Review :: Skate 3

When the original Skate debuted in 2007, it changed skateboarding videogames forever. It’s innovative control scheme and more grounded environments left Activision and Tony Hawk eating their dust. Skate 2 was released last year and added a ton of improvements over the original. Now, just 18 months after the release of Skate 2, we have Skate 3. How much has changed? Not a lot.

Don’t let that discourage you, Skate 3 definitely has some great, new additions for fans of franchise. However, with just 18 months between releases, I can’t say that it’s worthy of a full retail release. The first thing you’ll notice is that this looks a whole lot like Skate 2. There’s very little to differentiate the two, graphically. This isn’t a problem, Skate 2 still looks really good. If you’re expecting something mind-blowingly different, you’re going to be disappointed. The environment is completely different. San Vanelona is gone, replaced by Port Carverton. Whilst the two are reminiscent of one another, Port Carverton is definitely a lot less realistic. Rather than having a big city environment, with cool places to skate, Black Box have crafted a bunch of cool environments, that aren’t as true-to-life as I’d like. In fact, I found the differing environments a little mismatched and often wished I was back in San Vanelona. That’s not to say Black Box didn’t achieve their goal, Port Carverton’s environments are definitely fun, but the original sense of realism has gotten a little lost in the changeover.

If you’ve played a Skate game before, you’ll be immediately familiar with the controls. The ‘Flick It’ system is back and a little more nuanced than in previous games. I definitely felt like I had more control over my character and the tricks I wanted to pull off. It still has the little niggles that have plagued the two previous games. In short, if you didn’t like it before, you won’t like it now. It’s not all right stick flicking though, like last year there’s been some more button-based control added into the mix. Players now have the ability to ‘Darkslide’ when grinding by tapping R1. Nothing huge, but another little move skaters will enjoy having at their disposal.

Another thing fans will be familiar with is the campaign mode. The usual cast of characters are back alongside a few new ones. Those who were sick of Reda talking every five minutes in Skate 2 will be happy to know he’s been replaced with, the pretty silent, Shingo (yes, the very same). Reda still crops up every once in a while, but he’s a back office guy now. He’s the brains and the money behind your new company. That’s the premise for this year’s game. You are pretty damn successful now and have gone into business with Reda, creating a skateboarding label and putting together a crew.

You progress through the story and get people to join your new team by selling boards. The more you sell the more promotion you get and the more people you can add to the team. You sell boards by completing various challenges. The harder the challenge, the more boards you sell. Sounds easy, right? Well, actually, it is. You can reach the 1million board goal pretty quickly if you’re good and that isn’t helped by the fast travel system.

I know open world games need some kind of fast travel system, but when you’ve got the whole city of Port Carverton to skate in and the option to fast travel to your next challenge through the menus laziness will get the better of you. Well, it did me anyway. This meant burning through challenges was a doddle and I felt it took away from the experience. A fast travel system is necessary but, in order to not hinder the experience, it should’ve been a little more subtle.

With multiplayer being the big focus this time around, the online suite of Skate 3 has been much improved. Now players have the option to create a skate team with their online friends, compete in different events and, most importantly, complete any challenge in the main campaign cooperatively. This does work really well. Those that played last years game will notice a few differences, but on the whole it’s the same. Another big feature is the games other online implemented features. Whilst skating the streets of Port Carverton, you’ll recognise some familiar faces. Your Skate 3-playing friends’ characters will join you as AI characters in the game. Also, their specific team billboards, stickers and posters will be dotted around too. These don’t affect gameplay for the most part, but are definitely cool additions that make you feel like you’re skating in a populated city. However, with all of this integration, one can only think back to Criterion’s community features on Burnout: Paradise and how well a system like that would be.

This is especially telling when it comes to the park creator and Skate.Reel features. Like Burnout, upon entering the game players are greeted with a host of new content (stuff like photos, videos and skate parks) uploaded by their friends that you can rate and download. However, these features didn’t really feel that fleshed out. It’s been updated since last year, but not to the extent many fans will have wanted. As for the park creator, you can create some pretty complex stuff. However, there’s a bit of a learning curve to this and, like with any creation system, a lot of time and effort has to be put in to get something worth using. Simplicity is key with things like this. Simplicity is the one feature this appears to be missing.

Overall, Skate 3 is a game that will appease the audience that loved the previous two games. If you played Skate 2, don’t be expecting a massive change. However, it’s big enough to warrant a full price game. Those who haven’t played a Skate game before need not worry. The learning curve isn’t huge and this is definitely the best of the three. Even with all the added features, it shouldn’t be too hard to grasp.

8.3/10

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