Delayed Review: skate

Ok, after a long delay because of "car auction work" and the beginning of the new school semester, it's finally time for a new review. This time we find a game from a genre that I have not touched for about four or five years, the skateboarding genre. The genre has been absolutely owned by the Tony Hawk franchise for about eight years now, so "skate" (which is spelt with a lower case s on purpose) is a welcome change to the genre. Tony Hawk was a very, VERY fun game franchise...until it took a turn and decided to become "Jackass" with four wheels. Don't get me wrong, Bam Margera and the gang are absolutely hilarious guys and all, but it just doesn't transfer into good game material (at least for me).

skate takes place in the open-ended city of San Vanelona, which is absolutely HUGE for a skateboarding game and allows for some really creative thinking in how to acomplish everything that one must to complete the mile-long list of missions and challenges to be found in the game. The most surprising thing about the game is it's take on skateboarding...which is dead on realistic (GASP!). Rather than the absurd take of rail grinding down the trunk of an elephant onto a dumpster, pulling a 1080 within the blink of an eye, landing in a manual...(fill in about 10 more lines worth of tricks)...and ending with a double back flip Christ Air, skate does something brilliant. It realizes just how hard most of the tricks in the game are in real life, and gives them a point system in accordance. For once, a 360 kickflip actually MEANS SOMETHING.

skate's trick system is really what sets the game apart. Every jump or board spin is completely controlled by inputs on the right joystick of the controller, which takes a little bit of getting used to. Give it about fifteen minutes, though, and you'll find this is the best thing to happen to the game genre in years. Grabs are performed rather easily, and skating around the city comes with relative ease, minus the occasional wipe out when you hit a curb. There are no stats in the game either; you basically start as good as you're going to get, so the game utterly depends on the player's skill. There is still plenty of character customization, though, which is something EA has become an expert with. Famous skaters in the game look quite good, and the world as a whole gets a solid thumbs up for looks; it's pretty and definitely gets the job done. The random cars that show up every now and then are a bit of a bother and dont look too good, but hey, this game isnt about cars, its about skaters.

Overall Score: 8.9 out of 10. This game is good. Really, really good. It looks good, sounds good, has a GREAT soundtrack...it's just polished to a nice sheen. It takes skill to play, which I'm sure will turn away plenty of players, but as of now it is outselling Tony Hawk BIG TIME, which gives me hope for this genre. I can see people getting bored with the game quick, though, and once you've beaten it I dont see much reason to go back and play it again. Still, the game is one hell of a party while it lasts.