User Review : Skate 3

Is Skate 3 the sequel fans have been waiting for?

Not too long ago, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater ruled the extreme sports genre with an iron fist. Anything that wanted or tried to attract fans of the genre had to live up to the Pro Skater series’ standard. But after eight years of annual releases and uninspired content, Neversoft’s flagship franchise sat on the verge of irrelevance. EA saw blood and went for the jugular by releasing a redefinition of skateboard videogames with Skate. Doomsayers spelled the end of Pro Skater and the new standard for extreme sports gaming. In many regards, those prophecies became reality upon the release of Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground. But Pro Skater’s undoing did not come from EA’s outside influence, but rather an internal implosion of epic proportions. Every title subsequent Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3 struggled to define itself. The series ultimately became tired, rehashed, and juvenile.

This review begins with the retelling of Pro Skater’s sordid downfall because Black Box’s triumphant coup seems to have returned to the status quo. Skateboarding has a new dictator, but it offers the same general policies its previous ruler implemented. Overcrowded professional rosters, increasingly unbelievable storylines and missions, regressive level design, and an overall lack of focus plague the Skate series just as they did Pro Skater. But while Tony Hawk’s legacy lasted nearly a decade, it’s taken just three years for Black Box’s once treasured gem to become a parody of itself.

With any open world game, enjoyment begins with the map. Skate dazzled with its incredibly realistic cityscape, each unique region of the map flowing naturally into the next. Scattered throughout this Vancouver inspired submetro were several choice skating venues, such as Danny Way’s Plan B compound, PJ Ladd’s sick mansion pool, or the empty spillway tunnels hidden in San Vanelona’s sketchy back alleys. Skate 2 tried to repeat the success of Skate’s map by transplanting San Vanelona into a Hollywood inspired urban warfield. Cool spots no longer hid away in San Van’s sprawling streets, but rather forced themselves into the area as if San Vanelona once harvested a skater utopia before an evil corporation went Gestapo and capped the whole city. Any cool incorporated spots generally found themselves riddled with security or skate blocks, which tediously had to be removed or fended off with phone calls to special services.

Skate 3’s Port Caverton lacks most of the issues Skate 2’s map was riddled with. Each of the city’s three districts provide a distinct and unique atmosphere and style, flush with worthwhile skate spots integrated into the map with a general belonging beyond simply a skate prop. Fans of San Vanelona’s two-tier garage can get lost in Port Caverton’s multi-level parking complex, and the industrial district comes complete with a rock quarry and spillway that packs a new but familiar place to bomb. Some of the skate parks tend to stick out like sore thumbs (what is Port Caverton University doing with a skate park in the middle of their track circle?), but for the most part the city offers a city with places to skate rather than a skate park that happens to be a city.

Visually Skate 3 offers a huge improvement over the dark, metallic tones of Skate 2. Lush greens and bright skies populate Port Caverton University and Downtown, and the Industrial District has the atmosphere of a northeastern shipping harbor, complete with docks and a pier. Oddly, the three districts do not connect into one giant city, as both iterations of San Vanelona did previously. Instead moving from area to area requires teleportation, a trick which unfortunately removes the strong sense of immersion the game offers. The choice of separating the three areas is baffling, especially considering they begin completely unlocked and accessible from the earliest moments of the game.

Beyond just changing settings, Skate 3 attempts to offer a new story experience opposed to the skater chugging through the ranks cliché that’s been worn down since Tony Hawk’s Underground. Essentially, the single player career picks up where the last two games left off. Instead of getting out of the slammer, this time Reda gives you the fine idea to create your own skate company. But rather than ease into this, creating logos online or designing a board, you’re immediately thrust into creating your new brand by naming and picking a logo from over a dozen poorly construed packaged designs. You build your team from the same create-a-skater design used to make your own legendary shredder, but you can import your friends. However, you can’t add pros from the huge list roster already included with the game.

After your company’s up and running, your entire purpose in life becomes selling boards, and Reda will constantly remind you of this if you choose to do anything other than beat challenges. Each challenge earns you a set number of board sales and as you sell more boards, you’ll unlock new gear and see your company’s logo stickered all over Port Caverton. While the concept of creating your own company sounds cool, especially with the long line of skateboarders who have done so in the past, the execution is really lacking in Skate 3, and there’s almost nothing to differentiate the story from this game than the previous two. If anything, the story is non-existent minus the occasional team photoshoot or Reda’s constant nagging that you’re not getting enough coverage.

All is not lost with Skate 3 though. In many aspects the game recovers from many of the pitfalls Skate 2 stumbled into. The general look and feel of the game is a vast improvement of Skate 2. Walking off board is no longer a tedious necessary evil to climb stairs. And there are many more cool places to trick around than with Skate 2’s urban dystopia setting. Skate 3 even pokes fun at its predecessor’s follies with a cutscene showing that even the security guards skate in the new Port Caverton.

Hardcore mode also gives the game a huge step forward, giving players who have mastered the first two games a brand new challenge. While the fundamentals of street skating definitely tip in the favor of realism, especially given the magnetic rails of Skate 2, vert skating becomes nigh impossible with the new speed mechanics. Pushing five times to get max speed can also become an annoyance when preset start points in certain challenges put you three pushes away from your intended ollie point. Newcomers to the series will certainly want to start at the lower difficulty levels, and the inclusion of a top down camera brings in fans put off by the ground level camera from the previous Skate titles. Also, every challenge comes with two difficulty levels, “Own It” and “Kill It.” However, the instructions on screen during the challenge don’t tell you how to earn Kill It status, so remembering requirements or constantly restarting challenges can become a bother.

Skate 3’s greatest asset is its customization. Since the game centers on creating a new company, the ability to craft custom logos and boards enhances the immersion like few sports games have been able before. Moreover, the online team aspects further enhance this as attractive logos and products can be just as alluring to prospective teammates as high scores and cool videos. Maintaining a brand over the online community provides one of the more unique and cool multiplayer aspects in gaming, and this alone saves the game from being a total let down.

The more impressive attribute of Skate’s customization is its various skate parks, which you can not only redesign, but also upload and share with the Skate online community. The park editor provides the deepest and most complete editing tools ever in a skateboarding game, and offers the kind of customization that Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland should have featured. Fans of user created content can get lost in the endless amount of options Skate 3’s parks have to offer.

Skate 3 fails to expand the series the way Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and 3 did upon their release, and ultimately the second sequel to Black Box’s breakthrough hit leaves much to be desired. Instead of centering on the great atmosphere and gameplay the series began with, Skate 3 comes off as cheap parlor tricks and gimmicks, a game lacking the vision to be considered anything more than novelty. However, Skate 3 provides enough of an online component that previous Skate fans who also enjoy competitive, cooperative, and social gaming communities can get their $60 worth. But anyone looking for a single player story and map as worthwhile as the original Skate will be left in the dust with Skate 3’s hokey, unfocused design.