Skate 1.75
Skate 1 radically reinvented the skateboarding genre in video games, causing Skate 2 to have a lot of high hopes and in some places it succeeds but in others it falters.
Although I have only played a little bit of Skate and probably 5 hours worth of the first demo, Skate 2 doesn't really feel like a full-pledged sequel more like an expansion but a very good one at that. It adds a ton of new tricks, such as fingerflips, handplants, and footplants, skitching, and the ability to move objects around to create your own spot. The single player is very intriguing although the story is basically a joke. Throughout the course of the game pros, such as Danny Way, will give you challenges to complete and they take you across the city of San Vanelona and to some gnarly set-pieces. However, throughout my playtime in the game I encountered various glitches most frequently when off the board, another addition to the first game. Although going off the board provides ease of use going up stairs and more accessibility, strange glitches and finicky controls held back its full potential for the player. Also, to follow the story-line it is required for the player to purchase property and skateparks, and provides a significant amount of more skateable terrain and such. Some other hinderances in Skate 2 include the high precision to execute some tricks and slight differences between tricks which may lead to frustration. The overall city of San Vanelona is pretty gigantic and gives you plenty of stairs benches, ramps, quarter pipes, half pipes, full pipes, rails, and stairs to skate one.
The online component is simllar to EA's other games like Burnout Paradise, in that there are different challenges for a group of players to complete. The matchmaking includes modes such as SKATE, freeskate,race, and Best Trick, nut did not hold my interest for too long.
The replay editor in Skate 2 provides a great way to show the community all the crazy stuff you can pull off. The video editor is very intuitive and easy to use and is very quick when uploading to EA's site.
Overall, Skate 2 is a fantastic game but feels more like an expansion due to glitches and finicky controls.
