Skate
Xbox 360 - EA
The below is based entirely on the Xbox 360 Demo*

There has been no real information given about this game up until the demos release. The only things we had to go on were all those great looking videos and even those didn’t reveal all that much.

EA has finally released the demo for this game and I am honestly left kneeling on the floor begging for more! Where the more recent Tony Hawk games have failed, Skate seems to make up for immensely. Proving Ground will have a lot of work to do if it even wants to come close to the surprisingly gratifying and incredibly smooth gameplay.

Visuals
Graphically, Skate looks incredibly good in almost all areas. Only real issue comes from a few bad textures which are seen after your face gets planted into the ground. That however, does almost nothing to effect the outcome of the titles visual feats and you will be damned to find much else that looks bad.

Controls
EA has done a great job of making the “flick it” control scheme feel fluid and smooth. The controls are much better then that of any previous Tony Hawk games tedious button mashing. You control the character with the left analog stick and the board with the right. Moves are pulled off by moving your right thumb in directional patterns which represent actual moves of the skating world. Nailing a move in Skate leaves you satisfied and thinking of new ways to combine the wacky, yet precise flick it system.

Hit the jump for the rest

-Mike

Discuss & share your thoughts

Presentation
In terms of audio, Skate once again passes with flying colors. Everything just sounds like it should and you ultimately end up feeling like you are right there in the city of San Vanelona. There is practically nothing that does not sound like its real life representative. This helps a great deal in allowing you to forget that you are playing a game and sometimes you will end up thinking you’re watching a video.

The camera unfortunately, takes a bit of getting used to. It is awkwardly placed quite close too the character, but after playing for 10 minutes you get the hang of it. This still does not excuse the cameras somewhat bad angling and it does not always turn when you do.

An added video editor, which ranks quite high in my books, is real fun. It allows to to take footage of a session and edit it down to a sweet trick or wicked wipe out and change the camera angles, add video effects and change the speed. So to answer your question, yes, slow-mo wipe outs are totally possible and look bad ass. After that you can upload your videos or a still shot and share on EA’s Skate home site.

The frame rate stays steady throughout the entire experience. Keep in mind this is a demo and the game does not exactly require a majority of processing power.

Story

inapplicable

Final Say

In the end, you are left wanting so much more and will find yourself constantly going back to the demo to just fool around. This is one hell of an experience and will give the next installment in the Tony Hawk franchise a serious run for its money. I personally feel like i have not played such a great skating game since Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 and can’t stay away from this game. I was left feeling so good after paying that Skate managed to make its way onto my 07 must have list which i wish hadn’t happened seeing as how i plan on becoming bankrupt this year.

A Must Download/Purchase (Once Released)

The Good:
intuitive controls, amazing audio, seemingly endless replay value, surprisingly fun video editor.

The Bad:
awkward camera.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 23rd, 2007 at 5:13 pm and is filed under Impressions, Wii60.com. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.