Review
Release Date: 01.21.2009
Platform:
Xbox 360Developer:
Black Box Games Ltd.Publisher:
Electronic ArtsReviewed by
Samuel Altersitz on 4.20.2009
EA Black Box took the skating game world by storm with their 2007 release of the skateboarding game simply titled Skate. Now, a little over a year and a half later, they’re trying to do it again with Skate 2. Skate 2 boasts more tricks, more goals, more places to skate and a more well defined online experience than Skate. But it just isn’t quite as revolutionary as Skate, nor does it fix some problems from the original Skate.
Skate 2 is set a few years after the first Skate and after the events of Skate It for the Wii, wherein San Vanelona was pretty much destroyed in a major earthquake. A huge mega corporation, called MongoCorp, financed the rebuilding of the city into New San Vanelona. MongoCorp, though, isn’t one to let its funding pave the way for skaters to get back to tricking and grinding. They’ve added more police and security guards in more areas and even gone as far as putting skate caps on some of the best places to grind to discourage skaters from even thinking about those awesome lines.
This is where the player comes in. Our intrepid hero has lost his sponsorships, lost his cash and lost his freedom for some undisclosed reason. Skate 2 begins with the player being released from jail and meeting up with Giovanni Reda (a real life skateboarding filmmaker), the same cameraman and loudmouth from Skate. Reda will then explain the goings-on of New San Van and get everyone ready for some of the new abilities in Skate 2.
The flick it control scheme is back for this installment with some slight modifications… not all of them for the better. Certain advanced tricks have had their movements simplified for Skate 2, but this actually makes them harder to pull off properly. Once again the flick it controls suffer from the problem of having too many tricks so similar to each other that actually getting the correct trick to go off when the player actually wants it to is a feat in and of itself--unless one plays the game religiously. Once again players will often find themselves doing far more pop shuvits over the more advanced tricks they were trying to do, especially if they only play the game casually.
However, now there are additional tricks that get added to the Skate 2 repertoire through modifier buttons. Using a kick button in conjunction with certain tricks changes the trick to a one-footed variant. Foot plants have been added, again by using a kick button and a grab trick when close to the ground or a wall when in wall riding poses, as well as jumps that incorporate taking a foot off the board, such as bean plants, no complies and the boneless. Finger flips and transitions from one grab to another have also been added. The ever famous hippie jump has been put into the game, allowing players to jump off their board to let the board go under a rail and such, as well. And, most importantly for vert skaters, hand plants have been added, with variations based on right analog direction and pushing the kick buttons (one foot) or the brake button (no foot, like a gymnast plant).
All in all, EA Black Box says these additions pretty much double the amount of tricks available to players in Skate 2 over Skate. It can take some time to get used to the extra tricks, but once people get used to them it makes the experience feel much more like real skating. It also makes for some sick looking lines when used correctly.
Skate 2 also now has made it so concrete isn’t some deadly surface when both feet touch it. Skaters may now get off their boards whenever they wish. This is actually a pretty big improvement in some ways, like being able to get up stairs to start a line or to move objects around to make entirely new lines. But it is also a detriment, as it is very obvious that the walking aspect of Skate 2 was not very well thought out and is nowhere near polished. Basically, when off the board, the skater controls like a tank. And I’m not even talking about the old Resident Evil style tank movement… this movement is even worse. Walking and running are extremely clunky; movement speed is infuriatingly slow and feels far more difficult than it should be. Though Reda does make a funny joke about how since our hero has been in jail skaters have learned how to walk, most players will find the walking mechanics too much of a chore to deal with unless absolutely necessary.
Moving objects around can be cool for making new lines; but there is a major problem. Basically, in order for the objects to be moved, the game assigns them almost no real mass. This means bumping into an object can actually move it around (or knock it over) and mess up the line created. Along with the near zero mass comes funny looking but frustrating moments where an object that has a fairly large size, like a dumpster, goes flying in the air and moves a good 30 or 40 feet away from where it was placed or where it was initially located. And it’s not just the player who can mess up the placement of objects. Other skaters, pedestrians—hell, a strong gust of wind—can all ruin a line setup before it gets to be skated. So, while this ends up being a nice concept, the implementation needs a little work.
The career mode of Skate 2 hasn’t seen much of a change from Skate. Players still do photo shoots for Skateboard Magazine and Thrasher, enter trick contests, shoot videos for sponsors, race the annoying death races and try to own different spots throughout New San Van. It’s pretty basic, but it still works. The only real deterrent I have found is the ability to teleport to pretty much any challenge location on the map. While it is nice to be able to get from one challenge to another in a timely manner, this teleporting really seems to remove the feeling of exploration from Skate 2. Players who just use the teleport feature will truly miss out on some sweet hidden and not so hidden areas to skate in and just not get to experience the pure excellence in overall design that is New San Van.
Sure, some old spots and locations can look familiar, but they’ve all also been modified—and not just graphically. Areas that appeared in Skate have new lines, new looks, and a really refreshing feel that what is old is still new when they are found. The new areas of New San Van are also incredibly done. I urge players to explore New San Van as the entire design of the city is simply spectacular.
