Release: Jan 21 2009 (US), Jan 31 2009 (UK)
Developer: Black Box
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Genre: Alternative Sports

Skate 2 is a difficult game; it’s a game of skill.  In many ways it evokes a sense of gaming’s retro past in just how taxing it can be; both o your command of the control scheme, and your levels of patience.  Unlike a significant percentage of modern games, there’s no difficulty level here, no levelling up system, no shortcuts to success.  It’s about practise, perseverance and perfection.

The difficulty is either going to cause you to fall in love with it, or want to destroy it.

As in the original, everything revolves around the ‘Flickit’ control mechanic.  Other than a few extra trick possibilities, very little has been changed since last year, which is an entirely positive thing, as it remains one of the best examples of controller-becoming-an-extension-of-body available on any system.  Success in the game starts, middles and ends with how well you can learn – and eventually master – the system.

It starts off easily enough, tasking you with simply jumping a small gap or grinding a perfectly positioned rail.  The handholding quickly dissipates after the first few ‘missions’ however, and you quickly find yourself having to pull-off technically demanding, often downright sadistically difficult, tricks and sequences.

For the most part the control scheme is up to the challenge, but it does show a few creaks when it comes to differentiating between certain similar moves.  Executing a ‘360 Flip’ and a ‘Varial Kickflip, for example, require only tiny alterations in the required right-stick input pattern.  Combine that with the required perfection in timing and positioning, and it can lead to some controller smashing levels of frustration when your told that only a certain trick will do.  Enough attempts and you will succeed, but those who struggle with being patient will find it very tough going.

Core events are split into six different categories; career, races, bonus, own the spot, street contests and tranny contests (transition, not the other thing…).  Career and bonus events usually require you to successfully perform a set sequence of tricks within a time limit.  ‘Own the spot’ challenges you to achieve a certain points score within a given area, or on a specific piece of apparatus.  Races are self-explanatory and rather tiresome; the physics engine is simple not designed for the type of high-speed manoeuvring around cars and obstacles required for success.

The contests take the form of multi-round events in which you compete against other skaters for the high score.  While in essence they’re a good idea, the A.I. of your competitors is extremely questionable; they’ll often swerve right into you for no apparent reason, or even just stand at the side and let the clock run down.

All of this takes place in a huge, and diverse, ‘open world’ city.  One minute you’re weaving between traffic down a long, rural mountain road and the next you’re grinding ledges and scaring pedestrians inside an exclusive, marble floored shopping centre.  This is where the game is at its understated best, allowing you to express yourself using the intuitive and satisfying control system.  Performing clean runs and realistic looking tricks is simply a joy.

To an extent you can manipulate the world to your liking, by moving dumpsters, benches and the like.  Indeed, rearranging certain objects is absolutely necessary to complete some of the challenges; adding a very slight puzzle element to the gameplay (repositioning ramps to land long drops, for example).

While the repositioning of scenery works well, and allows you to customise a run to your liking, it requires you get off of your board and move around foot.  Never before has a game made the simple act of walking such a chore; even thinking about getting off the board fills you with a sense of overwhelming dread.

Any tricks or sequences that your particularly proud of can be preserved for posterity with the replay editor tool; simply pause the game, edit your clip and upload it to your online profile for the whole world to see and grade.  The tools are basic and easy to use, but you are limited to a thirty second video so chose your footage wisely.

Visually it’s a bit of a mixed bag.  Both the animations and graphics of your skater are fantastic, with tricks looking smooth and realistic.  Unfortunately, the same praise cannot be aimed at the rest of the game.  The environment, cars and pedestrians are not at all impressive, seriously lacking in detail, sometimes giving the game an unfinished look.  It’s a shame because the world is brilliantly designed from a gameplay perspective, only to be let down by its visuals.

Online has been improved since the original, resembling something similar to what you’d find in Burnout Paradise.  The Freeskate Online mode places you within a specific skate park – or section of the city – and provides you with a bunch of optional challenges to complete as a group.  Challenges range from performing sequenized tricks to all jumping specific gaps and offer a decent distraction from the single-player game.  Unfortunately – and unlike Burnout – you can’t simply explore the entire city with your friends, but it’s fun nonetheless.

Skate 2 is a fantastic game when it doesn’t ask you to do too much.  Skating around the city, performing simple, elegant tricks is a joy to experience, whether you’re a real-life ’skater’ or not.  It’s just a shame that all too often you’re tasked with challenges that require a frustrating level of precision to execute.  Those prepared to put the time in will reap the rewards, but for many the challenge will just be too great.  Still, even without playing through the career, there’s a huge amount to see and do and credit should go to the designers for creating the game in such a way.  You can play the game how you want to, and that can only be a good thing.