Skate
doesn't offer what players have come to expect from skating games, and is
much deeper and more nuanced than you'd expect it to be. It's more of a
skating simulation than an arcade-oriented life-style game. It seems
counter-intuitive, but Skate's approach actually works to its advantage,
since it's surprising amount of depth and nuance doesn't seem to be what
the genre of alternative sports usually offers. At first glance, Skate
doesn't feel revolutionary, since the game's reward structure doesn't seem
to differentiate it from its competition that dramatically. You begin at
the bottom of the skating hierarchy, a lone skater messing around in the
local community center, challenging your fellow skaters to copy and beat
your tricks while you slowly build your reputation up. Once you've earned
your reputation, through the taping of skate videos and techniques, you'll
be able to unlock additional areas in the city, more skaters to use and
other items that bring an even greater sense of scale to the game. What
makes Skate feel so refreshing is that it allows you to grow and develop
your own skills at your own pace. This sense of freedom is important and
permeates all aspects of the game. While you're on the way up, you're also
learning and mastering the basic skills and techniques that will make your
reputation.
The game's potential unfolds slowly at
first as you play through a series of tutorial missions where you have to
prove your worth to more established skaters. Playing through Skate's
initial stages give you a fairly decent basis for the more elaborate
challenges that you'll face later, and these areas can feel a bit
constrained at first. You'll spend a lot of time learning these techniques
by following the example of other skaters. This can become a bit tedious
after awhile, but if you continue, Skate's real promise begins to reveal
itself. Persisting in your missions, you'll soon discover that Skate
offers nuances and features that in other contexts would seem mundane, but
feel fresh and new in this game. For example, while other titles make huge
spins and jumps feel ordinary and worthless, here even humble skills such
as ollies and grinds take a lot more effort to perform and conversely,
feel more spectacular than the jumps and gaps you find in other titles.
This isn't a result of the game's flashiness, substituting a false sense
of accomplishment for depth and challenge, instead, Skate takes a
completely different approach to how the actual skating techniques and
skills are performed. Its this grounding in realism and authenticity that
makes each move feel like it has been earned, giving this a more
simulation aspect than other games on the market.
Obviously, taking a different approach
to its gameplay requires a completely new set of controls, and its here
that Skate really sets itself apart from rival franchises. Its innovative
control scheme is both simpler and more nuanced than the usual button
mashing combos other skating titles have used, making for a much more
realistic skating experience. The controls themselves are quite innovative
and the game feels perfectly suited to the PS3's analog controllers.
Instead of relying on the player's dexterity, Skate takes a more natural
approach that requires a greater emphasis on timing and skill. In order to
perform most tricks, you merely need to use the right analog stick and
move in a semi-circular motion, which allows you a great deal of
flexibility. For example, in order to perform a simple ollie, you move the
stick down then up in a slight diagonal motion. You add a grab to this
move by pressing down on the shift button. Grinding rails is likewise
simple, you hold your skater down then leap up onto the railing which is
much more intuitive. In order to push your skater, you merely press the
square button for a left leg push of maximum speed while the X controls
your skater's right leg. This system takes some getting used to but,
quickly becomes second nature. Manuals are likewise performed using the
d-pad in a slight motion to left, where you have to find just the right
position to find your balance. It's tricky, but this technique makes the
game feel even more authentic. The game doesn't offer too many flashy
moves, but instead focuses on the basics. It might seem dull, Skate's
controls arent't nearly as constrained as in other games and the natural
interface does an excellent job in recreating the feel of skating in real
life. Performing the moves makes the player feel much more grounded in
reality and makes each successful trick all the more satisfying. The
system allows you to build momentum naturally and move your player as you
would in real life. You probably won't be able to perform the most
spectacular moves, but the sense of realism and authentic skate style more
than compensates for this lack of flash. While it takes some time getting
used to Skate's different control method, it's definitely worth the effort
because the game feels more realistic than any skating title before it.
A
lot of this is due in no small part to Skate's outstanding physics engine,
which makes you feel like you're in control of an actual skater.
Everything in the game feels and reacts as it should and the board feels
like its under your feet and rolls realistically. This approach extends to
the different surfaces, which also have different feels. For example,
there are different types of concrete, some of which is rough and other
smooth within the same area. This definitely adds to the realism.
Additionally, your skaters themselves move and react as they really would.
