Difference in Opinion

Grab your deck, hit the streets, and skate to your local game store to pick up skate. EA does an amazing job of making the most accurate skateboarding game to date. In a market dominated by Tony Hawk games, skate. brings a more accurate portrayal of skating physics, injuries, and the constant struggle to get recognized by sponsors. It brings what Forza brings to the racing genre, which makes realists fall in love with the feel of the game.

The skateboarding genre is an extremely difficult one to break into. There has been a few attempts in the past but none of which garnered very much success. Unless you have “Tony Hawk” in the title somewhere, the game is not likely to see get any attention. Despite the challenge, EA decided to take a stab at a skateboarding game to see if they could give old Tony a run for his money. I would say they did just that, and with a little competition, it will make both franchises prosper.

Your character in skate. has been in an accident and is rushed to the emergency room. When you wake up you don’t remember anything and have to relearn how to do tricks. It is a nice way for them to place a tutorial in the game without it being out of place. The controls are completely different than your average skater game, but at the same time seem to be more logical. Your left thumbstick controls your skater’s body, while the right one controls the board. By using the ‘Flickit’ controls, you can ollie, or do a number of other flip tricks with the simple flick of the thumbstick. The triggers are essentially your arms. You use the triggers to grab your board, then can use the right thumbstick to tweak your board out during a grab.

This game is much more realistic that its competitor. You will not be pulling any 1260° Christ Airs off 1000 foot drops and living to tell the tale. The physics are much more accurate, so if you fall from too high, you wipe out. If you run into a wall or pole while going fast, you will fall off your board. While it does limit your crazy imagination, it makes things much more down to earth, and strategic. If you can’t fly off a skyscaper into a perfect grind then you are left having to strategically link together tricks you know you can preform.

The campaign of the game is extremely fun and as close as a game has ever gotten to replicating the skateboarder mindset. You are trying to get sponsored, network yourself with other famous skaters, get featured in magazines and get videos and pictures of taken. You can edit your videos, add effects and upload them online. Similar to that of the Fileshare in Halo 3, you can put videos in one of your slots for your friends to download. You can also view your friends skate. records and files from their profile on your friend’s list.

If you are a skateboarding fan of any sorts, I highly suggest you pick up this game. Everyone will appreciate it for the attention to detail and realism that blows the Tony Hawk games out of the water. There is nothing quite like trying to move your way up in the skateboarding world, well, I guess nothing except for actually trying to do it.

Final Score
Gameplay: 9 out of 10
Graphics: 9 out of 10