Skate 3
Light on Improvements in this round of Skate
Posted May 16, 2010
I don’t think Electronic Arts was suspecting such a huge response in critical and fan praise in their first Skate title (our 2007 Review). Taking a realistic feel to skating and introducing it into a skateboarding game was probably a shock to the makers of Tony Hawk games as well. In any case, Skate 3 is the follow-up title to the last two titles and it strives greatly to improve on the online offering of the second title. There is a loose narrative based around your character from the last two games. Basically your main character had a nasty accident, thus shooting you into plastic surgery ala the character customization screen. After recovering, it’s basically up to you to launch a company around skateboarding and meet sales targets. I found it quite hilarious that the goal of the game is essentially corporate greed; considering that the last two games had you fighting “The Man”. It’s a decent premise for the game, yet nothing overly enthralling and there’s about as much interest in promoting the career mode as there was in Skate 2.
The main point of building up your company is to recruit skaters around the city by first gaining notoriety. After showing off your skills and getting a couple skaters under your belt, gaining notoriety and sales becomes easier. In addition to the game controlled A.I powered players, online friends can also join up. There’s not a ton for them to do besides helping you increase your overall score.
Fans of the original Skate will be happy to know that the control scheme has stayed pretty much the same. You use the thumb stick to rotate and flip the board when airborne. Complex tricks have a steep learning curve attached to them, but they start to feel simple after nailing several tricks in a row. The multipliers from Skate 2 have carried over as well, using buttons to perform hand-plants / foot-plants. I should note that the controls may feel a bit overcompensating at first, but it’s more about the finesse when using the thumb stick. It takes a great deal of practice to accurately nail trick after trick. One new addition to the controls is a camera angle option that allows you to modify the placement of the camera, low or high. Low is the traditional angle in the Skate series, but fans of the Tony Hawk series may prefer high.
Similar to the previous titles, the career mode doesn’t really have a clear direction other than make more sales. The open world nature of the city is somewhat daunting, but becomes friendly as you understand the activities that make up the world. You will find pro skaters around the city that offer sponsorships with companies provided you meet the challenge requirements. There are plenty of spots to strike a pose around the city to increase your notoriety. There are also races that you can bet on, competitions along the streets and areas to beat certain scores as well.
The multiplayer offerings have been vastly improved from the original game, specifically allowing for online players to hop in and out of your main career. Also, players can share user-created parks over the Playstation Network and skate in each other’s parks. It does take a considerable amount of time to create a park, but there are a bevy of parks online to choose from; assuming your friends play Skate 3 as well.
In addition to the new modes, you will also find old favorites like the competition modes and the online sharing of clips. Entering the ranked online competitions can be very helpful when trying to gain some extra cash for your main character in single player mode. Also, if you take the time to create and share photos of your online skating skills, the game rewards you in career mode with more sales. In regards to performance, I didn’t have any laggy sessions in the main modes, but saw some performance issues when trying out the user generated areas.
Skate 3 is a solid entry into the Skate franchise, yet the focus on improving the series drifted from the career mode to the online modes. The addition of allowing a co-op partner for some of the game’s goals can really help finishing up certain tasks in the career mode and there’s plenty of content in the open-ended career mode to keep you skating for many hours. If you are a multiplayer fanatic and a fan of the last two titles, Skate 3 will be right up your alley. Players who would rather play offline won’t find as much enjoyment in this version of Skate compared to the last two due to a lowered level of difficulty and lack of offline improvement.
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The main point of building up your company is to recruit skaters around the city by first gaining notoriety. After showing off your skills and getting a couple skaters under your belt, gaining notoriety and sales becomes easier. In addition to the game controlled A.I powered players, online friends can also join up. There’s not a ton for them to do besides helping you increase your overall score.
Fans of the original Skate will be happy to know that the control scheme has stayed pretty much the same. You use the thumb stick to rotate and flip the board when airborne. Complex tricks have a steep learning curve attached to them, but they start to feel simple after nailing several tricks in a row. The multipliers from Skate 2 have carried over as well, using buttons to perform hand-plants / foot-plants. I should note that the controls may feel a bit overcompensating at first, but it’s more about the finesse when using the thumb stick. It takes a great deal of practice to accurately nail trick after trick. One new addition to the controls is a camera angle option that allows you to modify the placement of the camera, low or high. Low is the traditional angle in the Skate series, but fans of the Tony Hawk series may prefer high.
Similar to the previous titles, the career mode doesn’t really have a clear direction other than make more sales. The open world nature of the city is somewhat daunting, but becomes friendly as you understand the activities that make up the world. You will find pro skaters around the city that offer sponsorships with companies provided you meet the challenge requirements. There are plenty of spots to strike a pose around the city to increase your notoriety. There are also races that you can bet on, competitions along the streets and areas to beat certain scores as well.
The multiplayer offerings have been vastly improved from the original game, specifically allowing for online players to hop in and out of your main career. Also, players can share user-created parks over the Playstation Network and skate in each other’s parks. It does take a considerable amount of time to create a park, but there are a bevy of parks online to choose from; assuming your friends play Skate 3 as well.
In addition to the new modes, you will also find old favorites like the competition modes and the online sharing of clips. Entering the ranked online competitions can be very helpful when trying to gain some extra cash for your main character in single player mode. Also, if you take the time to create and share photos of your online skating skills, the game rewards you in career mode with more sales. In regards to performance, I didn’t have any laggy sessions in the main modes, but saw some performance issues when trying out the user generated areas.
Graphics
- Similar to the first two Skate games, the physics engine combined with player animations are top notch. The position of your body and the rotating board bring realism to skating that Tony Hawk games just can’t emulate. (Speaking of, Tony Hawk: Ride was a travesty to the sport)
- Depending on how you play will dictate the framerate. Playing with the fisheye lens off results in a sharper image and the frame rate is rock solid. Turning it on will give you the occasional frame rate issue. I also found textures surrounding character models to be fairly weak at this point in the PS3 life cycle. The graphics, obviously based off Skate 2, are starting to show their age.
Audio
- Just like any skating game, the soundtrack that ships with the title sets the mood. I wasn’t as much of a game of this grouping of songs as Skate 2, but there are a couple decent artists in there such as Beastie Boys. Unfortunately, this title has a narrower appeal than the last in terms of genre and selection.
- Similar to the previous game, the city environments are rife with activity and it’s quite apparent from the bustling noises emanating from my surround system that the developer went to great lengths to recreate the city feel. For instance, hitting the ground at various speeds alters the pitch of the landing noise. Riding over a concrete sidewalk has a different sound than riding over the cement in a skate park.
- Kudos to the developers for snagging Jason Lee! While Giovanni Reda was immediately nerve-racking in Skate 2, Jason Lee offers up a much more likable character and the voice work is top notch.
Conclusion
Skate 3 is a solid entry into the Skate franchise, yet the focus on improving the series drifted from the career mode to the online modes. The addition of allowing a co-op partner for some of the game’s goals can really help finishing up certain tasks in the career mode and there’s plenty of content in the open-ended career mode to keep you skating for many hours. If you are a multiplayer fanatic and a fan of the last two titles, Skate 3 will be right up your alley. Players who would rather play offline won’t find as much enjoyment in this version of Skate compared to the last two due to a lowered level of difficulty and lack of offline improvement.
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