exe.
This launcher will allow you to set a custom resolution, use true widescreen, use quickchat, and a few other features. Here's my settings in case you need help with them:
http://i.imgur.com/Up6kf.png
For the most flexibility, you'll want to start this launcher whenever you play (so make a shortcut to it/ add it to Steam) and it'll revert to defaults when you close it. If you wish to permanently patch your game instead then you can close the launcher in the task manager and use a normal shortcut afterward.
For widescreen, if you do what I did in the screenshot then pressing your focus button will enable it.
The widescreen setting will be stored on your save file so you can save the game, exit, and then set the focus button back to default in order to use it like normal.

*If you have a decent GPU, force some anti-aliasing to get rid of the jaggies. I used 8x

*The-Mod off that site is also nice to have. Adds a bunch of nifty and useful features. You can use it with the launcher by changing the prefix section from qb to tm.
If you have a legal disc version then this should also make it so you don't have to put the game in to play. (The launcher might do it as well but I'm not sure)

Here's how the game looks in 1080p with true widescreen and 8xAMSAA.
http://i.imgur.com/yUvrN.jpg

[Silvan]

Thanks for the recommendation, it's looking pretty good. Does the game run on Windows 7 without problems?

[kewlsnake]

THPS HD is the only THPS game that is available for digital download for as far I recall. Pretty sure you need to get on amazon to get the other games.

Does the THAW launcher still have those bad bindings in THUG2 that force you to press "L2"+"R2" to dropdown? Or that the spinkey and the key for revert are the same one?

It's discussable which game is THE one to play.

Did you know that THPS3 has a levelmod which added a craptown of levels from other games?
Did you know that there's a level out mod which adds some stuff found only in the later games or has its own representation of it? (Ability to "level out" with "R2" before you hit the ground when coming out of a QP, wallieplant, back & front flips, dropdown left and dropdown right, bert slide etc) It pretty much takes the KSK mod 1.3 and makes it way better.

Downside is that you need to open ports before you're able to host in that game.

Did you know that there's recently been a levelmod for THUG2 PC which adds Venice and School II? With stuff like The Mod 1.3 you really don't need to have your friends' ip. The THPS community has figured out to make our own master servers at this point. There are also still people playing it when I checked yesterday.

Downside is that the control setup is pretty lame with having to press 2 buttons to dropdown or that spinkey and revert are bound to the same key.

Also worth mentioning is that there's a level pack from THPS2 PC which allows you to play THPS1 levels or THPS3 levels (the crappier ones on PSX, not the ones on PS2 and PC).

[Rube]

If any other Tony Hawk games were on Steam I'd get them. Right now this is the only option and I'm plenty happy with it.

[Rykeay]

It's missing so much.. i wish there was a free skate option as well. I loved the old THPS games but this is bittersweet so far...

[ado]

There is a free skate option in THPS HD.

[kahbee]

heh, 32 games going on at once right now. 8 people max in each.
I guess I found the time of day that this game is most active.

Originally posted by chillvie:

Thanks for the recommendation, it's looking pretty good. Does the game run on Windows 7 without problems?

Yep. No problems with Windows 7 here.
Also can run on a toaster for those without good PCs.

Originally posted by Rube:

If any other Tony Hawk games were on Steam I'd get them. Right now this is the only option and I'm plenty happy with it.

Never understood why people won't play anything outside of Steam. I love Steam and highly prefer games to be in it, but I'm not going to give up playing something else that's quality just because it isn't sold on here..

Originally posted by coolboy:

Pretty sure you need to get on amazon to get the other games.

Nothing wrong with that. Not necessary IMO. This game is basically abandonware.

Does the THAW launcher still have those bad bindings in THUG2 that force you to press "L2"+"R2" to dropdown? Or that the spinkey and the key for revert are the same one?

All I know is THAW on PC feels exactly like it as well as all the other Tony Hawk games felt on console. I play with a PS1 controller and I can't notice any difference. Never had and any issues with L2 and R2 for dropping down or the spin key. If someone hates that stuff so much then they can mod the bindings as all the Tony Hawk games are easily moddable.

It's discussable which game is THE one to play.

If you want to talk about which TH game is the best then feel free to make your own thread. I also feel all of them are worth playing rather than just one.

[ejt009]

How well does it work on the PC with an xbox controller? Newer console ports usually have excellent support for the xbox controller, but older games sometimes don't.

[kahbee]

The launcher recognizes my PS1 controller and a cheap 2 pound adapter. The game doesn't need to specifically find any gamepads, it just will read the input of your devices and then let you map the buttons.
Should work fine.

If worst came to worse you could just use Joy2Key.

[Shit on the Mirror Ball]

Just for the record American Wasteland isn't available anywhere legitimately and I don't remember the ISO allowing for multiplayer - Is it the Mod that adds multiplayer to the game?

[Silvan]

Originally posted by Carnival73:

Just for the record American Wasteland isn't available anywhere legitimately [...]

Here in Germany, there are plenty of used copies available. Can't be the only place in the world.

[kahbee]

Got ahold of a great and easy to use tool that allows any resolution, true widescreen, and some other features. More suitable for 2012.

It's no THPSHD but definitely an improvement over the defaults and looks pretty fair.

Having an enjoyable time with this game. So much more than with THPSHD mainly because of the physics. The MP is great too.

Quit wasting your time on this new POS. It isn't going to get any better. :|

[SYLOKEI]

I remember playing THAW on ps2, best game ever! Sorry for necroing this post

[jorgrmcr]

Originally posted by Rykeay:

It's missing so much.. i wish there was a free skate option as well. I loved the old THPS games but this is bittersweet so far...

There is a Free Skate option, just press left or right in level selection menu.