Skate 3 Review

[endo]

After giving it a good go on Saturday, all in all it's more of the same, which in this case is no bad thing. I played the first two games to death and in all honesty, this doesn't offer anything radically new. That said, the darkslide and underflip variations do add quite a bit to the trick system. The off-board physics have been significantly tightened up since the last game too, so walking around isn't so much of a pain in the arse now.

The animation's been improved further and is looking really slick here. Seriously, in the opening scenes the animation is super lifelike- very impressive stuff. You get to choose a low or a higher camera angle from the outset too. The graphics look sharper overall but I didn't notice anything massively different, though there seems to be much fewer particle/light effects, presumably because these caused a bit of slowdown in the previous game.

Reda is gone as the camera dude following you around, which doesn't bother me as his voice got on my tits a bit in the end. Jason Lee is in instead as the coach.

The security guards are gone apparently, which is very good news because they got very annoying in Skate 2 and I thought they interfered with the game's basic premise of being free to skate how you like, wherever you like. Haven't tried the online yet, but as the previews have mentioned, this iteration is all about 'crews' challenging each other. Going on how the online's been incoporated the first two games, I can see it being pretty good here, but I need to explore further.

Overall, I'd say if you've never played Skate, this will be the game to get, and probably also if you played the first but skipped the second. If you played both, maybe you won't find much to justify buying this, but if you're like me then it's a no-brainer purchase.

Oh yeah, I think there's some sort of pre-order incentive too where you get an extra park to download or something, but I haven't checked the details.

[Charlie]

I enjoyed it but the play area was way too small as, regardless which direction I went in, I kept skating out of the demo's boundaries. Never played a skateboarding game before so can't comment on how it compares to other games but the tricks seemed pretty cool and very satisfying when pulled off.

[endo]

I'd agree with you there- the playable area in the demo is pretty small compared with the other demos. In the first two demos the area you got to play with was physically fenced off, but here it's just a normal-looking open area and the camera goes all fuzzy if you stray too far, like when you go too far away from a challenge area. Even so, you get enough to play around with to get a good idea of the game.

[Atticus]

I played a little online (never bothered with 1 & 2) and it was quality. 3 skaters on each side, competing to own the area and racing to pull off set tricks, etc. Excellent stuff.

Day 1 purchase for sure.

[joe90]

Anyone else find the framerate a bit choppy.

[watusi]

i take it you know its possible to break out of the demo area again in this demo?

You need to :

Play the demo until 2 seconds are left
Press Start
Make a Private domination game
Whilst that loads press the guide button
Once its loaded press guide again and select to restart the demo
You can now break out of the demo barriers

This demo explains it nicely

[QualityChimp]

Thanks, Watusi! I'll give that a try.

Every time I play the demo, I get stuck on the challenge to bail from the rooftop. I jump off, Coach Frank's button guide pops up and it seems to freeze.

I can't seem to do anything else after that and have to quit to the dashboard. Boooo!

[endo]

Got the game yesterday and had a good go last night. Like the demo, it's more of the same, but when it's this good it doesn't matter. Animation is really good and the whole thing flows a lot better with much less slowdown (probably due to there being far fewer unnecessary particles floating around/light effects). The graphics in general though are really nice.

The opening movie is pretty well done, like the previous games, and now you get the skate school thing at the beginning, which isn't compulsory to do and will help ease newcomers into the game much better than before.

Not much more to add right now as I played for a couple of hours last night, but didn't really explore the online side of things, although this is now an integral part of the game and it's been worked in very slickly.

Reda is still in the game (despite not being in the demo) but, unlike previously, he isn't making irritating little comments after every little thing you do anymore.

Oh yeah, playing the game on 'hardcore' tweaks the physics to be even more realistic (well, that's how they describe it). It's actually quite a bit more challenging playing like this and, ultimately, more satisfying when you can do the stuff you could previously but with the higher difficulty. When you go back to standard difficulty you realise the game actually does quite a lot for you to keep things moving smoothly, like sucking you on to ledges/rails from further away, or just letting you do monstrous flips with practically no pop. On hardcore, any flips more complicated than varial flips etc. actually require you to get some decent pop so that the board has time to spin, and you have to be dead accurate when doing grinds and stuff. It seems to affect the bail physics as well, which makes the bail-oriented challenges harder, but I'm not really a fan of the hall of meat stuff they've put in- it's just not that fun for me and, IMO, it doesn't really tie in with the realism the game makers are trying to achieve. Not a major irk, since it's not a massive part of the game, but I could live without it.
There's also an easy setting too, if you're only just starting out with the Skate games.

All in all, if you like the previous games as much as I did, then you've probably already got this. If you haven't played the previous two, I can absolutely recommend picking this up. I guarantee, one the control system's clicked, you'll love it. Otherwise, if you played the first but not the second, or you're generally on the fence over this one, I would say there's enough here to justify buying it... but I'm a bit biased I suppose. The demo gives you a very good idea of what to expect though.

[charlesr]

Just got this. It's tight. Animation is crazy cool.

[charlesr]

This is epicness.

Shame the skate.create server is down - was very excited to read in the manual that I can create my own brand logo and upload it to the game, but... denied.

I thought it was going to be too samey as Skate, but the getting off the board actually adds a decent element, beyond the ability to run up stairs. Great style moves.

Exiting grinds with the A button is a nice touch.

The animation is still amazing me. Sometimes I'm thinking I'm looking at Xbox One stuff (not overall gfx - just animation). Well done EA.

My son loves the skate park creator thing. I can never be bothered, but there are some cool ones to download from other users - that bit is still working.

Too much teleporting perhaps - less incentive to explore. I liked the strictness of the underground system in the first one.

Was very excited the first time I found my brand's logo tagged on a bit of concrete somewhere

[endo]

It's a great game. Wish they'd hurry up with compatibility for Xbone.

I'm still crossing my fingers for a fourth game... It's been long enough and they haven't flogged the franchise to death, so it's surely got some mileage left in it.

[charlesr]

Did you play Stoked? Not everyone's cup of tea, but I loved it. I REALLY want a new snowboarding game in that style on the current gen.

[endo]

I *think* I did once, but I can't quite remember... I really should try to find a copy somewhere, as I know you rate it.

[charlesr]

It's not perfect, getting stuck on bits of snow it shouldn't and being a bit erratic, but when you get a decent line down a ridge, it's epic

[charlesr]

Erm. Servers for this are back on