Notes: Hey look, a review of something new! That's never happened before! Please leave any comments or advice you may have, as I'm always looking to write better.
Most people can agree that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series has run itself into the ground. Project 8 was underwhelming, Proving Ground was a gigantic flop, and EA Black Box's release of Skate in the same year was the final nail in the coffin. Skate made a real innovation with the "flickit" control scheme, hitting the wonderful note of being easy to learn and very hard to master. While it could be frustratingly difficult at times, it was superb game that captured the flowing nature of skateboarding perfectly. Now we have Skate 2, basically described as "Skate with a bag of new tricks."
So we start off with the same type of wonderfully corny FMV sequence that we had in Skate starring most of the pro skaters in the game, before some quick character customisation and a couple of basic tutorials. The whole city is open two you from the beginning, bar a few exclusive skateparks that have to be either bought or unlocked through the course of the game, but you're never really forced one way or another. You can blitz all the challenges if you like, or if you're a little more sandbox happy you can just take your board an go skating, which thankfully the game still does very well.
Always stretch before going skateboarding. You don't want to pull a muscle.
The controls are essentially the same as they were in Skate with the right stick doing different ollies and flip tricks when flicked in different patterns, the left stick controlling movement, the triggers acting as your arms for grabbing the board and face buttons for pushing and braking. They've been tightened up to be a little more responsive, but are otherwise sticking to the already solid scheme of the first. There's also a gigantic list of new tricks to do. Fingerflips, handplants, one foots, cavemans, footplants, frontflips, backflips, and potplants all make appearances, as do a whole host of variations but you're never really forced into learning them all. Instead there's just a big ol' list in the menu in case you want to learn something new.
Skate 2's big addition is the ability to get off your skateboard and run about. Getting around on foot can be a real battle thanks to you're character's very slow, heavy movement, diametric opposition to turning and inability to climb small obstacles, however it does have a couple of uses.
For one, running up the stairs rather than having to find a way around is convenient, and whilst on foot you're able to take hold of things like ramps, rail, benches, dustbins and parking barriers and place them where you like, giving you a few more options in what you can do in a particular area. Being able to place rails near other rails for nice gap opportunities or ramps to help you survive long drops is a helpful addition to the game, but it is a bit basic seeing as you can only drag parts around and aren't able to snap bits together, or even lift them up.
Skate 2 looks, more or less, the same as it's predecessor, but there are a couple of changes that are mainly for the worse. The fun effect where the all the colours became more vibrant, the lighting brighter and the sound of the board louder when you did huge lines and tricks has been stripped out and replaced with annoying lens flare, and Black Box proves one again that they cannot do lighting properly, with some places are comprised entirely of bloom and others conveying the feeling of being in a closet, however it does sometimes hit a nice balance by sheer luck.
Lens Flare. It's a coffee stain on the graphical table.
On a more technical side, I've had a couple of problems with running into invisible walls where they clearly shouldn't be and some very strange physics glitches where I've been catapulted into the air from a simple ollie off of a rail. Plus the game has an aggravating tendency to crash during autosaves.
Something I complained about in my review [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.73585#800888] of Skate was the difficulty of some of the challenges, however here you'll go to a whole new level of frustration. A big part of the problem is the strange set up of some goals, like those that give you unlimited time but will make you do it all again if you bail, or throwing ten security guards in your path dissolving any hopes of a smooth run up quickly.
Then there's the inability to promptly restart any challenge you fall short of. Failure will result in control being wrested from you, before being forced to watch your agonising bail and asked if you would like to try again or quit. It is a game where you are guaranteed to fall over and over again, and when the option to quit is quite easily accessed from the pause menu, this is just a painful, pathetic delay, for lack of more colourful language.
Skate 2 still captures the flow of skateboarding very well and it's still fun to just skate around, find cool places and see what you can do with what's available. But it's also very hard and the casual player probably won't have such a great time with the game. If you liked the original you'll probably like Skate 2 as well, but for everyone else Rent It, or at least play the demo before making a decision.
