Skate 3 Review

Skate 2 was all about becoming a big shot skater, working from the ground up to build a name for yourself. It echoed the path of the franchise itself, with EA having to establish the series as a contender in a market ruled by Tony Hawk. Now, having done all the hard work, Skate exists as brands that people know, but your in-game boarder is still trying to make it big. This time it's all about brand awareness and selling as many boards as possible.

If you've been sheltered from the world of skateboarding video games for a few years and have somehow managed to miss out on what Skate is all about, here's a brief summary. Rather than going for the almost arcade-like skating experience offered by Tony Hawk, EA's Black Box studio opted to deliver an authentic sim, where players had all the abilities needed from the off. Stats play no part in Skate and even simple tricks take some learning and skill to perform.

As in Skate 2, body movement is mapped to the left analogue stick (ground and air), tricks are mapped to movements of the right stick (ollies, nollies, manuals, and flip tricks), grabs are on the shoulder buttons (you can grab your board while grinding or in the air), you have a face button for each leg (allowing you to do one-footers), a button for hand plants, and can tweak various tricks while in mid-air using the right stick. If this all sounds a bit complicated, well, that's because it is.

Skate 3 offers two new difficulty settings (one which makes gaining speed and performing tricks easier, while a harder mode makes an already tough game even tougher to perfect), but even on the easiest setting you'll need a good few hours to gel with the controls. Be warned that your right thumb is going to take a beating - as is your controller if you're serious about getting good.

While Skate 3 shifts the focus away from liberating the heavily policed city of San Vanelona, you'll still be taking part in similar activities. This time you're in the brand new Port Carverton, a place that is more accepting of your four-wheeled pastime. By successfully completing challenges you'll gain more reputation and in turn increase the sales of your boards - the end goal being to sell one million. As before, you'll be performing tricks for photos, nailing lines for short films and owning trick spots. New to the series are Own The Lot activities and a variety of team challenges.

Own The Lot events are essentially a collection of trick challenges spread out over a fairly large area. Whereas most of the game's challenges are in small parts of the city, here you'll skate around and see much more of it, giving a greater sense of it being a real place rather than a series of locations connected by loading screens - such is the way you'll usually hop from one event to another by using the Challenge menu.

Building up a team of skaters, each one customisable, is very simple and happens early on in the story. While skating with AI buddies gives you the sense that you've got a crew, the team events don't really come into their own until you venture online and take part in team challenges with your friends. The entire game can be played online if you wish, with added bonuses for completing the challenges while connected to EA's servers. Online functionality as a whole has seen a number of improvements, most notably in the sharing aspects. Photos, video reels and entire skate parks (the park editor is great, but a lot for skating newcomers to take in) can be shared with the Skate 3 online community, and doing so will help you reach your target of one million boards sold.