Stepping up to challenge Activision’s monopoly on the skating game market (a one horse race, really) media giants Electronic Arts have just released the aptly named Skate on the Xbox 360 (21st Sept) and Skate on the Playstation 3 (25th Sept).
The developers at EA Black Box wanted to give skaters just what they’ve been desperately waiting for: a truly innovative and intuitive skating experience that recreates the actual feeling of being on a skateboard better than any game ever made. In SKATE, gamers will find a huge virtual city called San Vanelona (apparently a blend of San Francisco, Vancouver, and Barcelona) that serves as a wide-open skater playground, encouraging exploration and freeform open-ended gameplay.
The city of San Vanelona however is far from just a glorified skate park - meaning you won’t be seeing those obvious ramps, lips and rails conveniently peppered all over the place. In this game you must seek out challenges and create your own skating experience - or, if you want to get right into the action, just find the nearest skate park!
If you’re a skateboard-game fan, but haven’t already played the Skate demo, we’ll start by saying that, with regard to the controls, you can forget everything you might have already learned in the Tony Hawk games. EA has opted for a totally different control system, with the gamer using both of the thumb-sticks to perform what could be considered more intuitive and natural actions, similar to the controls in the Tiger Woods and Fight Night series. For example, to flip your board up in an “ollie,” you would pull back on the right stick to crouch and then quickly push it forward to flick the board up and off the ground. Skaters will quickly pickup on this action as it mimics the flow and feel of a real-life ollie!
To find out more about the hottest skate title to come along in years, you should check out the Skate Intro Movie (windows media player) and watch this awesome official demo
360 Flip to Tailslide - no problem!
XBOX360 Skate is currently rating an average of 9.2 at TeamXBOX and 8.9 at GameSpot
The PS3 release is rating from 8.8 at IGN to a Perfect 10.0 at GameSpot!
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