skate.

Set in a vast, vibrant, sunny skater paradise that never rains, snows, thunders, or, even has nightfall, Skate takes away the gimmicky cities in past skateboard games (can you guess which?), that always somehow seem to feature perfectly placed ramps in random places, and brings a new, exciting edge into skating games: realism.

Skate is the 'simulation' to Tony Hawk's 'arcade' style, that throws away the silliness, and smacks you in the face with a harsh dose of reality. Gone are the days of 80,000 point combos, and in are the days of being hopeful to land a kickflip into a grind. With this change, also brings a good deal of satisfaction on landing such things, and makes landing long lines and impressive air even more rewarding. But of course, not landing your tricks will introduce you to the painful looking ragdoll physics, which can make every wipeout something to laugh or cringe at.

The controls are something that halt a new player instantly. Being a skateboard game, anyone who's ever played a skateboard game before this know it down pat, with buttons being the main use. Skate throws out all you ever knew about skateboarding controls, and introduces an innovative new way to play; the analog stick. Strange, new and awkward at first, repeated playing will warm you up to it, and you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. It's a dynamic system, of course not without its flaws, but a very interesting take on controls.

The graphics follow the next-gen formula of gritty but vibrant, dirty but real. The camera is awkward at first, but 30 minutes into the game, and you're already used to it. Sound is top notch, and bails are bone crunching.

This is one of those games that deserves it's place in your library. It's just something that's very hard to get sick of, and being such a massive game, it'll take you months to even get a taste of what can fully be unlocked and explored in this game.