Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

When the original Xbox came out, Amped was one of the launch titles.  Not long after that, SSX Tricky came out.  Since both were snowboarding games, comparisons between the two were inevitable, even though their approaches were different.  The Amped games took a more realistic approach, while the SSX games were more about crazy tricks and speed.

While Tony Hawk has had some occasional competition in the skateboarding arena, none of the challengers could make a dent in the series until last year when EA's Skate came along.  Apparently Activision took the new competition seriously as they decided to take a year off of the Tony Hawk series.  Now Skate 2 has come out with no competition, but does that mean that they took an easy route with the sequel, and what does Skate 2 offer that Tony Hawk hasn't?

When you start out in Skate 2, you create your character.  You are given several options as far as hair, clothes, and decks go.  You are given a little bit of money to spend, and it's just about enough to get one change of clothes and a custom deck.  Several clothes and decks need to be unlocked during the game.  The character creation has enough options to make it easy to make your character unique while not having so many that it is overwhelming.  Unfortunately, it seems like there is a bit of a delay when you change one of your options, and it breaks the fluidity of the process.

When you get into the game, other skaters populate the locations.  Some of these are known in the business, and you can tell who they are by their features.  During the cutscenes the animations are stiff and feel forced.  They also have a lack of detail that makes them feel a bit creepy, especially when you look at them while they are talking.

Where the game shines is the animation during the skating.  Your character squats, leans, jumps, and gains momentum realistically while on the board.  Your arms move naturally with the movements, helping your balance.  As your buddy takes pictures of you performing specific tricks, you can see the fluidity of the movements.

Musically Skate 2 uses the now familiar EA Trax system.  It includes several styles from hip-hop to alternative.  The music fits with the game, giving just enough angst to fit with the rebellious lifestyle of the characters portrayed in the game.

The skaters actually provided their own voice work in the game, and this can be both a positive and a negative.  The positive is that you can actually hear the voices that these skaters have.  Unfortunately, the way some of the lines are delivered is just plain bad.  Some of it is cringe worthy, coming out flat with no emotion or inflections.  The cameraman can get annoying if you fail a challenge constantly.  He'll repeat the same phrase over and over again, though it does seem to change depending on how close you were to completing the challenge.  There were times when I just wanted to just shoot him though.

The effects do their job well.  Sliding along edges sounds right whether it is cement or metal.  Landings are hard on cement surfaces and muted on wood ramps.  Taking a dive lets you hear every scratch and broken bone as you tumble through the environment.

If you have played the Tony Hawk games, then Skate 2 will be a bit of an adjustment.  While Tony Hawk used buttons for most of the moves, Skate 2 heavily utilizes the right analog stick.  To perform an ollie, you pull the right stick down then flip it up.  Performing a kickflip is done by pulling the stick down and then flicking the stick up and to the left or right.  Manuals are done by pushing the stick forwards or backwards just slightly to get the correct balance.  There are several other moves that are done with the right stick, and it will take some practice to get used to.  Once you do, it will become more intuitive and you will be performing complex tricks in no time.

While the stick controls are useful, some moves still use buttons.  Pushing off with your left and right foot is done with the X and A buttons respectively.  Braking your uses the B button.  Hitting Y takes you off your board or gets you back on it.  The Left Bumper brings up your cell phone or sets a session marker.  Holding down the Right Bumper lets you grab onto different objects and manipulate them when you are off your board.  Grabbing and crouching your board is done with the Left and Right Triggers.

The controls are incredibly awkward when off the board.  While you think that this wouldn't be an issue these days, it is completely unnatural in Skate 2.  It feels like you are walking in shorter distances than what your feet are actually walking.  Getting objects into the right area isn't very easy either because of the off skateboard controls.

Apparently skateboarding is now a crime, and you were put in the brink for it.  You have just gotten out and it's time to get reacquainted with the city.  While you were serving your time, a big corporation named Mongocorp rebuilt most of New San Vanelona.  While there are some areas that are built of skating, most of the city has been skate-proofed.  Security officers have been deployed to prevent skaters from entering certain areas on their boards.

