- Still leaps and bounds over the competition.
- The flickit control system.
- The open world of San Van
- New Tricks/New Features
- Much better story progression.
- The Online Play
The Bad:
- New additions just aren't enough.
- Controls can be fickle.
- Story feels weak.
The Ugly:
- Off board movement
- No solid replay/movie system.
- The 'Teleport' System.
September 30, 1999. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater for the Playstation 1 is released. It manages to capture the essence of skateboarding while making it a fun experience. For the next eight years the Tony Hawk series would dominate the skateboarding video game genre. Every year new features were tacked on in order to keep gameplay fresh. It started off subtle by adding the manual. Then the revert, the caveman, and more. But as each released came out it felt like it had strayed from its original goal of being a skateboarding game to just an unrealistic arcade mess. Something new was needed. EA saw an opportunity, jump to September 13, 2007 Skate is released on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. A completely different look at what a skateboarding game should be. Gamers like the change as it topples Tony Hawks crown selling double its copies and putting Tony Hawk on its first vacation ever. A rousing success a sequel was expected, but is it good or just following the same road as Tony Hawk?
The best place to start would obviously be the skating aspect of the game. EA Black Box hasn't changed the formula much from its predecessor. Why should they? The flickit control scheme is still present and still works beautifully. Other than the obvious new bag of tricks. Handplants, hippy jumps, foot plants have been added to the fray. Though handplants will be implemented into your gameplay almost immediately, the rest I felt myself doing them just to see them happen rather than being a natural part of skating. Especially foot plants, when I go off a jump I tend to have my finger over the X button so when I land I'll immediately start pushing again. Unfortunately in the air the X button preforms a foot plant which 90% of the time results in my untimely demise.
Control changes don't just end on the board but now off it as well. You can get off your board anytime and walk around freely. One big issue I had with the original skate was I would tend to bump into little things all the time (curbs, stairs) so its a great addition to be able to just hop off my board and get right back into things. Not all is well in San Van though player movement off the board is absolutely atrocious. If I had to describe it I would say it handles like a drunk fat person on a unicycle. Once you get past that Skate 2 adds the feature of being able to move real world objects into your lines. It's a great feature that leads to many 'Well if I put that here, and this there, it would be awesome' moments. The create a spot feature essentially allows you to share these moments with friends. You can upload spots you create and allow your friends to skate them, a simple idea but works and results in a fun addition.
Once you get back into old habits you'll want to jump into the new San Van. Like the original the entire city is open from the get go. It's great because you don't have to be concerned with completing any of the story related items you can just skate. Eventually you will come to a story related 'mission' in your travels. In the original some found it hard to progress through the story. Black Box has definitely made some improvements in this department with more goals to do at any moment. All the originals are still there. Owning spots, street competitions, vert competitions, pro skater challenges, and of course deathraces. With this abundance of goals Black Box has added in a teleport system. At any time a player can pause go to any goal and teleport there. It definitely speeds things up but half the fun in skate is exploring the world by adding the ability to go anywhere anytime some players will miss out on what San Van has to offer. After completing each of these goals your either rewarded with a cash reward or a cover of some kind. Though the story has improved it still seems as if your going through the motions instead of reaching some ultimate goal. Even when you do reach the top the game just says 'Big Deal' here's some cash. During all this the camera man Slappy always following you films everything you do. One thing I did expect was big improvements in the replay system. It seems EA took the one step forward, two steps back approach. Two new camera angles have been added, but film effects have been taken out and no other noticeable improvements have been made. It's crazy to think that a feature included in the first game has been removed entirely. Supposedly a DLC pack for replays is coming out but its something that should be there on the disc.
Lastly the online play has improved. The classics still are present. With all the events from the offline play incorporated into the online. Honestly nothing beats a deathrace with friends its a reason to pick up the game on its own. One new addition is cooperative events. The idea that these events can only be completed with numerous players. It can be as simple as the team working together to create a score, or everyone hitting the same gap without bailing. Overall these improvements make the online portion of skate 2 a more enjoyable experience.
Final Thoughts:
Overall Skate 2 is still a great game. Despite its many issues the overall experience is still enjoyable. Though it has many additions they just aren't enough to make it as revolutionary of an experience as the original was. The only thing that concerns me about skate is the future. Looking back on Tony Hawk I can only feel as if Skate might be headed down the same path. Tony Hawk started off as a great game that progressively got worse. Its too early to tell if EA is going to follow the same tradition. Only the future will tell, for now Skate is still the best skateboarding game I've played.
Final Grade: 8.5
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