With no Tony Hawk this year, Skate 2 is the only park in town and thankfully it's a fun ride.
The industry is changing ever so slowly. Economy is rocky, so game buying is now a decision instead of a passion for some, the Wii continues to sell like mad even though a majority of its titles are sub par at best, and bite sized fun games like racing and skateboarding titles have been converted into the music genre such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero. The need for skateboarding titles seems to be very low as the ever popular Tony Hawk series not only was a no show this year, but the team behind it has bowed out of producing a new one. Thankfully for those of us who love to shred, Black Box and EA have followed up their popular, yet realistic skateboarding franchise known as Skate with... well Skate 2.
While Skate 2 isn't going to change the minds of gamers who have grown accustom to the pick up and play ease of the Tony Hawk series to the realism that is found in Skate, those who have the game play mechanics down will be happy with this sequel. It is true that the game does look and feel very similar to the first Skate, but like any good sequel it isn't about reinventing the wheel, it's about delivering more options, bigger and better environments, and tighter controls and game play, without wrecking what gamers loved about the first one. Skate 2 does just that, gives you basically a larger scaled version of Skate without mucking up what made it popular in the first place.
Visually gamers who loved the look of the spinning deck under your feet and gruesome bails will further more love what Skate 2 does this year. Gone are glitchy clipping issues and most framerate problems, and gone are tiny claustrophobic areas as you are welcomed to a new opened world with tons of places to skate, grind, and ollie over. The presentation has also been stepped up with great slow down effects, photo modes, and even a silly FMV opening that takes some cues from many famous movie moments. The likeness capturing of the real skaters are a mix between looking spot on, to looking weird... even for them! Lighting, textures, and total scope of the game has been upped a notch to appease even the hard core graphics whore. Oh and did I mention rag doll physics?
The audio does a fine job of bringing the game to life with realistic sound effects, responsive environmental ambient effects, funny voice over work, and a decent music selection. It is actually the music selection that I feel EA could have really gone further out to reach better bands and licenses. Especially since EA does have to well spring of cash to afford a great sound track, it was sad to see not only a lacking in great bands, but a lack in number of songs to hear as well. Thankfully, I have my handy dandy custom soundtrack feature to keep me rockin out.
Gameplay feels very comparable to the first game. You do all your trick moves with the flick of the right analog stick. Add flare such as grabs, turns, and flips by using other button combos while in the air. Gain speed and momentum with the A button, and even mark your starting point at the top of trick you want to perform to reset yourself after a nasty bail. The game is a bit more forgiving this time around when it comes to collision detection of rails you grind or things to grab, but the "Street Fighter" like controls for simple things like just doing an ollie may be too much for gamers who want their control scheme simplified. You also have the ability to get off your board if you want to attempt a sick, unheard of new trick. When it is all said and done, don't expect too much in the way of innovation with the controls as they really haven't been altered to any great degree. If you weren't a fan of the first game's control scheme, you may want to ride another half pipe unless you are willing to deal with the game's learning curve.
There is a wide variety of modes to explore, so Skate 2 definitely ups the ante on gameplay hours over the previous effort. You have a deep and satisfying career mode, where the story is lame, but the scale of things to do and see is not. As a matter of fact, if you really want to get good at this game, the developers were nice enough to insert all the tutorials for the game as you reach a new style of game play or trick maneuver. It is here where you will earn cash, gear, locals, sponsors, and some sick scores. This is no doubt the meat of the game, but not the only thing to do in Skate 2. Just want to dive in and just skate about, there is a nice freestyle mode for those who just wanna drop their boards and ride. Three fun, yet shallow party games will entertain gamers who are playing in the same room together, with the best being the hall of meat, where you try to thrash your skater as much as possible, the sicker the spill, the bigger the score. Lastly, you have online play that will allow you to invite friends, create challenges, and even view show off your best skating displays to friends across the world.
While I'll admit that I still prefer the simplistic and ease of the Tony Hawk series, I did manage to shred some of my content for this series and really appreciate what it had to offer in terms of sheer love for the sport. There will still be many gamers who will turn a blind eye to Skate 2 for the same reason, but to be honest you will be doing yourself a disservice by omitting a great game from your library. Normally I don't believe there is room for two games within such a similar genre, but with Tony Hawk out of the picture, at least for this year, Skate 2 is not only a great alternative for the Tony Hawk fan, but a great game in its own right. You just have to have a bit more patience is all. A comparison would be asking a Tekken fan to love Virtua Fighter; Both games are great, but one takes a more serious approach to the genre which will eliminate a good portion of casual fans who don't want to learn the intricacies of the game. In the end, Skate 2 is a must buy for fans of the first, and a give it a try for fans of Tony Hawk. Love it or hate it, it's the only game in town.
