I've been a fan of the Skate series since its inception, and have played a hell of a lot of these games ever since. The new demo for Skate 3 that was released today is great, and I'll tell you why.
- They have fixed the off-board controls immensely. You can turn on a dime, and for the most part the animations are nice and fluid. Another good thing that they did is instead of coming to a full stop if you didn't completely fall over, your skater does a tuck and roll on flat ground, in a situation such as messing up a grind at high speed. Also, he/she will BOOK IT when you hold down the A button to sprint.
- The graphics are beautiful, and full of stark white and vibrant green colors. There are virtually no jaggy edges on display in the demo, which is nice. They also seem to have fixed the frame rate, though I remain slightly skeptical until I see the full breadth of Port Carverton in action.
- They give you a decent bit of the University locale to skate around in, as well as Coach Frank's training grounds, which are plastered with Stereo logos. The logos don't really distract from the golf course-esque scenery on display in this area, and everything looks crisp and clean.
- The darkslides take some getting used to, and I've yet to figure out exactly how to pull off a casper, but they are present and explained slightly, along with the underflip mechanic, which is quite hard. Basically, you're doing a normal kickflip flick of the stick, but in the same motion, you are required to flick it down in the opposite direction that it was flicked up. Like I said, the new moves take some getting used to.
- The soundtrack is excellent, and the original scores from Del and Mark Mothersbaugh are fantastic. Very good ambient music to skate to.
Overall, this demo has convinced me that my purchasing Skate 3 will be a good decision, and I can't wait to play the full game in May.
Log in to comment