American Wasteland seems to have learned from some of the mistakes made by its predecessor (not all of them, but some). It's still a bit whacky at times, but it doesn't lean into it as much as Underground 2 did. The story goes back to being a little more on the grounded side of things similar to Underground. The characters are generally likeable which I was pleasantly surprised by, though there are some characters that didn't age so hot. The environments are great too, I've never lived in California but I feel like AW did a pretty solid job at making you feel like you're in Cali, helped by the side characters and their attitudes, and some of the subcultures represented. The soundtrack, while not quite as good as previous ones, is still no slouch with some pretty solid songs sprinkled throughout. Graffiti's still present though you're only forced to engage with it to a limited extent. There's a BMX and challenges to go along with it, but if it's not your taste then you can ignore it entirely sans for a single goal. The oddest choice by far is the parkour system, it's utilized in a few goals then pretty much forgotten about, it's not really good or enjoyable, it just sort of exists. The progression of ability unlocks is kind of weird, you don't have a full arsenal of skills until the third level when you finish by unlocking flatland tricks. AW also introduced the sort of "in-between" levels which let you skate between areas while hiding standard loading screens, it's a bit of a novelty but I always though it was cool. The Skate Ranch concept is pretty neat, progressively growing a sort of hub park by completing goals and working through the game is a fun idea, even if the result is a bit dubious with some parts of the Ranch being a lot more skateable than others. While I started with Underground way back in my childhood, not playing American Wasteland until after THUG1, 2, and THPS 4, I wasn't super fond of it back then, but this time I found myself enjoying it to the extent that I'd consider it my favorite TH game.