Gameplay:
When Skate and Tony Hawk went into the ring, it was TKO for Tony Hawk once and for all. Now you are planted into the life of a real skateboarder. Start from the bottom as an amateur on the streets with a friend recording some of your tricks, get noticed by sponsors, get free stuff, play challenges, and compete in tournaments. This is the premise of Skate, and whether you are roaming freely around the city or accepting challenges on the streets, there are plenty more unique tricks here than Tony Hawk could offer. See those arrows above people’s heads on the streets? Go and talk to them, accept their challenges, whether it be a S.K.A.T.E. contest, a timed race, a points race, and so on, and gain your notoriety. Once you get sponsored, skate around to your sponsors’ shops and customize your gear. If you get bored of challenges, record your tricks and edit them with this revolutionary video editor, post your videos online, have your friends rate them, and play with them online, as well. While online play is a bit laggy, single-player mode will have you racing through the challenges to reach pro-status.
Controls:
This is the best part of Skate, no doubt. Instead of hitting triangle to grind, you must actually ollie and land on the object you want to grind. Instead of hitting square to ollie, you must push the analogue stick down and then flick it up as if you were performing the real foot movements. Your left analogue stick controls direction, and your right controls foot positioning. In real life, if you want to do a kickflip you must position two feet near the back of the board, ollie and slide your right or left foot to the top corner of the board. That is what you simulate with the right analogue stick, and it is quite amazing, and, most of all, natural.
Graphics:
The graphics are simply ideal. The pastel colors give the game an original look and the detail is enough to make you feel like this is PS3. Character animation is fairly realistic, and, while some of shapes and textures can be a little blocky at times, you will enjoy your detailed and massive environments, whether it be the suburbs, the urban areas, or the in between.
Sound:
One word: realistic. It is as if you are actually skating, and getting hit by cars has never been more fun. Be prepared to laugh at yourself, because the camera man recording you throughout the game never lets up on the sarcasm, and he doesn’t find it amusing when you repeatedly hit street signs. You can customize your soundtrack and upload your own tunes to the game, so browse through your iPod and select the best. But please, pick better songs than the default songs for the game. Being too lazy to upload my tunes, I usually had to turn the songs off. If only one skating game could get the music right, but I suppose Tony Hawk did a better job with this aspect. Get ready to "Push Your Wood," as one song suggests.
Replay Value:
Honestly, though this is an open-ended game with a world of skating left to explore after your missions are complete, you pretty much play once through and come back once in awhile to either play online or with friends. Not much replay value, but with this kind of game it’s very difficult to achieve the replay value of an RPG or of another genre. Decent, but not great.
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Rating:
Story: 9
Gameplay: 8
Controls: 10
Graphics: 9
Sound: 8
Replay value: 7
Overall: 8.5
Own, Rent, Avoid:
Own: The level creator and community tools make this a must-have for any Playstation 3 owner and a reason for anyone who doesn't own one to buy one.
Last Thoughts:
Skate redesigns the world of video game skating to give it a realistic feel, and, whether you skate in real life or not, you’ll love skating here.
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Written By
Ryan David Leack
11/19/2008
