he gameplay that honed our reflexes to the point that we could easily snatch a bullet out of the air has mysteriously vanished in this latest entry. Long gone are the glory days of spending countless hours concocting massive combo strings to achieve the sickest score possible. In American Wasteland, thrashing holds little relevance. Rather than standing tall as the greatest skater in the world, you are now pushed to secure the undesirable title of helper monkey.

The entire game revolves around completing meaningless tasks for brain-dead skaters. "Hey, gnarly skater dude! Could you, like, do me a huge favor? I need you to do a Natas Spin on top of that tower. If you could do that, you’d be royally sick and stuff." Further tarnishing the experience, almost every objective doubles as a tutorial. Even through the final missions, the game holds your hand and shows you exactly what you need to do. Veteran players really don’t need to know how to perform a kickflip. Neversoft even sunk to the level of marking the environment with arrows showing you where you need to grind or jump. In a sense, story mode has transformed into the longest training mode in all of gaming. You’ll only run into one scoring challenge, and never once does the game push players to create combo strings.

This is especially frustrating considering that everywhere you look you see drool-inducing lines. Neversoft even included a handful of killer new moves (like the grind stall) that will allow you to construct lengthy combos. These high-flying thrills are only for your own satisfaction, however. I really want to see Neversoft get back to kicking gamers in the teeth and pushing them to tap into every facet of the game to progress. Million point goals, timed challenges, and complex strings need to be added to the next game, even if they are tucked off to the side as bonuses for hardcore fans. The design of American Wasteland specifically targets newcomers, and offers little that is even remotely challenging for longtime players.

The only place where you’ll actually sweat a little is in Classic mode. Even within this seventh release in the series, the retro-style goals are a blast, forcing you to combine skill, speed, and wit. The compilation of nostalgic levels is decent, but it’s not nearly as compelling as the selection in THUG 2.

American Wasteland is home to some of the greatest gameplay that you’ll ever encounter, but unless you compete online, it mostly goes to waste. Hopefully, Neversoft hears the cries of its hardcore following and makes a sequel that actually has some teeth.