KEY POINTS:
Skate (EA), released just over a year ago, exceeded expectations, making it hard to imagine how the newly-released sequel can be much better.
But Skate 2 (PS3, Xbox 360) improves on the original with next-gen graphics, its complex but highly rewarding control system and the open-world skating environment that made it so much fun last time. This is a game for people who purely want to skate. That's most of us - we'll never reach international competition and just want to grind the rails of a city.
Get a glimpse of Skate 2 here:
I have fond memories of the first Tony Hawk game - Pro Skater in 1999 and the sequel a year later on the original PlayStation. It seemed revolutionary in those days and a surprise that extreme skating was not only possible on a console, but could be replicated so well. I've lost track of how many Hawk games there have been since but the franchise owned skateboarding on games so it was courageous for any developer to take them on.
I recall an interview with the Skate developers at the time in which they said they saw the difference being not going too over the top with the environments or actions and getting a realistic feeling of skating through the control system adopted.
That realism was what made it work for Skate. Much as you'd like to think you can be super-human like Hawk and fly through the air at mega-kilometres an hour tackling Evel Knievel-type environments, that's not what most Kiwi skaters do in their local hood.
On Skate 2 come new tricks like like one-foots, hand plants and hippy jumps (learn how to hippy jump here), a Thrasher Hall of Meat mode enabling brutal slam challenges for the most wicked bail, a graphics creator to personalise your look and the ability to move objects - like setting up a table so you get a place to do tricks. The camera is an improvement - you have the choice of a low or high angled camera so you don't always view life at blur speed from knee height and so miss seeing objects around you.
Your city, New San Vanelona, is an amazing place for a skater as you dodge motorists and pedestrians ripping like a pro. You can street race but the freedom of just cruising the city environment - effectively one massive fun skate park - and challenging yourself is what draws people in real life to pick up their board and head out onto the streets.
If Skate 2 is your first go at this franchise, the controls may take a bit of learning. I was using a PS3 and you use the right thumb stick to Ollie and Nollie and perform flip tricks. The more you master it, the better the tricks.
This is loads of fun and very impressive. It's even way better than the first one and that's high praise...
What's next for extreme sports games?
MadGamer rating: 8 / 10
