It's the Skate game I know and love (with more sponsors)
People who know me have a general knowledge of my loyalty to the EA Skate franchise. Ever since I heard the announcement for the first Skate, I was stoked like hell. Unlike the bulbous cash cow that is the Tony Hawk series, Skate seemed to have it all: a realistic control scheme, a large, open environment to skate in, and sweet online play.
Well, it was that time of year again, and a new Skate game rose from the ashes to my delight. This one is more focused on the online aspects of the past titles, but is it worthy of carrying on the Skate tradition? Well, you might already be able to tell because of the rating I gave it, but we'll find out now. Here's my review of EA Skate 3.
First of all, I'll just go flat out ahead and say it: Skate 3 is VERY good. It carries on the tradition of the first games nicely, and adds a few tweaks like Darkslides and Underflips to keep the game going. However, this game seems to be the flop of the series for me so far. Don't get me wrong, EA Skate and EA Skate 2 has their own share of ups and downs, but what makes 3 stand out is that it solely focuses its aspect of gameplay on its online capabilities.
Normally, I wouldn't have any problem with this. I mean, now I can complete the campaign with a friend, too? That sounds pretty kickass! However, this concept is hindered by one fatal flaw - not very many people will be willing enough to play online with you. This may seem like an entirely opinion-based statement, but I assure you, throughout my playing of this game, a grand total of ZERO of my friends on Live wanted to play with me, whether it be story-based or just plain messing around. I even tried going online and asking some random people to join my team and play with me, and that didn't work, either.
Let's face it; a large percentage of this game's players seem to have no clue that this is a team-based game. Now, you might think, "Oh, well, I don't need friends to beat this game. I can do it all by myself." However, you'll soon find out that the game has 2 separate story modes, one for online and one for offline.
You see, the offline aspects of the game are beaten much like Skate 2 - you progress through the story as you complete challenges and nail gaps. However, online aspects are totally different - you have to maintain a steady stream of videos, custom parks, photos, and other user-created content so you and your team can gain board sales online. As mentioned, this often goes back to what I first said - not a lot of people will be willing enough to join your team.
But enough about the biggest problem, let's focus on one of the titular additions to this game - the park editor. The park editor in Skate 3 is a lot like the park editor in the Tony Hawk's series, however, it is a LOT more in depth. Creating half-pipes, mega ramps, and fun boxes is easy as cake with the piece-by-piece building system. Players can really be pushed to their imaginations with the oh-so-plentiful amount of pieces and scenery included within the game. It's basically the LittleBigPlanet of skating games.
Other than that and a couple of new tricks such as the Darkslide, there's not much difference from this game to Skate 2, other than the fact that it has a brand new, wide-open area to explore - Port Carverton. For anybody who felt that San Vanelona was lacking in the gap department (and believe me, it wasn't), they'll find a great surprise with Port Carverton, which has a massive amount of gaps, downhill sessions and cool things to skate. To top it off, there is also the new Object Dropper, which allows the player to literally pull objects out of thin air and create sick new lines to skate, or even get on top of rooftops and other structures.
In conclusion, I can't say much about Skate 3 that hasn't been said about Skate 2, but I can say that if you are a Skate fan like me, you definitely won't want to miss out on it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some pedestrians to whack with my skateboard. Tally ho!
