Review written by Playstation4.net staff member Mark Hooson
Skate 2
The first skating game to hit next-gen consoles, EA Black Box’s ‘Skate’, is widely regarded as one of the best early PS3 titles available, but only ever seemed to achieve a cult following.
After Activision spent years flogging their dead horse of a franchise; Tony Hawk’s Pro Skateboarding, Skate was a breath of fresh air with its Fight Night inspired ‘Flick-It’ control system which replaced complex button combos with simple ‘flicking’ of the right analogue stick, in a way which felt more naturalistic and just, well, right.
Added to the mix was superb level design in the fictional yet believable city of San Vanelona, giving the player the freedom to roam the open world looking for their favourite ’spots’ to skate, aping the real world of skate culture. Next-gen graphics and the ability to shoot skate videos and upload them for other players to watch and rate erased any memory of Activision’s franchise and cemented Black Box’s effort as the benchmark skateboarding title.
So with the release of Skate 2, Black Box appears to have heeded the warning of “If it aint broke don’t fix it” but at the same time begun to show signs of the problems that plagued the Hawk series as it spurned sequel after sequel.
The initial difference you’ll notice when you fire up Skate 2, is that this time around there is some semblance of a story to follow. Apparently you’ve been away in jail for a period of time, and in your absence, there has been an earthquake which decimated the city.
Then, an oppressive corporation came to town and, for all intents and purposes, reinvented and redesgned the city, to the point where it is almost unrecognisable as San Van, referred to by your buddies these days as the New San Van.
With more than a hint of the sinister, you’ll play through the story getting to the bottom of things whilst become the number one skater in New San Van despite increased security, skater haters and general bad times for you and buddies.
It sounds daft, and it is, but luckily the game is a cracker in its own right when it comes down gameplay and fun.
The original Skate had a graphical sheen which, although basic, did the job well and left little room for improvement. The difference you’ll see in Skate 2, in the New San Van, is the way the devs have worked on the contrast between the areas of corporate shiny-ness of the business districts to the rusty, dirty industrial areas which appear abandoned in the new vision of the city.
Perhaps aware that Skate’s visuals were bordering on too clean, Skate 2 solves this problem quite literally as your skater – whose appearance is now fully customisable – gets dirtier with every bail, scuff and slam. The Thrasher ‘Hall of Meat’ which chronicled your injuries in Skate returns and is a more fully fleshed (excuse the pun) out mini-game this time around.
Sequels always add some sort of new game mechanic, and logically S2 adds features which fans demanded after the first game.
You can now get off your board and walk around. It’s a little awkward, and that’s being kind, but it does the job of enabling you to move objects around – which is Skate 2’s unique new addition. For example, if you come across a gap that you’d like to ollie across, you might find a kicker ramp somewhere in the area which, when moved into position, will allow you to get the air you need to clear the gap.
A useful addition, and well executed. With the tap of two buttons you can return a rail or ramp to where you found it, or lock it to the spot for when you return. Keeping things real, S2 doesn’t allow you to move anything too large, and generally you can’t position a piece somewhere you wouldn’t be able to in reality.
This mechanic is manifested in the online create-a-spot mode where you set up ramps and rails to create lines, upload it to the servers and let other players have a go at, competing for the highest scores to ‘own’ the spot.
The other not-so-vital but nonetheless realistic additions are the ability to perform handplants, one footed tricks, hippie jumps and other old-school tricks which you’ll pick up along the way.
The trick additions seem a little convoluted at first, just as your right and left arms are controlled by R2 and L2 respectively, your left foot and right foot are mapped to square and X, so if you want to stick out your right foot while you’re doing a handplant (R1), you press square or X, depending on which leg you want to extend.
While these aren’t particularly essential, its nice to have something extra in your repertoire and perfectly showcase Skate 2’s fantastic animation and physics. Collision detection is as razor sharp (whilst you’re on the board, on-foot is another matter!) as it was in the original and ragdoll physics provide realistic, and sometimes hilarious bails. There are times when you might get stuck as the ragdoll physics get a little buggy, but it is easily remedied and pardoned.
My only gripes with S2 are things which are outweighed by the enjoyment of the game overall, they’re moot.
First of all, the on-foot controls are bad – frustratingly so. You can’t turn on the spot without moving the camera and you can only walk or run in straight lines, so you have to first line up the camera with where you want to go, then move. If you want to change direction, you almost have to stop, adjust the angle then continue.
Still, its better than in Skate 1 where you couldn’t ever really stop. It works well for stopping for a look around as you plan your next line, but will no doubt be improved in Skate 3.
I couldn’t help but feel some of the objectives were a bit ‘out-there’ and strayed into the Jackass territory which ruined the latter Hawk games. This is evident in the abundance of security guards who will try to stop you skating in certain spots, which you are tasked with skating in nevertheless.
You can hire a guy to clear a path for you, removing the skate-blocking chunks of metal applied by the comglomerate to some of the city’s steps and rails and you can call up ‘Big Black’, who apparently starred in an American MTV show, to scare off the over zealous security guards.
What is it with extreme sports games and the desire to tie them in with ‘of the moment’ TV shows?
All the while I was left wondering, ‘Why bother having a story where the old city is destroyed a rebuilt anew? Why not just set it in a different city and do away with all the storyline rubbish?
Overall though, you’ll forgive these problems as you carve up New San Van. If you played the original, you’ll love diving into the ‘new’ city without too much hand-holding. The sequel isn’t a giant leap from the original, but when the debut of an IP is so good, why try to change the formula?
There’s enough new stuff to keep you interested and lets face it, fans of Skate would have just been happy with the plethora of new spots and locations.
The music is typically a mix of punk and hip-hop, which is all fine, and the sound effects are as adequate as any current Playstation 3 title.
Online components are great and will serve the community Skate 1 built well with its returning ‘own the spot’, ‘jam’ and racing events.
If you liked Skate, you’ll enjoy Skate 2, if you loved Skate then you’ll love Skate 2. If you didn’t play the original Skate, I’m sure you’ll soon be hooked on finding the best hidden spots in New San Van as the rest of us did in the Old San Van.
All in all, a solid addition to the PS3 catalogue, and streets ahead of some of the pap which is available. It beggars belief that consumers are snapping up terrible Wii titles when they could be playing something like this.
Ah well, their loss!
