Skate = fun?

So, after playing through the demo for countless hours i thought i would finally go ahead and buy EA's Skate. After looking round town and seeing that it was still £50 new i headed for eBay and got it for £12, in perfect working order.

At first it was an amazing experience becuase i was playing the game i kinda knew and loved, only as my own character and in a much larger area. I would have written this as a review but i haven't finished it (so i would find something imoral in classing this as  "review"), and i have no strong intentions of doing so becuase it's SO SO frustrating, and it's fun lies not in the challenges and story progression, but in pissing about.

The control scheme is indeed revolutionary, and an amazing breath of fresh air after the button system of Tony Hawks games, and similalry, the game's physics feel better than Tony Hawk's' building clearing physics. Only it seems like the game is aimed at REAL skaters, and if you don't know how to pull off a trick on a real skateboard then you may as well piss off. For example, every reviewer complains about the way the game asks you to do TOO specific tricks for certain challenges, but i didn't have this problem, my problem was just there was no way of finding how to do these tricks if you were completely ignorant about the world of skating. I'm thankful about 10000 people have put tutorials up on youtube for the few troublesome challenges.

Another problem i have is that, once unleashed out of the skate park into the huge San Vanelona, it's hard to be focussed enough to find one small spot and trick around in it, so i spend my hours on the game endlessly speeding down the hills and warping back to the top to do it all over again. ALthough i'm pretty sure it's just the way i play it, i reckon some other people must feel the same.

I've finished all of the Skateboard Mag's things, and i've enjoyed a few bonebreaking hours on the megaramp, but now i have no intention to do the rest of Thrasher's challenges just becuase they're not fun. I found it a chore to do the challenges, and as they're not vital to unlocking expansive new areas (like GTA) (and i'm aware of Danny Way's skatepark), there seems to be no point in doing them becuase the already available area is more than adequate to skate in.

ALl that bitching out the way, i would still totally reccomend buying Skate for £10-15 cos pissing around in it is just SO much fun, just beware of the tedium that is those bastarding challenges.