Review: Skate (360)

It's not often that a game comes along that can be considered "genre-defining". Halo might be one, Super Mario 64 another. You might even consider the original Tony Hawks to be one, laying down the bench mark for two generations of skateboarding games, until now. It's even less often that such a game comes from EA, normally purveyors of yearly franchise updates and poor quality film licences. Yet, with skate EA have produced a genre-defining skateboard game.

Whilst it might sound pretentious, it's perhaps easier to consider skate as an experience rather than simply a game, as it sets out to let the player do as they please. Inevitably, with this being an EA title, there is a career to follow and tasks to complete, but skate is as much about finding your own way and enjoying the journey as reaching a destination. Which is perhaps a good thing as, depending on your skills with the analogue sticks, skate is easy to pick up. but a real challenge to master. After a few brief tutorials at the start of the game, you're on your own and although some extra tutorials can be unlocked, by no means do they provide a definitive guide to all the tricks available. Skate wants you to work out how to do the most impressive tricks and score the best lines yourself.

As Fight Night Round 3 redefined boxing games by switching to analogue control, skate does the same for skateboarding games. Out are such things as buttons to grind and balance meters. Instead, skate is more organic, using the analogue sticks to control the action in what EA have dubbed the 'flickit' system. Flickit is built around using the analogue sticks to control your boarder, with the left stick used to control direction and the right stick controlling board tricks. To perform the simplest move in the game, an ollie, you pull the right stick back to move your skater's weight to the back of the board, then flick (flickit, geddit?) the right stick straight up to launch your skater into the air. When your skater is airborne pulling the left stick up or down causes them to perform a flip, or pushing it left or right will make them spin round. All other fliptricks are derivatives of the ollie, requiring the right stick to be pulled back and flicked up at different angles. Nose tricks can also be performed by reversing the controls, meaning the initial push is up, and then the stick is flicked down. Variables such as how quickly you flick the stick into the trick affect the height obtained during the trick.

But flickit, isn't just about fliptricks. To perform a manual, you need to pull the right stick back to just the right spot, changing the weight distribution and getting get the front two wheels off the ground, and then holding it at that point to keep the manual going. Grinds are performed by executing a fliptrick as a suitable rail or wall is approached and landing your skater on the rail at the right moment. Further fliptricks can then be performed while grinding, or the left stick can be used to realign the board. Grabs can be executed by pressing the shoulder buttons.

Of course, having an innovative and superbly executed control system is worthless if the rest of the game isn't capable of matching it. Happily, Gamestyle is delighted to report that it does. The physics engine that accompanies skate is first class and there's never a moment when you feel that your own failure to progress is the fault of the game, instead of your own lack of skill and ability. And skate is a game that rewards; practice makes perfect, after all. There's a real sense of accomplishment when a move finally clicks and you find yourself able to pop out that nollie 360 flip at will. When you inevitably get it wrong and skate into a wall, there are some genuinely wince-inducing sound effects and visuals to accompany it.

The city skate you lets roam around, San Vanelona, feels beautifully alive. Cars and pedestrians line the streets and care must be taken not to hit them. Split into five separate districts, there's plenty to explore and prolonged play reveals that real thought and effort has gone into the design of San Van – despite the seemingly un-skateboard friendly nature of some areas, a bit of experimentation and ingenuity will see you yourself performing impressive trick sequences in even the most unlikely of spots. There are some lovely skate spots hidden away which are only found through making the effort to look around, which is particularly challenging at times as the only time your skater will be getting off his board is in the event of serious injury. The more impressive skate parks are unlocked through careers progression, but there's plenty here to keep even the novice skater busy. San Van is graphically impressive as well, never feeling less than realistic, as is the animation of your skateboarder.

Perhaps one of the best things about skate is the fact that it's been created with genuine affection for skateboarding culture. From the camera which apes that often seen in skateboarding videos, to the superb soundtrack, the hilarious live-action introduction video or the vast array of real-life brands licensed in the game, skate never feels like it's doing anything but treating its subject matter with the utmost respect. Of course, there are some gripes with the game, sometimes there are simply too many pedestrians to manoeuvre around in an area; the website to which videos and photos can be uploaded to seems to be almost totally broken; the too frequent occurrence of lag in the otherwise highly enjoyable online mode; but to complain about these problems would be churlish when skate does so much so emphatically right.

Simply by moving the controls from the face-buttons to the analogue sticks – an idea so simple it's amazing no-one though of it before – EA have created the best skateboarding title in years and in doing so have redefined the rules of the entire genre. A joy to play and a game which the inevitable sequel will have to go some way to top.

Rating: 9 / 10

Words by Andy Lucas