Skate 3
EA and Blackbox have done it again and made a skateboarding game that is incredibly addicting at every turn. The thing that makes the game so addicting is the continued refinement of the game play. Continuing to build off of the momentum of the previous two Skate titles, Skate 3 systematically adds an innovative career style, new park editor, and a few new tricks that have been invented in the past few years. While this entry doesn’t incredibly change up the formula, that is a good thing, with this game being a thank you to dedicated fans of the series.
Instead of following Tony Hawk’s tired tread of being a new skateboarder who has to build credibility, you get to play as the new owner of a skateboarding company. You get to start out by customizing your player as well as the company that you now own. My company was called the “The Rogues” and has grown to the point where I have sold over a million skateboards and I have recruited a few AI skaters to join my team. While this may seem like another retread of a tired formula Skate 3 stands out in a few areas, especially the online component. First of all you may join other companies online, there are also full stats, player profiles, as well as specific roles that people can fill such as camera man. You can earn royalties if you create content that is then downloaded by other users.
My favorite new feature has to be the park creator. If the city, Port Carverton, isn’t big or crazy enough for you, you can go to one of the many skate parks in the city and completely destroy it and build it from the ground up. An incredibly large set of tools as well as a myriad of options means that many of the more artistic users will come up with some jaw dropping designs. These designs can be shared with other users for download. One impressive feature is that ramps and rails in your designed parks can be moved around by other players just like in the real world. Skate 3 rivals games like LittleBigPlanet in terms of user created content possibilities.
Standard online skate options return with things like freeskate and challenging your friends. But since you own your company and have other skaters you can battle it out with other companies in things like Spot Battles as well as the infamous sounding Hall of Meat. Simply the number of options that they player will have to do online is incredible. Almost all of the challenges that are available in single player are available online with your friends. Players could essentially play the entire game online even though it is not in the traditional form.
Skates biggest pro is its ability to consistently have smooth and fun game play that never experiences a hiccup. If you have liked the previous Skate titles then you will like this one with the addition of smooth tricks like the underflip and darkslide, but if you are just starting out even better, because Jason Lee will coach you through the basics. Black Box has also included new difficulty levels which will help new players by reserving serious challenge for seasoned vets. The physics are even more realistic as they continue to learn the hardware, and show the pain and frustration of learning new tricks, but also the joy once you master them.
Black Box always delivers a wonderful vision into the world of kickflips and vert ramps, and gamers can plunk down money with confidence that they will get their monies worth with this title. This latest edition doesn’t take any huge risks, but that is a something that I feel was a good decision. Skate has always allowed players to screw around with now goals or ambitions, the added park creator only adds to that limitless possibility.
