Skate: A Review

Hello there, welcome to my Skate review. Let me start out by saying, I was skeptical about the goodness of this game and was pretty loyal to the Tony Hawk franchise, playing games such as Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, 3, 4 and American Wasteland. I thought, well I'm done with skateboarding games. I already have the ones I need. I was wrong. Skate has a superb "flick it" control scheme, fairly good graphics and fun and interesting missions. Missions can be anything from playing S.K.A.T.E to competing in contests, to photos, to video challenges. Also, a plus- Skate is open world. The world may not be super big, but it has plenty of bowls, rails and other things that are fun to skate on. Now, let's talk about the controls. This game takes advantage of both analog sticks on the controller and the triggers too. All the tricks are based on flicking up then down quickly in different patterns. The game lasts a good 30 hours too, plus multiplayer and freeskate where you get to show of your moves as some of the pros and characters you meet in the story. I prefer the open world non-linear style, preferred to the level based idea that the Pro Skater games had. Also the flick it controls seem more fluid than the button mashing controls found in the Pro Skater games. I like the roster of pros on Pro Skater a bit better, but the create a skater is more fleshed out in Skate. You can rock decks, shoes, trucks, wheels and clothing from real skate companies and end up choosing your own sponsor during the campaign. Now, I know I'm jumping around a lot, but the map... It is divided into four zones – The Suburbs, The Res, Old Town and Downtown. Different types of challenges become present as you progress through the zones.

I give this game an 8.7 out of 10.