Quote:
Originally Posted by BabeSlayer
great review panda keep feeding us stuff like that  .
As for the request for a skate review, i have a few i'm already working on and Skate is a game thats not really up my ally i hope someone else can get around to getting that one for you. I'd like a review on skate that compares it to its obvious competitor |
I had just made one yesterday not very long though. Comments woud be appreciated.
I had also uploaded this review to Gamefaqs.
Tony Hawks has had hardly any competition in video game skating, as most skating games are rare. So Tony Hawks, happily skating along with its arcade joy with nothing in its way. Until now.
EA have now entered the world of skating Video Games. With there new game skate. This is no “Rip-off” of the Tony Hawk series. This brings a fresh start to a skating game, which is needed.
Story: 5 /10
Ok, there isn't a great deal of depth in the story. It starts out with you, being in a accident and having to work your way back up the ranks. You do this by getting coverage in the two skateboarding mags; Skateboard Mag and Thrasher. You do this through film challenges, photo challenges, death racing and specific tasks. Along the way you meet pro's who help you get sponsors, which ultimately give you more cash to spend. That's about it. Not much there, but reasonable.
Graphics: 9.5/ 10
The graphics in skate. Are just mind-blowing. It's a fairly large city, and it looks wonderful. Everything seems to scale. Your created character's expressions look nice and the clothes are detailed, move in time with what's going on. Overall your character moves and looks very nice. Although, the character models around you are repeated frequently. This sort of detracts from the overall look. The floor in different sections look like they should. Concrete has little dips and bumps in it, while marble is smooth and shines. The pro's look very similar to there real life counterparts. EA has produced a very lively, beautiful city. That's a pleasure to skate in.
Sound: 8/10
If it were a rating on just sound effects alone, this would be a 10, for sure. Everything sounds very realistic, the board makes different noises on different terrain. If a car passed by it would make a noise as it would in life. When you pick up speed sometimes the wheels become louder. When you perform an Ollie it makes a very nice “Ka-plunk” noise, as you take off and land it. If you kick flip, you can here it spin in the air. it's a very engrossing experience. But, the reason this is an 8/10, is because of the music. Its got some very nice soundtracks in it. But the same song is always repeated. But most of the time, there is no music at all. Only the sound of moving traffic. It detracts from the gaming experience on a whole.
Game play: 8.5/10
This is where the game out stands, and where its minor flaws are. The games control system really sets it apart from most sport titles. It has a control method similar to Fight Nights right analogue stick control. You feel alienated at first but soon get accustomed. You use the right analogue stick to perform all your tricks. To Ollie, you pull it back, and quickly push it forward. If you want to perform a flip trick, you push it down, and push it upwards but slightly to the left or right. Once you get used to this new control system, you wont want to mash buttons to perform 1,000,000 combo's. But the biggest flaw for some, is the camera angle. You are focused behind the character, down by his feet. You are always remained in this view. This sometimes blocks your view of what is in front of you. So you might get hit by cars when performing a line, this can be very annoying. It makes trying to hop onto a rail a pain sometimes as well, but if you an adjust to this view, its fine. This is a much more realistic skating game. You can jump of a 40 foot ramp and land on flat ground without falling. You cant fly 6ft in the air after one push up the half pipe. You are sometimes restrained by this. So? There is plenty of rewards this way of skating offers you. Instead of doing a 1,000,000 combo, you spend half an hour trying to perfect one spot. Finding out how to do the best tricks on one grind rail, or experimenting on ramps. Not to mention the very large city, there are plenty of great spots to experiment on. This is a very, very enjoyable game for skating fans.
Replay ability: 8/10
If skate's large city wont impress, which it should, with all the hidden spots, and great unlock able characters. Then maybe the Live will. There are a couple of modes. S.K.A.T.E (Think H.O.R.S.E), Spot Battle (Get the most point in one spot) or Death Racing ( Downhill jam). These modes are good, but sometimes, may get repetitive. The game itself takes around 15+ hours to complete. But if that wont cut the chase, then Live will do nicely.
Final Words:
+ Great visuals
+ Great sound effects
+ Large and fun city
+ Deep control method
- Annoying camera angle
- Takes a while to get used to
9/10 (Not based on an average)