Skate 2 Review

Skate 2, by Electronic Arts, is available on Xbox 360 and PS3. Skate 2 follows on the hugely successful heels of the first Skate game, and has the same feel but with more details, better graphics, and more precise controls. In short, I loved playing it. There were a few little things here and there that were weird, which I'll cover later, but in short I would totally recommend this game to anyone looking for a great skateboarding video game. Of course, there's not much else out there right now for competition, but that doesn't mean that Skate 2 is a last resort. It's a great game, and I recommend it!

Skate 2 starts out with a VERY cool scene of you, as a mysterious guy in a prison, being led out of solitary confinement. It's your release day, and as the guard escorts you out, you'll pass by all of the pro skaters in the game. Danny Way is the prison guard walking you out. Rob Dyrdek is pumping iron in the courtyard, while Big Black plays patty cake (yeah, it's funny) and Terry Kennedy throws dice. Eric Koston escapes through a manhole. Ryan Smith electrocutes himself, while Jerry Hsu stares at a guy in a panda suit (just like the suits in the Jackass movie). Chris Haslam is on the cover of a Beard Fancy magazine. The intro is VERY well made!

The story for Skate 2 goes something like this: while you've been in prison, the San Vanelona (the city from the first Skate game) has come under the thumb of Mongocorp. Handrails and ledges all over town have been skate-proofed, and there are guards standing around who want to beat you up and take your money.

As you start the game, you can go through a little tutorial where you are walked through making a Sponsor-Me tape. This teaches you the basics of the controls of the game. They have pro skaters explaining most of them, and it's all couched within the story of everyone getting to know you again since you've been in prison.

Right after the intro video, you get to customize your skater. You can be a boy or girl, and pick from all kinds of other details. There are piles of clothes and skateboards, and as you earn money you can change up even more.

Skate 2 runs VERY similarly to the original Skate game. Which, in my opinion, is a good thing! The controls are very intuitive and natural. You hold down on the right stick to crouch, flick it up to ollie, and other directions to do other tricks. The triggers are used to tweak, and you can spin in the air. Grinds are all dependent on where you are facing as you land on the rail or ledge. It's all fairly simple, but it's TOUGH to master! Skate 2 is a lot more about finesse, timing and fine controller motions, as opposed to pressing buttons in order to make combos.

One goofy thing about the controls is how you'll do a trick, but not the one you were aiming for. You'll go for a kickflip, and just ollie instead. Or Shuvit. It takes a while to learn, but I really did like these problems, as opposed to the old Tony Hawk button-mashing combos, where you failed if you didn't hit everything in the right order, and fast enough.

As you skate around San Vanelona (after you've completed your Sponsor Me tape), you will see icons all over the city that mark different challenges that you can do. There are races, photo opportunities, places you can re-arrange things to do cool new tricks, games of SKATE to earn money, and more. Plus, just falling has it's bonuses - you can earn points for the harshest bails!

Here's a list of the pro skaters featured in Skate 2:

Mark Appleyard, Braydon Szafranski, Mark Gonzales, Lucas Puig, John Cardiel, Jason Dill, Mike Carroll, Ali Boulala, PJ Ladd, Marc Johnson, Chris Cole, Rob Dyrdek, Dennis Busenitz, Jake Brown, John Rattray, Paul Rodriguez, Jerry Hsu, Alex Chalmers, Terry Kennedy, Pat Duffy, Ryan Smith, Darren Navarrette, Colin McKay, Chris Haslam, Ryan Gallant, Danny Way, Eric Koston, and Ray Barbee.

Skate 2 Multiplayer Play

At any point, you can hop online and skate around the city with other online people. Unfortunately, since I got the game early for this review, I was skating in a ghost town. But the idea looks cool! You can set up online challenges, or you can skate around with friends joining in. It's a cool concept.

Personally, I was more excited about Party Play! You can play three different games with up to four people, all on one game machine on one TV! The games are all turn-based, but fun. Spot Battle is a game where you try and get the most points on a certain spot, taking turns. SKATE is the age-old game, similar to HORSE, where you take turns trying to land the same trick your buddy just pulled off. And Hall of Meat is where you take turns trying to get the hugest, harshest bail you can - smacking into walls, off cliffs, through obstacles ... it's good fun.

I really do like this game, and I'm looking forward to playing it a ton more. There were only a few little things that I got irritated with:

while on a challenge, when you mess up and the challenge restarts, I think it takes too long. You have to say twice that you want to re-try the challenge (which seems weird), and then there's a load screen for a sec, and THEN it counts down from 3 to 0. It's a very minor thing, but when you keep messing up over and over on one little thing, and you just want to re-start, you should be able to do it quickly! The game DOES have a sweet feature where you can set a spot up where, with a quick press of a button, you can zip back there to try again. But not during challenges.

Another lame feature is the game access code on the back of the instructions. It implies you'll get cheat codes and hints - you get a little paragraph emailed to you that says that there are obstacles hidden around the map. The game actually tells you this earlier. They just wanted your info...

And that's it. Those are my two huge complaints. The rest of the game is GREAT! Well built and polished, fun and flexible! You can do whatever you want, and there is a LOT available! It has great replay value with friends, both online and off, and is actually fairly clean (I didn't notice any cussing or lewdness).

It's very easy for me to recommend this game - I like it, and I think most skaters and gamers will like it too. Check out the Skate 2 Photo Gallery, and feel free to post your own review, and say what you think!