Why do developers keep using lens flare? It's looks terrible.
Most people can agree that the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series has run itself into the ground. Project 8 was underwhelming, Proving Ground was a gigantic flop, and EA Black Box's release of Skate in the same year was the final nail in the coffin. Skate made a real innovation with the "flickit" control scheme, hitting the wonderful note of being easy to learn and very hard to master. While it could be frustratingly difficult at times, it was superb game that captured the flowing nature of skateboarding perfectly. Now we have Skate 2, basically described as "Skate with a bag of new tricks."
So we start off with the same type of wonderfully corny FMV sequence that we had in Skate starring most of the pro skaters in the game, before some quick character customisation and a couple of basic tutorials. The whole city is open two you from the beginning, bar a few exclusive skateparks that have to be either bought or unlocked through the course of the game, but you're never really forced one way or another. You can blitz all the challenges if you like, or if you're a little more sandbox happy you can just take your board an go skating, which thankfully the game still does very well.
Always stretch before going skateboarding. You don't want to pull a muscle.
The controls are essentially the same as they were in Skate with the right stick doing different ollies and flip tricks when flicked in different patterns, the left stick controlling movement, the triggers acting as your arms for grabbing the board and face buttons for pushing and braking. They've been tightened up to be a little more responsive, but are otherwise sticking to the already solid scheme of the first. There's also a gigantic list of new tricks to do. Fingerflips, handplants, one foots, cavemans, footplants, frontflips, backflips, and potplants all make appearances, as do a whole host of variations but you're never really forced into learning them all. Instead there's just a big ol' list in the menu in case you want to learn something new.
Skate 2's big addition is the ability to get off your skateboard and run about. Getting around on foot can be a real battle thanks to you're character's very slow, heavy movement, diametric opposition to turning and inability to climb small obstacles, however it does have a couple of uses.
For one, running up the stairs rather than having to find a way around is convenient, and whilst on foot you're able to take hold of things like ramps, rail, benches, dustbins and parking barriers and place them where you like, giving you a few more options in what you can do in a particular area. Being able to place rails near other rails for nice gap opportunities or ramps to help you survive long drops is a helpful addition to the game, but it is a bit basic seeing as you can only drag parts around and aren't able to snap bits together, or even lift them up.
Skate 2 looks, more or less, the same as it's predecessor, but there are a couple of changes that are mainly for the worse. The fun effect where the all the colours became more vibrant, the lighting brighter and the sound of the board louder when you did huge lines and tricks has been stripped out and replaced with annoying lens flare, and Black Box proves one again that they cannot do lighting properly, with some places are comprised entirely of bloom and others conveying the feeling of being in a closet, however it does sometimes hit a nice balance by sheer luck.
Lens Flare. It's a coffee stain on the graphical table.
On a more technical side, I've had a couple of problems with running into invisible walls where they clearly shouldn't be and some very strange physics glitches where I've been catapulted into the air from a simple ollie off of a rail. Plus the game has an aggravating tendency to crash during autosaves.
Something I complained about in my review [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.73585#800888] of Skate was the difficulty of some of the challenges, however here you'll go to a whole new level of frustration. A big part of the problem is the strange set up of some goals, like those that give you unlimited time but will make you do it all again if you bail, or throwing ten security guards in your path dissolving any hopes of a smooth run up quickly.
Then there's the inability to promptly restart any challenge you fall short of. Failure will result in control being wrested from you, before being forced to watch your agonising bail and asked if you would like to try again or quit. It is a game where you are guaranteed to fall over and over again, and when the option to quit is quite easily accessed from the pause menu, this is just a painful, pathetic delay, for lack of more colourful language.
Skate 2 still captures the flow of skateboarding very well and it's still fun to just skate around, find cool places and see what you can do with what's available. But it's also very hard and the casual player probably won't have such a great time with the game. If you liked the original you'll probably like Skate 2 as well, but for everyone else Rent It, or at least play the demo before making a decision.
Why do developers keep using lens flare? It's looks terrible.