Skate 2 has been improved in the audio and visual areas as well. The graphics have been improved, which is no small feat considering how good the original Skate still looks today. There are a few bad textures here and there, but overall the entire look of Skate 2 is better than Skate. The voice acting has also seen more additions, a lot of it from the aforementioned Giovanni Reda—who isn’t quite as annoying in this game. Each pro skater voices themselves and there are more voices for pedestrians and security guards this time around. Of course, the sounds of the actual skating are still just as good as the original. The music selection is also a little better this time around, though I still use my own music most of the time.
The animations for the tricks are still spectacular and are seriously the most realistic looking skateboarding animations in a video game to date. I must mention that the old sack of potatoes physics for bails has been replaced with a much more satisfying bail animation system in Skate 2, which I am entirely thankful for. Bails look far better now and players can see the effects of bails on their skaters with dirty clothes, scrapes and bruises. Adding to the new bail animations is the Thrasher Hall of Meat part of the game, wherein players get scored on their bails. Achieving certain goals when bailing can award money as well. It would have been nice, however, if the Hall of Meat milestones weren’t linear in nature.
Another big improvement is small bails not making you completely bail. Instead, for many minor bails, players will simply land on their feet so they can get back on their boards and keep going. It is also important to note that these mini-bails don’t count as full on bails when doing challenges that have bailing as a failure condition.
The camera angle used in Skate 2, though, is still a bit hit and miss. The default camera is the same as Skate, low to the ground and off to the side, but players can opt for a more overhead camera angle as well. Unfortunately, this more overhead angle makes it harder to judge distance and height when lining up grinds and jumps. It is also unfortunate that the player’s character still does not go transparent often enough when going for rails and such that are obscured by him or her.
Yes, I said her. Players are now free to make female skaters in the create-a-skater mode. While the create-a-skater mode is back, it feels a bit more stripped down than the original Skate’s version. It is entirely usable, but it feels like some of the major customization options are missing. Creative players, though, can go to EA’s Skate website and design their own graphics to put on shirts or board decks. While players may not upload their own pictures to EA's website for use in the game, those with the patience can create some really nice looking graphics using EA’s tools on the website.
One of the biggest improvements in Skate 2 is the online component. It is far more fleshed out and satisfying than the original Skate’s; even though the online component of Skate was very fun. The old staples of Own the Spot, S.K.A.T.E., death races, and jams are back, along with the new Hall of Meat game type. The biggest addition, though, is to the free skate mode. While Skate had a free skate mode in it, the Skate 2 free skate mode is expanded and allows for friends to have a real good time with it. There are now co-op challenges that can be initiated in the free skate mode, most of which are pretty fun. There can be some annoying ones, like the simultaneous trick aspects… but these can be done either in public or private games which can make the simultaneous trick parts easier to do in private games. There are over 100 challenges to do in free skate mode, with a set amount in each area, so players can have a lot of fun doing them for a while.
It should be mentioned that the same problem exists from Skate, where if anyone has a bad connection to EA's EA Nation servers, then everyone gets hit with the lag stick to the point where the game is practically unplayable until the person with the bad connection finally leaves. This is most likely due to having to go through the EA Nation servers in the first place. It is pretty horrid when the person who joins doesn't even realize they have the bad connection and they try and play for a few rounds... until everyone else leaves because of the fact that the game pauses every few seconds while a dialog box appears from the EA Nation server that says "waiting for players."
Another online component is the create-a-spot maker. Players may, at pretty much any time they aren’t in a challenge in career mode, create their own spot. These spots can then be uploaded and then downloaded by friends or random people and played. The real nice thing with this is the fact that these created spots show up in the career mode after they have been downloaded. While they don’t count towards owning all the spots in New San Van, they can add more spots for players to try and master. Each created spot also has its own leader board and players can show a ghost of the current top scoring player on the spot to see how they achieved that score. It’s surprisingly fun to create or own other people’s spots and this is a welcome addition to Skate 2.
Players may also still upload footage to EA’s skate.reel servers for viewing online or in the game. Some of the options have been removed, such as filters, but new options have been added for camera angles along with a for-pay downloadable content update that allows for more camera control and more space to upload footage to.
Speaking of DLC, Skate 2 has a bit out there already. There are the for-pay areas of Rob Dyrdek’s skate park and classic areas from Skate that do not appear in Skate 2, redone with Skate 2 visuals and options (like movable objects); as well as some free content like a clothes pack. EA Black Box is pushing out the DLC at a nice pace, so far. There is also a for-pay content that allows players to have every spot and skater open to them… but where’s the fun in that?
In the end, Skate 2 makes some nice improvements to the overall Skate formula, but it still has its problems—such as frustratingly annoying challenges in the career mode and the camera angle being a bit wonky at times. It is, overall, a better game than Skate; but it hasn’t pushed itself to the point of moving up the scoring system. Players who loved Skate will probably be very happy with Skate 2. People who weren't all that keen on Skate, though, won’t find enough improvements here (especially in the time devoted for mastering tricks department) to justify a purchase.
