Consolation Prize

The skateboarding crown once held by the Tony Hawk franchise was put in dire peril in 2007 when a new kid on the block, namely Skate, made its appearance. Developed by EA Black Box Skate generated quite a lot of praise for its innovative controls and environments upon release, and now 16 months later we’re getting a sequel. To wet your appetite a demo of Skate 2 was recently released on Xbox Live Marketplace and is scheduled to arrive on Playstation Network imminently.

The career demo lets you sample the initial first moments of the game, enabling you to comprehensively design your avatar’s look and then jump into some simple challenges. The vast customisation options not only extend to tinkering with your facial features and clothes, but also your skateboard deck, truck and wheel selection - albeit only as far as your limited $300 budget will stretch. You can appreciate that in the full game you’ll certainly be able to completely style the look of your skater as more funds become available and additional items are unlocked.

Once you’re happy with your skater then it’s straight into the tutorial as you head off to Slappy’s Skatepark, learning the odd trick or two along the way. What’s initially quite impressive is the use controller to perform tricks; from simple ollies and nollies to kick flips and rotations, they’re all handled by flicking or rotating the right analogue stick. It does take a little bit of time to get used to, and undoubtedly you will fall off your board at some point, but it does feel like a more natural control method than just simply pressing a sequence of face buttons. Once at Slappy’s you’re met with the usual assortment of ramps, and rails to perfect your jumps and grinds, but there are also a few challenges to complete as your sick tricks can be photographed for Skateboard Mag.

The demo only allows you a limited five minutes of game time, but this can be extended by performing tricks. It’s long enough to allow you to form some impressions of the game, but I would have preferred to also have seen more of the world outside of the skate park, and possibly the beginnings of the story, but never mind, beggars can’t be choosers. There’s plenty to like about Skate 2 in this demo though. The tricks feel natural and far more realistic than the superhuman efforts witnessed in many skateboarding games, and it’s certainly worth mentioning that you can get off your board whenever you wish, and on some occasions you can manually move obstacles or ramps.

Skate 2 looks decent, and I really like the wince inducing crash physics and the trophy cuts and grazes that will adorn your skater as a result of exposed flesh colliding with concrete and metal. In extreme cases accidents will result in broken bones and dislocations which are nicely highlighted on an X-Ray photograph, and although they won’t have any long lasting detrimental effect they’re recorded for prosperity as part of the Thrasher Hall of Meat.

From the brief snippet of time I’ve spent with the demo, Skate 2 seems like a tantalising prospect. It’s been quite a long time since I’ve played a decent skating game, and Skate 2 may just be the game that causes me to become a virtual skate rat again.

I never got the controls in the first Skate figured out so I gave up on it. I prefer the arcadey style of Tony Hawk…if they ever release any more.

I really like the controls in this game, but yeah, I know what you mean about it being less arcadey than TH - personally though that’s my preference - more realism, less emphasis on showboating tricks.