Retaking the Streets in Skate 2

Published January 19, 2009

There are few games that you can reasonably argue have wholly redefined a pre-existing genre, but EA and Black Box's skate. is one of them. This remarkable skating title dialed back the admittedly entertaining excesses and insanity of the genre, and placed the onus firmly on realistic ground with a one-two punch of unparalleled physics and dual analog stick control.

Something's missing …

Welcome now Skate 2, a game that builds substantially on its predecessor's rock solid foundation with a re-imagined San Vanelona often referred to as New San Van. The new game also provides roughly twice as many tricks, the ability to dismount from your board, environmental customization, and much more.

No doubt much delight will be gleaned again from earning
high scores from the bone-shattering, wince-inducing
spills the series is known for.

The Genius
For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Skate 2 and its predecessor make magic where other games make assumptions. For example, even performing a trick as relatively simple as rolling down the street and kickflipping into a simple grind on a roadside curb is filled with satisfaction.

This level of satisfaction is made possible by the Flickit control scheme that is at once easy to understand and ruthlessly difficult to master. Use the Left Thumbstick to navigate on your board while the Right Thumbstick handles all your various ollies, nollies, kickflips, pop-shovits, and so on.

Press down and flick up and you'll perform a classic ollie, press down and then flick diagonally up and right and you'll execute a kickflip. Perform the same maneuver but hold the stick at its end position, and you'll let the board continue rotating under you for a double, triple, and if you have the time, quadruple kickflip.

Similarly, grabs are handled simply and effectively with the Left and Right Triggers. You can also use the Right Thumbstick mid-action to tweak the grab. The position of your board can change the type of grab you perform, so if you launch into the air, push the Right Thumbstick up and then press LT, you'll pull off a tail grab rather than a simple backside grab.

The handplant makes its series debut.

The New
While Skate 2 very much retains the core game mechanics of the first game, it also presents a number of high-profile new features.

• Off the board: Tap Y at any time to get off your board and walk, run, and jump about. This is particularly great for reaching out-of-the-way locations, a must for hardcore skaters looking to find that perfect starting location for an outrageous run. San Van is built with this in mind too. The dedicated explorer will be well rewarded.
• Moving objects: Even better than exploring when you're off your board, is the new ability to grab hold of moveable objects (such as small ramps, rails, dumpsters, and benches) and slide them around as you see fit to create on-the-fly runs with objects already in the world.
• Purposeful bail: The Hall of Meat feature made popular in the first game makes a roaring reappearance here, and no doubt much delight will be gleaned again from earning high scores from the bone-shattering, wince-inducing spills the series is known for. Better yet, this time around you can decide to intentionally wipeout and let free your board. Once you do you'll be able to control your character's actions with the Right Thumbstick. Want to curl up in a little ball? Press up. Feel like going spread eagle onto the concrete? Just hold down.
• Skitch away: While the drivers of San Van care little for a skater's well being, you can use cars to your advantage by grabbing hold of their bumper Back to the Future style and "skitching" behind them to build up intense speed. Tap RB when near a bumper to grab it, and hold on for the ride.

Skate Out of Jail
While your character has been on sabbatical in the slammer since the end of the original game, the city of San Van has undergone radical changes. New corporate policy has spread anti-skating sentiment throughout the city, so in addition to re-proving your bones as the baddest skater this side of awesome, you'll need to liberate the city of its newfound narrow mindedness as well.

This includes calling on friends with crowbars to snap off skate-stops on rails, pump water out of pools foolish enough to be employed for swimming, and hire a rather rotund friend to keep the militant security guards from knocking you silly mid-grind.

Nice form.

Of course, the bulk of your career mode will also include all sorts of both new and classic events. You'll need to work up a demo tape to reacquire sponsorships, challenge pros at their own game, and put your awesomeness on display for photo shoots for both Skater and Thrasher magazines. There are also dozens of "spots" scattered about the world begging you to best their required high scores.

While many of these challenges are staged in set locations, you'll find many that are free roaming as well. For example, once you're sponsored, your brand of choice will send you a list of challenges you can complete almost anywhere. Whether it's grinding a set distance, performing aerials over cars, or nailing a one-footed flip, you can use your own skill and street smarts to put your prowess on display all across the canvas that is San Van.

With Friends
Skating is at its heart a communal undertaking. Sure, good times are to be had by the lone skater working on their craft, but the real fun is found in getting together with friends and sharing skills and spills alike, to say nothing of conjuring impromptu challenges for one another. When you hear "I bet you can't make that gap" from a friend of yours, it's on.

In Skate 2 you can tap into the community in a number of different ways. If you open up a Freeskate room on Xbox LIVE® you can enjoy free rein over sections of the city with your buddies as you cruise about inventing good times along the way.

This is going to get fast.

If you're up for more focused, competitive gameplay, you can always engage in Spot Battles (try to one up each other for the best trick in a single area), get your speed-freak on in a Deathrace, match wits to see who can batter their skater best in Hall of Meat, enjoy a Jam session (best overall score when the time runs out wins), or compete in a bout of Best Trick.

Equally noteworthy is the skate.Reel feature. Here you can immortalize your skating exploits by uploading videos and screenshots to Xbox LIVE. Stop the action at almost any time to save the moment for posterity, and then edit it to fit your preferences. Whether it's setting up the right camera angle, chopping off the extraneous sections or setting the speed, you can create some real works of art to share with friends and community members.

Each uploaded video is categorized by the author as well, so if you're looking for some spectacular crashes or amazing aerials, it's easy to watch what you want and leave the rest for later. You can even sort by Most Viewed, Most Recent, Top Rated, and Friends.

Skate 2 for Xbox 360® builds upon its predecessor in every way, and further cements the franchise as the most authentic skating series available. If you've ever loved the sport, hop on your board in Skate 2.

Article by Ryan Treit