I'd say that the big downside is the character customization removal, but upon playing the game, even online, it wasn't as depressing as I expected (more on this after). The character has more methods of walk-paces that utilize the joystick, so I don't miss the skates. Not to mention, I felt a bit... fruitish... having rollerblades.
But your avatar can be one of the trainer classes now, which I actually prefer to the old customizations. When you see the heads pop up in the list of online passers by, the "custom" avatars ironically all start to look the same, as opposed to the trainer classes. ("Rob identifies as a Ninja Boy, Lara calls herself a Hex Maniac, and ^^dck^^ is a Guitarist". As opposed to "Billy wears a black hat, but John's is white.") Of course, what would be ideal is a level of customization that enables you to differentiate to the point that the trainer classes do.
Of course, the single-player offline character looks like a little pansy. I almost picked the girl so that I wouldn't have to look at him.
And the game is vastly superior everywhere else. IMHASBO.