Instead of jumping outlandishly in the air, you have limits that require
you to look ahead and time your jumps and grinds, which is a bit more
challenging than you're probably accustomed to. Likewise, your momentum
while skating is controlled by the number of foot pushes you do, with a
maximum speed only obtainable by pressing three times. Your skater reacts
to your controls in a realistic way, and the bails are particularly
painful to endure, you can almost feel the impact on your skater when you
crash into something. The game's sense of momentum is outstanding however,
and once you get used to the game's feel, things definitely become more
enjoyable. Instead of merely watching, and pressing buttons in order to
trigger unrealistic moves, you feel like you are controlling living,
breathing skaters. This creates a strong sense of gravity and grounding
for each move, which is a huge difference that gives Skate an unmistakably
realistic feel throughout. All of this combines to create some of the most
realistic and believable skating seen in a game to date, and this makes
for a sense of freedom and possibility few other skating games have
attempted.
Skate's sandbox approach is quite
innovative, and while this freestyle approach to games has seen its
application in other games, when its applied to the action/sports genre it
really becomes something special. This open-ended, fully explorable world
gives the player an incredible sense of freedom to do what they want in a
massive stage filled with hidden areas, secret sections and cool areas.
While you can go through the levels and play each challenge consecutively
if you like, taking this linear path means you'll lose out on a lot of
what makes Skate such an invigorating and unique experience. Set in a
massive fictional city called San Vanelona, the game allows you to go
virtually anywhere in the city right from the start. This gives the player
a massive area to explore, which each of the city's districts offering a
huge area to skate through, complete with pedestrians on the sidewalks and
cars on the streets, not to mention the multitudes of other skaters
competing for space with you. If you see something, such as a large
building, a series of ramps and large open areas, the chances are you can
skate through it. There are plenty of off-the-beaten paths, hidden alleys
and other areas to explore and it can take literally hours to see
everything the game has to offer. You can skate everywhere from parks to
parking garages, take the subway to other sections of the city or roll
through the game's expansive areas without having to worry about a timer
or specific objectives in the Freestyle mode, and this sense of freedom
and unlimited skating opportunities is really where the game comes to
life. Skate's impressive sense of scale and detail evident throughout the
game's environments is really stunning when you compare it to the
relatively tiny areas you are allowed to explore in some competing titles.
What really makes this approach work is
that Skate's non-linear approach to its open-ended levels are designed to
let create your own lines on each area. This gives you the freedom to use
each area creatively and put your own stamp on each level. Skate's sense
of freedom is quite intoxicating, and this is only enhanced by its superb
graphics engine and innovative presentation. Instead of using the typical
camera angles you'd expect, most of the action is viewed in a close-in
fish-eye angle that gives you a ground based view of the action. Your
skater's movements look very close to the way they would in reality, with
slick animation and motion capturing used to create a stunning look
throughout. As mentioned earlier, the city of San Vanelona is massive, but
each area also displays a remarkable sense of detail and realism. The
structures and layout of the game's environments is impressive throughout
and most players will find themselves suspending their disbelief. The game
is slightly gritty, with blurring text and a washed out, sedated
color-scheme that fits with Skate's underground feel perfectly. You'll
encounter several dozen real skaters here as well, and they look like real
skaters and the dialogue is a bit stilted in parts but fairly decent
overall. There are loads of music tracks which offer a fairly good
compliment to the action, but the game is best when played without music,
as odd as that seems. Skate's presentation probably doesn't sound that
impressive on paper. In fact, judging it by the screenshots alone, you
might consider it drab and dull. However, the quality of the visuals is
superb overall with a consistent realism that sets it apart from its more
cartoonish brethren, making for a refreshing change of pace.
Taking
a back-to-basics approach, Skate focuses on the basic mechanics of skating
with an innovative and dynamic control system that allows you to perform
moves in a much more natural way, trading in the impossible for the
satisfaction of doing the possible in a completely intuitive manner. The
game's controls themselves will probably take some getting used to, but
once acclimated, players will probably find the game more intuitive than
other titles. The sense of realism is enhanced further by its excellent
physics that make you feel like you're in control of the board under your
feet and not merely button mashing. Skate's structure is also radically
different, trading in the usual level-based play for an open-ended
environment that allows you to explore and trick where and when you want,
while also offering a number of challenges and a deep career mode in
addition to its standout sandbox areas. Skate's alternative visual
approach gives off a cool underground vibe that gives the game a cool
authenticity while its real world skaters and a grittier feel creates a
cohesive world that makes for an incredibly immersive skating experience.
Skate is definitely one of the most innovative titles in the action-genre
to come along in some time. Not only is it better from a technical
standpoint than the predictable Tony Hawk series in many ways, its also a
refreshing change of pace that delivers a more open experience offering
players an almost infinite sense of freedom and exploration. Skate is
definitely one of the best titles of the year one and gives the genre a
much needed spark of innovation.
- Michael Palisano
Grade: B+
