Skate 3
polycounter lvl 10
Does anyone else play the Skate games at all? I think they're probably some of my favourite 'pick up and play' games of the last few years. The demo for Skate 3 is out and it's pretty darn good fun. Admittedly they've not added a whole lot in terms of tricks - the addition of darkslides is awesome - but the trick list is pretty exhaustive anyway. I really do think the control system is one of the best devised so far. It's really intuitive and flexible. It looks like they've cleaned the art up quite a lot compared to the previous games too. So yeah, I really like these games and I recommend trying the demo if you've not played Skate before.
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but yes, definitely one of my favourite party games with friends.
first SKATE....still the best.
Skate 2 is the only game I still play at least once a week with some friends on the couch, and it is over a year old now!
I really like the Skate3 demo so far, its so much easier to get up/off you board and walk around now, and I cant wait to try out the new city.
The only thing I didnt like about the S3 demo is that a lot of the environments looked a lot more clean(in the boring way) and unrealistic than in S2. In skate2 the concrete parks had wear, tear, mud, water marks and graffiti, but in the skate3 demo every concrete part is the same repeating 'clean' texture. Its like you're skating around the portal labs(the aperture science one).
Anyway, If you have never played any of the skate games, you should really try it out, the control scheme is one of its kind(you hardly use buttons, the sticks control your weight and direction so to jumo you have to pull down and up for instance)!
I always tend to get the 'GTA' effect when I play though, and spend an hour just trying to nail a perfect grind or gap or something when I'm planning to do a couple of the career challenges.
I like how it's fundamentally the same game too, yes they could fix stuff but at least they don't go all Tony Hawk. Although, there's still time for that, IIRC Tony Hawk was good up until number 3
The replay editor is cool too, also I love choosing the photo's for the magazine shots and adding the post effect, then seeing it cropped into the magazine... little touches like that are nice.
Some more park creation tools. In fact I think they added a whole park creator as well as the 'move environment bits around the game world' from Skate 2.
Darkslides, as mentioned above work really well.
I'm not 100% sure if hardcore mode is new, I think it is though, basically heavier physics meaning you really have to nail the tricks timing wise otherwise you bail.
There's two cameras too, the usual close low cam and a more TH style 3rd person, that was in Skate2 (maybe even 1) as well but it seems to be slightly nicer this time round.
It also seems like Reda is gone, which is a shame since he was pretty funny in the first two.
I just really wanna see a new snowboarding game of the same quality. One with the Skate control system would be cool, but a new SSX would be nicer!
I think there was 2 camera modes in skate 2, nice to hear the camera is a bit better, it still got funky in skate 2.
I want a new ssx game, too.
Might have to get a ps3/360 soon.
I want someone to bring back BMX games! I'd love to have a BMX game where you could do that whole dave mirra experience (but more realistic) BUT also add the ability to do downhill BMX racing.
But I digress!
I think the University section in the demo is particularly clean and expansive (some of the areas feel a little TOO spacious). I think that the downtown and industrial areas will have more dirt and clutter. That's what I'm hoping, anyway.
I'm really glad they sorted out the on-foot controls, too. It was really unresponsive in the first game but now it's pretty speedy and fluid.
I was trying to think about how they could improve the game further and the only major thing I could think of was a day/night cycle so that you could sneak into guarded spots at night and set up spotlights/use dv cameras with lights on etc. to get the footage. Would be pretty cool, I think.
-harder to build up speed
-harder to do specific tricks. if you want to do a blunt slide or something, you gotta nail it dead on.
-doing a flip trick on a rail? good luck....
-higher ollies are harder to do
-bailing is much easier
basically, all the physics are better/more realistic. you cant do huge combos anymore. so points are way harder to come by.
they also added
the darkslide
the underflip
skatepark creator (i think thats new? before you could just drop items into game? iirc)
improved the hall of meat. you can now get a parachute effect, and instead of going to the broken bone screen, it shows the broken bones on your game character like an x-ray.
better video replay stuff
getting on and off your board is WAY smoother
someone mentioned the textures not being as dirty. skate 2 was in a run down version of the skate 1. not sure where this one takes place, but you gotta remember, the demo is just one smalllll area.
only thing i wish they would fix is when you go up to grind certain ledges, you go into wall ride mode. bugs the hell outta me.
Though, from the sounds of it, this will be the last skate game. seems like almost all of blackbox (at least, the skate team), is no more. but who knows with EA
have they fixed the off board stuff in the new skate, in skate 2 it was pretty terrible, it was like Keanu Reeves the game lol, love skate games though, cant believe tony hawk games commiting suicide recently, what ever happend to tony hawks 2, I lost years playing that back in the day and now what the fudge thay doing!!!!!!
Hardcore is alright. The learning curve to hit rails shot up, but you get used to it. Yeah trying to flip trick off a grind is very hard, usually can pull it off at the end of a rail. Wish you could do more with the darkslide, IE what Rodney Mullen does.
You stated you already have a 360. Your brother hasn't paid you for it, thus it's still yours so get it back.
I think this game would benefit greatly with Natural Motion Euphoria physics. The bails would look 100 times nastier.
Darkslides work well, i think thats the only addition with tricks yea? I could have sworn that i heard you could do some flatland freestyle Rodney Mullen stuff.
Skate as a series just seems to be stalling imo, seems they can't really do much more with it. Black Box should develop a snowboarding title next time because there's no good ones out there. I miss Amped 2 =(
I like how in skate 2 they added more falls (you don't always fall like a rag doll, sometimes you walk away from a bail, but it seems they didn't add/change much of that).
but i never went for skate 2, and i dont intend to go for skate 3.
its not the type of games i'm down to buy annually unless each step has major changes.
what's next? confetti ? [fifa world cup feature-list reference]
that said, they are real good games.
just not at the rate of 60$ a year.
and... AGAIN.... they added not only the darkslide, but the underflip as well.
there definitely wont be another one next year though, so no worries there, boys.
I kind of wish they'd put casper slides in as well as darkslides, but maybe there are no button/stick combinations left!
Thrasher FTW. Most underrated skateboarding game ever.
This glitch works and is great to reach those spots you just barely cant get to in the demo! This should keep us all busy until the game releases in 2-3 weeks
ive been playing so much since tuesday. up to 800,000 boards sold. some of the challenges are pretty damn tough on hardcore mode. but damn is it fun! cant wait to finish the story and dabble in the park editor!
if you`re playing on xbox, my gamer tag is Anim8TheWeak
Gonna go pick it up tomorrow when it's released here in the UK.
I tried to grab it early from my local Blockbuster tonight but they weren't having any of it.