As we all know there has been a big named star called Tony Hawk that has laid waste to all skateboard game clones. Luckily Tony can't touch this game. Why? Because it's a different view on skating. Instead of combos and doing revert to manuals all the time you will now be looking for the perfect line. That is what this game is…a perfect line. But the line doesn't go out far enough.
You start off as an unknown skater that gets hit by a bus and has to be taken to the hospital for major surgery. That's when the game kicks in. You start off by creating a character. Creating a character feels put together well. It feels like a less intense version of the Tiger Woods customization options. You can either not go in deep or go all out. You can pull all the stops from how big your skater is to size of the face. Then you go onto cloths and boards.
This is where the fun starts. You get out of the hospital and taken on a tutorial. It's very simple and it just teaches you the basics. You'll want to learn even more when the first tutorial ends. The rest of the tutorials are spread out and are taught to you by pros in the game. During the first tutorial it will also show you how to use the camera in the game. You can take pictures and videos and upload them on the Internet and Xbox Live for everyone to see your mad skills…or your horrible crashes.
After the first tutorial you are let loose on the city which is nicely built. Pedestrians crowd downtown. Cars drive by and honk horns when you get to close. You can also hear people talk on their phones and to each other. The city really feels alive. I want to say it feels like a Need For Speed sized city. By the end of this game you will still be finding new hidden places or some bench that is in a back ally.
After the tutorial you can start taking on missions that range from you skating a line, competing in competitions, competing in a game like horse called S.K.A.T.E., racing downhill and owning spots. You do all these missions or events to get rep to get sponsors. You get up to 4 sponsors. You get a shoe, deck, trucks and wheels sponsor. You can pick any sponsor from a pretty big list. But be careful! You can only choose a sponsor once. After that it stays permanent. You can't go back and change it.
Basically your main goal is to get coverage so you can get sponsors so then you can go to the X Games. That's right the famous X Games where you will compete in 2 events. You will compete in Street and a huge "Mega Ramp". When they say mega they aren't kidding. That's pretty much the game. There is no plot or twists. It's just you skating. Which is a good thing in my book. But it would be nice to see some sort of plot as long as it's not like THUG or THAW.
After you finish the game you are still left to skate. Which Skating in Skate pulls you in with the "Flickit" controls. Yes it's one word. Basically it's what EA has been doing to almost all the sports games. They integrated the right analog stick as your skateboard. Your left analog stick is for steering you board. What makes this unique is that you actually have to learn the trick. Some of these missions or events require precise landed tricks. You'll have learn all the tricks and memorize them. I found this way more fun that just pressing a button. This also pans out in game play. Say I want to grind a rail. I have to line up with the rail and Ollie at the right time to land on the rail. You can land on the rail or you can shift you board around with the "flickit" controls to do different grinds. . The controls in this game are demanding yet forgiving at the same time. Like they say "Practice makes perfect." The controls also make it feel more like a sim which is a good thing.
The camera angle scared me at first. It's down low at your skaters feet. It will feel weird at first but you will adjust to like it. Just like the music. The music selection is a wide mix. From classics to new songs. The weird thing is you never really hear the songs unless you put them on soundtracks. The game automatically puts the music in ambiance mode. Which means the only way you here the music is if you go to a popular skate area in town. The music also leads you to hidden places.
The sound effects are great! You hear your wheels go in between crack in the road. You can hear your wheels screech to a stop when power sliding … you get the idea. Just every surface you can think of your board going over you can hear it perfectly in this game.
Multiplayer is a must now in almost all games. Multiplayer in Skate is great because you can just skate with friends around the city or you can compete against one another. You can compete in S.K.A.T.E., Own The Spot and much more. What's also cool is that you can go in and watch people skate if your fingers are tired. It's kinda like Gotham TV from PGR but live.
One HUGE downside to this game is the streaming billboard ads. There is nothing like seeing Small Ville DVD and T-Mobile ads all over the place. You'll find yourself downloading a patch just to put more ads on the billboards. Most of the ads are done right… but when there is only two people advertising at one time you see the same dang billboard every two seconds.
This is a good first installment of the game and I hope to see the game again. If you are tired of Tony Hawk and need a new skate fix then look no further...Because Skate is here to stay.
