When faced with the monumental task of developing yet another Tony Hawk videogame, Neversoft pedaled like mad to reinvent its critically-acclaimed franchise.

I'm referring to the inclusion of bicycling in Activision's upcoming Tony Hawk's American Wasteland. What Neversoft's done is essentially taken the Matt Hoffman games and somewhat fused them (along with Matt Hoffman) into its latest skateboarding adventure, and this creates an exciting dynamic that far transcends the other gameplay improvements. Much like what EA's doing with SSX: On Tour (tossing skis into the snowboarding mix), the bike saves Wasteland from being just another entry in the series, much to the delight of yours truly, who wasn't sure if he could wade through yet another excursion into Mr. Hawk's MTV subculture.

There's a lot more to this game than BMX biking and the credit goes to Neversoft, the Tony Hawk franchise developer that somehow manages to make what should be a stale series exciting year after year. Credit that to the team's creative genius that refuses to pump out cookie cutter sequels, and as a result of the numerous man hours put into these titles, Tony Hawk has never faltered. In this latest adventure, you're a very green teenager who's arrived in LA to pursue his dream of becoming a skateboard god. Unfortunately for him, he's given a rather rude welcome by city's denizens. Two street punks give the poor kid a beating and steal everything but the clothes on his back and the board in his hands. But with pain comes pleasure, and it's not long before he's greeted by an attractive female that somewhat massages his bruised ego and informs him that his style isn't fit for these California mean streets. At this point, I was immediately introduced to the game's extremely deep customization options where, by visiting various shops around town, I was able to select from numerous hair styles, clothes, and designs for my board.

From there, I completed tasks for people and skated around the huge environments performing all sorts of tricks both old and new. But that's not the primary goal in American Wasteland. After meeting up with some new buddies and wandering into a run down...well...wasteland, the mission is to turn this enormous back lot into the ultimate skate park. By completing various challenges you'll acquire new pieces to your future paradise and you can customize the hell out of it. Unfortunately, my play session didn't exactly cover how this will all work out, but it's certainly a promising idea.

Aside from the biking, I'm also fond of this game's visual style. While a lot of the landmarks have been placed too close together, Neversoft has done a fine job brining LA, Santa Monica, and Hollywood to life, and the game just has a cool California vibe to it. It's just fun doing tricks off ramps in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater, bursting through one of the Os in the famous Hollywood sign, and climbing on top of the Ferris wheel on the Santa Monica pier. But what's really cool about all of this is there's no loading whatsoever. Everything's supposedly being streamed off the disc, so you can ride throughout the entire world without the uncomfortable feeling of being ripped from it.

At this stage in its development, American Wasteland plays like the other Tony Hawk's that have preceded it, and that might be a good or bad thing depending on how much you love this series. While the bike controls are fabulous, the skateboard mechanics are still somewhat frustrating. Pulling off tricks is very easy, but maneuvering is still more challenging than it should be. My biggest issue, and one that was shared by a few of my colleagues, is having to make a wide turn in order to change direction. Instead of being able to stop short and spin around, the game treats a skateboarder like a boat, meaning you can't make sharp turns whatsoever. Neversoft has somewhat alleviated this problem by enabling players to get off their boards and walk around, but I'd like the option to remain on my skateboard and have similar freedom of movement. That small complaint aside, the game's controls are based on an already solid foundation and have actually been improved upon. You're now able to walk up walls and do back flips as well as other tricks such as Bert slides, one footed grinds, and Natas spins handstands.

In addition to the main quest there's also a Classic Mode that allows you to skateboard through levels seen in the previous Tony Hawk games, but what's really exciting about this is you can now play alongside an online buddy and complete challenges cooperatively. That's certainly not the only online modes that'll be available, as you'll also be able to compete against opponents, but it's an exciting bonus that'll no doubt keep things interesting.

When I first laid my eyes on the Xbox 360 version of the game I didn't think it was all that impressive looking until I saw it on the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube. That's not to say that it's bursting with all sorts of tasty details, but the texture work has been well done and everything's free of those bothersome jaggies. I'm also fond of the art work that's spread throughout the entire game. Done in a slick graffiti style, it really captures the essence of the culture and it further enhances this title's overall visual quality. I'm not sure whether it'll be the showpiece that you'll want to bust out to show off your new console, but it's definitely a looker.

Considering my limited play time with this game, it's difficult to really get a grasp of what Neversoft is trying to achieve, especially with the BMX component. Whenever I encountered the bike it was just lying on the ground and once I hopped onto it there were no missions, so at this point I don't know if it's been thrown in there to be a bonus item or whether it has a serious impact on the gameplay. All I know is the skateboarding feels good, the BMX biking feels really good, the environments are huge, and the art is extremely well done. Providing all of the other parts come together, Activision will no doubt have another hit on its hands when Tony Hawk's American Wasteland grinds its way onto retail shelves this fall.