Skate (PS3)

Skate reinvents your wheels.
2/18/2008 12:00 AM | 2 Comments | Page 2 of 3

While Skate gives you the ability to bang out these tricks, what it doesn't let you do is a mid-air 900 into a manual into a 75-foot grind into a 360 grab over a gap between two eight-story buildings. This is far more of a sim than Tony Hawk was -- or ever will be. If you're into over-the-top physics-bending tricking, then Skate may leave you a bit cold, but if you've always dreamed of being able to put together more realistic-looking runs -- that are just as demanding on the thumbs as any Hawk challenge -- it'll be worth dealing with the game's learning curve.

And, happily if you're holding a Sixaxis in your hands, the controls will help lessen the curve. I found the controls on the PlayStation 3 to be a tad tighter than they were on the Xbox 360 -- especially the left stick. If you're a fan of the visceral thrill of feeling a vibration every time you smash your head on the pavement, though, the PS3 game will leave you wanting.

The lack of a vibrating controller to simulate physical trauma isn't the game's only issue, though. The imaginary city of San Vanelona, which appears to have a higher per-capita population of skaters than any other place in the world, is enormous. It's an open-ended place that's so big, it has a subway system that lets you ride, as opposed to skate, from place to place. On the PS3, though, some of the environs -- even when there wasn't a whole lot going on on-screen -- suffered from a noticeable drop in frame rate. I might have expected this in some of the busier areas, but it seemed to be arbitrary. 360 owners somehow caught a break here, as I found very little slowdown in that version.

While the video side of the game takes a hit due to some slowdown, there's absolutely nothing wrong with the audio side. While the ambient sounds of the streets of San Vanelona give the game a real-world feel, it's the absolute killer soundtrack that seals the deal. If you're not into a mix that includes everything from Booker T. & the MGs to David Bowie to Black Flag to The Sex Pistols, I don't want to hang with you.

When you get tired of leaving parts of your skin on the pavement by yourself, Skate offers some quality multiplay. Offline, you can take on up to three buddies in either a game of H-O-R-S-E or see who can dominate an area in the Spot Battle mode. Online, things are just as intense, but some graphics glitches can suck some of the fun out of things. While visually you may be skating fine, those around you can come across as choppy. It didn't happen all of the time, and I found it occurred equally in both the PS3 and 360 games.

The folks at Black Box realized they'd have some enormous Vans to fill if they were going to become the top dog of skateboarding games. But they seem to be wearing them well. Instead of just trying to come out with a better Tony Hawk, they turned the skate genre on its ear with a whole new take on how we virtually do things that in real life would snap our ankles like twigs. If you're willing to unlearn eight years of hard-wired kickflips and nollies, you will be rewarded.