Some games these days pay way too much attention to realism. In fact, this fanatical devotion to making them staggeringly close to real life is not only a paradox in itself, but also counter-intuitive to the very reason we play games in the first place. This usually means that while worrying about physics engines and bump mapping and whether or not the female protagonist’s breasts jiggle about in accordance with Newton’s various Laws, game developers often forget that it’s fun, escapism and a complete lack of reality that make us want to pick up the controller.
Skate 2 treads this fine line as precisely as an inebriated skater would the road markings after being caught by the cops while sessioning some illegal spot. But, even though it trips up here and there, gets confused on occasion and induces vomiting at the most inconvenient times, it still knows how to rip up a half-pipe, grind rails longer than Gisele’s legs and pull off tricks that not even Tony Hawk has even heard of.
Over the last few years, the Tony Hawk series reinvented (if not actually invented) the skateboarding game. It was simple and easy for anyone to pick up, making it accessible to casual gamers and hardcore skaters alike. Ironically though, as Neversoft pumped out more and more versions of the popular franchise they neglected to try to reinvent it, leaving fans with decent games that sadly didn’t feel very fresh.
Enter Skate, a title from the evil EA stable that completely swiped the monopoly from Neversoft and no doubt caused Mr Hawk to have one serious financial wipeout. The title focused on realism and sported ‘better’ controls, tougher challenges and a less diluted skating experience, and Skate 2 builds on this fairly successful formula (a bit) by expanding on what made the first game so, uh, gnarly.
It’s no surprise that the story in Skate 2 is complete rubbish. After being released from prison our unnamed hero returns to New San Vanelona to find it completely redesigned and likewise policed by the Mongocorp Corporation, a stuffy bunch who don’t like skaters much and make their security officers dress like unfashionable car guards.
Armed only with a skateboard and a remarkably large wardrobe, aforementioned unnamed hero must retake the city back for the skaters, topple the maniacal governing corporation and try not to end up on the wrong end of Bubba in prison again.
The career mode is fairly loose, allowing gamers to progress through the story ‘missions’ or try a variety of optional goals as they see fit. There are some wicked downhill races and big air tasks to complete, but if you played Skate (1), you’ve pretty much played Skate 2 in this regard.
New trick additions to this shred-fest include popular moves like handplants and hippy jumps, but apart from having to execute these during specific goals there’s really not much use for them. Most high score runs and competitions can be conquered using basic trick combos, which is disappointing since the game features more moves than there are slang words for ‘rad’ in an average skater’s vocabulary.
There’s a new ‘on foot’ feature too, allowing gamers to jump off their virtual boards and move around as nature intended. Items in the world like dumpsters and benches can also be dragged and placed in a new location to set up spots, which in theory makes the city an infinitely large and customizable skate park. However, this is poorly implemented and feels like a lame modification of the skateboard’s controls as moving the character around makes it seem like he has the motor skills of a someone that’s clearly bashed his head on concrete more than once.
In fact, it’s so much of a frustration that most players will simply avoid the arduous task altogether. There are also some suspect glitches that crop up when such skate park fung shui is attempted: in one situation (actually the very first time we were required to move stuff around), a kicker had to be placed in front of an elevated platform which we were then instructed to land on. Being on the wrong end of the sharp learning curve as we were, we completely missed the obstacle and landed beside it, although the game registered the goal as complete. Overall, this new idea seems like it needs some work before it becomes anything worthwhile.
The main control system remains the same from the first game, with the right stick controlling the majority of the board’s actions. This system does take some getting used to, especially if players are used to the single button Ollie action found in the Tony Hawk series: in this case, an Ollie is performed by pushing down on the stick, waiting for a second and then flicking it up. Also, by flicking it in different directions or in a circle, players can perform kickflips, pop shuvits or, more often than not, a spectacular faceplant into the pavement. With practice though the controls eventually become second nature, making it very satisfying and exciting when a difficult combo is finally pulled off.
Other than the learning curve (which is steep enough to make a Tibetan mountain goat nervous) there are very few other issues with Skate 2. Pedestrians sometimes bump various bits of scenery and obstacles which the player then has to either move or avoid, which is tedious when it blocks a crucial rail or kicker. If this happens during a goal, the player has to quit, move the obstruction, and then resume the goal. Not very conducive to smooth gameplay at all, especially considering the awkward foot controls.
Even though there are some letdowns to the game, the overall experience is, quite simply, a hell of a lot of fun, and so bizarrely addictive that it’s hard to fault otherwise. The movements of the characters are fluid and realistic, so much so that a bone-shattering bail or pelvis-crunching fall actually made us cringe and grab our man-bits in horror. Some textures are chunkier than the average skate shoe, but there’s almost no time to notice them with the abundance of goals and achievements on every corner.
The sound is particularly impressive and very immersive, especially the crunchy noises made when colliding with a car or one of those unpredictable lampposts. The music selection is a tad on the mild side, favouring more rock and rap than traditional skate punk, but it too is often just background noise compared to demanding skate mechanics and challenging goals.
Overall, Skate 2 is proof that you really can teach an old skater new tricks. It’s not an enormous upgrade on the first Skate, and it isn’t without its frustrating faults, but it nonetheless still manages to provide potent competition to the Hawk empire. While the line between hyper-realism and pure gaming enjoyment gets a little hazy at times, the final package is much like a reality TV show: you know the whole thing is fake even though it tries so hard to mimic reality, but it has that weird addictive quality that keeps you coming back even though you know you’ve seen most of it before.
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