Skate 2

Skate 2

Skate 2 has much to live up to. Not least it needs enough new features to keep the fans entertained, while maintaining the intuitive ‘Flickit’ controls that made the original accessible to all and rightly famous. From what we’ve seen so far, the job’s a good ‘un…

Much has changed since you last trundled the open-world streets of San Vanelona. For starters your ’boarder - freshly released from a 5-year stretch, as it happens - has learned to walk and move skateable objects around when the need arises. On top of that ‘New’ San Vanelona is barely recognisable in its rebuilt guise. The good citizens don’t take quite so kindly to wreckless yoofs grinding up the municipal architecture either, employing overzealous security guards to mind the gnarliest spots, leaving the pools filled with stagnant water and blocking many of the best lines. Skating, then, has gone underground. And that’s just how we like it.

So far so good, and Skate veterans can jump right into the action using the same skills they acquired last time around. No doubt it’s possible to play through the whole game that way too, although you’d miss out on the new moves which more or less double your rider’s repertoire. Y’see there’s a definably more vertical feel to Skate 2. Sure the city is generously peppered with rails, benches, odd pieces of civic sculpture and killer spots that just begged to be sessioned - hard - but there’s also much more in the way of purpose built skateparks and disused pools. This is where many of the new moves come into their own.

Just as the triggers controlled your rider’s arms in the first game, so two of the face buttons control the legs in this iteration, introducing the pleasing, if initially confusing ability to perform one-footed tricks. Admittedly we spent the first hour or so kicking the board away in mid-air before we twigged this one. The whole grab mechanism has been overhauled too, now allowing for hand plants and, if you’re especially dextrous, mid-trick fingerflips.

It’s a great system that flows just as instinctively as it did in Skate#1 - once you’ve mastered the basics and the logic of having one button/trigger controlling one limb, that is. However, getting to that particular nirvana can be a bruising journey, because Skate 2 avowedly sticks to realistic board/body physics. Hawk-fans beware - there are no magical ten foot ollies or 90-trick combos here.

That means you’ll probably spend a goodly portion of the early hours chewing pavement. Fortunately that’s where another of game’s new features comes in. The Thrasher Hall of Meat rates your worst bails, assigning points proportionate to the damage done. Better yet, it’s possible to partially control your rider as he falls, maximising your score and the all-important wince-factor. It’s a game in itself.

There are a number of annoyances to test your patience, though. First up, the behind-the-skater viewpoint still makes it difficult to see where skaterboy is heading, with all the imprecise navigational laffs entailed therein. The new walking ability, while definitely useful, is also rather slow and clumsy - although not so much as pedestrians who turn up en masse to wander gormlessly through your line. Most frustrating, a failed challenge brings up the option to ‘Retry?‘, which then defaults to ‘No’ rather than ‘Yes’ before presenting you with a 3-second countdown before you can skate. In truth it only wastes a few seconds, but when you’re on your 20th attempt to pull off a tricky routine it’ll soon have you punching cushions.

But practice really does make perfect, and stringing together a flawless combo brings an enormous sense of achievement. In any case it’s easy to forgive Skate 2’s minor shortcomings. New San Vanelona is bewilderingly heeeyoooge and entirely shreddable. Also there are enough new moves, varied challenges and near-infinite ways to string ’em all together to keep single players happy for weeks - if not months. And then the online game extends the fun even further, supporting eight-player sessions in a variety of co-op/competitive flavours and, of course, boasting the ability to record and share your finest moments with the wider Skate community.

All told we have no reservations in recommending Skate 2 to newbies and old-hands alike. True enough it’s more of an evolution than an outright revolution, and if EA and developers Black Box don’t watch out they could find themselves entering the tired old Tony Hawk territory of ever-diminishing returns. But right now this stylish, addictive and gloriously good-looking sequel deserves your attention.

4 out of 5