After starting at Slappy's Skatepark and getting a feel for the controls, several challenges open up for you.  Some challenges require you to do tricks for a tape to get you noticed by sponsors.  Others are areas for you to perform tricks on.  Acquire a steady stream of tricks on them and “own” that area.  You want to move fast in races, crouching down and keeping your balance while going through gates along the way.  You do have a map available to you, so you can quick travel to the different challenges.  You can also restart any challenge you are currently working on, though it takes more button pushes than necessary to do that.  The variety of challenges does help to keep you from getting bored while playing the game.

Remember how Flatout has a mode where you intentionally crash your car and let the driver go flying for points?  Skate 2 has something similar called the Thrasher Hall of Meat.  If you bail out of a trick, you can control your skater, almost in the same fashion as Aftertouch in the Burnout series.  The more broken bones, dislocations, and tumbles you create, the more points you get.  While this is something that isn't recommended in real life, it is a nice diversion and a way to earn money.

Another way to earn money is to check out Slappy's Blog and find out where the action is.  Hitting up his blog is a good way to find out about new places to go to get cash and get sponsored.  He's also got an ear on the ground for the latest local happenings as well.

The trick system in Skate 2 is similar to most other games like this.  The more tricks you link together, the more variety you put in them, and the more difficult they are, the higher your score will be.  Catching air and speed are two ways of increasing your chances of getting a big score.  The longer you perform a trick, the more points you get for it as well.

You get a wide variety of areas within the city.  There are parks, wooded areas, and corporate buildings with objects like fountains all over.  Sometimes you need to call someone to get rid of stoppers on rails.  Other times you might have a security officer harassing you, so you can call in Big Brown to push him aside for a bit, but it will cost you.  The guy has to eat.

The skating in Skate 2 has a more realistic approach to it.  While you still can get big air and perform crazy tricks, you aren't going to find some of the crazy heights and tricks found in the Tony Hawk games.  It does make some of the tricks more difficult, especially board slides since you have to hit the object just right to activate them, but it does feel satisfying when you actually accomplish them.

That still doesn't mean there aren't some issues.  While getting off the board might help you go into certain areas, most of the time your movement feels awkward.  It's not something you want to do when you don't have to.

Another issue with the skating is that it seems to be too easy to get stuck skating towards an object.  I felt like the Tony Hawk games had good enough sense to turn you around in those situations.  In Skate 2 you have to force yourself to turn, and the controls don't offer a good way of doing that.  This is something that should hopefully be easy to fix in future versions.

The campaign in Skate 2 is fairly extensive.  Since it has an open-world feel to it, you can go all over and complete whatever kind of challenge you are in the mood for at that time.  You can even go back and try to improve your score in events you have already completed.  If you don't feel like doing challenge, you can go into the Freeskate mode and just skateboard around the city.  You can even choose how many pedestrians and how much traffic is going around.  You can even turn off those pesky security guards if you like.

You can play local multiplayer, competing in three different challenges.  They are Spot Battle, S.K.A.T.E., and Hall of Meat.  While it is nice to actually have local multiplayer these days, it would have been nice to have more challenges.  These events seem to be “pass the controller” affairs.  Split-screen would have been useful in these games.

The online feels a bit limited.  You can compete in six different challenges online, freeskate with other friends, or create a spot with different challenges and share it with friends.  The challenges are Spot Battle, Best Trick, Jam, S.K.A.T.E., Deathrace, and Hall of Meat.

While Tony Hawk has been trying to do something different, last year Skate showed them that they needed to try something new.  Tony Hawk took a year off, but Skate 2 came back with a strong entry.  Skate 2's more realistic feel will probably appeal more to actual skaters, and while some of the big tricks might be a bit harder to pull off, it's more satisfying when you get that trick pulled off.  If you have gotten bored with the Tony Hawk formula and haven't tried the Skate series out yet, then you might want to give it a look.  You'll probably find yourself pleasantly surprised.

Gaming Trend Score

82

1. Graphics: 76
2. Audio: 80
3. Controls: 82
4. Gameplay: 86
5. Value/Replay: 80
6. OVERALL:82