Skate 2 Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

A few years ago you'd be hard pressed to find any skating game other than the eponymous Tony Hawk series from Neversoft, so if you wanted your skating thrills to be satisfied then you'd have to make due with the Hawk's arcade bent and be satisfied. That is, until EA Black Box brought out Skate in 2007. Rather than trying to compete directly against Tony Hawk they decided to opt for a more realistic approach to skating and steer clear of the Jackass stunts that had become prevalent in the last few Tony Hawk games. Gamers lapped it up and took to Skate's streets in their droves and so EA decided to bring out a sequel and thus Skate 2 was born.

The most impressive aspect regarding Skate 2 is its control system which it inherited from the original, whereby you use the two analogue sticks to control your skater. Known as Flickit controls, you'll soon find it second nature to do ollies and manuals through the streets of New San Vanelona. It's a great way to make you feel as though you really are performing the tricks compared to just hitting a few button combos. Tied to this is the fact that your skater is capable of doing all the tricks in the game right from the start with the only obstacle being your ability to have sufficiently dexterous fingers. There's no leveling up of your character so its up to you to become better at the game. This is a novel way of forcing you to actually learn the tricks yourself rather than relying on button mashing. Skate 2 builds on this by nearly doubling the number tricks at your disposal including foot-plants, hand-plants, fingerflips, lip tricks, ollie norths and hippie jumps. You can now also skitch, or for those of us who are not born and bred skaters, the ability to hitch a lift with a car by holding on to its boot as it drives. The only downside to the Flickit control scheme is that the sticks aren't particularly accurate and many of the tricks have very similar mapping, leading to you fluffing up challenges by missing a trick several times in a row, although this is less of a problem as in the first game with fewer challenges requiring specific trick combos. Your skater (who can also be female as opposed to the first game's male-only protagonist) can now finally get off his/her board to walk the streets, leading to several tricks involving the setup of objects which you have to move around before attempting to successfully complete a challenge. It's a dual edged sword though as your skater sometimes seems to have all the walking capabilities of a drunken man whose lost his glasses, but its a great way to add some variety to the challenges.

The majority of the gameplay has remained unchanged from the first title with the game starting as you're released from prison (complete with cameos from all the pros that feature in the game), ready to prove you're the best skater around in the newly rebuilt, open world setting of New San Vanelona. So it comes that you'll have to win a number of skating competitions, death races (full speed races down steep hills with traffic), best trick combos and photo shoot opportunities to get magazine coverage. Each win gets you a higher rep and unlocks further events that you'll need to complete in order to progress; and you're free to pick and choose in which order you complete them. If you feel like just spending an hour throwing down tricks at a skate park, then you can do that, and that is one of the strengths of Skate 2, you're never forced to rush your progress and freeskating by yourself can be extremely rewarding. Skate 2 also features the replay editor and upload tools that allow you to upload your best tricks and lines to EA's skate.reel website, although some of the more advanced effects and controls are actually DLC items, namely the Filmer Pack, which is quite a bad move on EA's part as I can't see many gamers opting to purchase such unnecessary extras. Once you've run the single player story mode dry you can take on the excellent multiplayer portion and the good news is that the lag here is very minimal from my experiences with it online, although it must be added that I only played against local gamers. The selection of online gameplay modes is also quite wide with Spot Battle, S.K.A.T.E., Deathrace, Hall of Meat, Best Trick, Jam, and Freeskate all available to you.

Skate 2's presentation is good with cutscenes setting out the minimal story elements and well presented tutorials that get you up to speed as quick as possible. Sometimes the trick challenges are explained using skater lingo that leaves gamers such as myself a bit bewildered as to what is actually required from us but as the game is more marketed towards the hardcore skaters out there its understandable, although I would have loved the option to have simpler explanations of some of the tricks. New San Vanelona looks great for the most part, however, at times the graphics don't seem as sharp as the previous game with some textures looking flat and last gen. The amount of in-game advertising you'll witness after just a few minutes in New San Vanelona will begin to grate on your nerves. You won't be subjected to watching the pros being introduced by a video detailing all their sponsored products, but be prepared to see advertising on billboards, items of clothing and equipment, with your skater being emblazoned with logos and advertising that would make you the equivalent of a walking billboard. When it comes to the music used in-game, the licensing used is a boon with some great tracks such as Hero Of Our Times by Dragonforce, Eat The Rich by Motörhead and Freewheel Burning by Judas Priest, highlighting a great selection of tracks that should cater to most gamers' tastes. The music is also well implemented, only getting louder when you approach skating spots and competitions, making sure you feel as though you're actually a skater in a city with all the ambient noises that entails.

Skate 2 manages to build upon the first game's strengths and should provide a good purchases for fans of the original Skate. While it might not have added anything revolutionary to the series, and the on foot controls leave a lot to be desired, EA Black Box should be commended for having released a competent sequel. The fun multiplayer will add longevity to the game and should ensure that the time you spend in New San Vanelona will be well worth the effort - you won't find yourself “board” any time soon with Skate 2.

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