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Greatness in the making.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: September 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

A new series, walking into the mouth of a lion, skate is one of the most innovative and fresh games in the genera. A new control scheme paired with amazingly detailed graphics and challenging game play make for a sure buy if you're a fan of any extreme game series.

First and foremost, if you have a obsessive personality or are a perfectionist stay away from this game, because you'll not be getting any sleep. For everyone else the new flickit controls have a very hard learning curve, but after 15 minutes you should get the hang of it. A few problems with the controls plague this game, its super frustrating to hit the tiniest bump and have your skater turn around in the opposite direction but this is minor in a sea full of awesome.

The story doesn't have a lot of variety but what it does have is entertaining and enough to keep you going to the end.

Overall a solid game with room for great improvement that will leave it on the top of the ramp compared to everything else in the long run. Go pick this up if you've enjoyed other skating games, or if you want to try something new that will leave you having great times for a long time.

So realistic, it hurts

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: September 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Without a doubt this is the most realistic bad-a$$ skating game out there. I could go on and on about how realistic this is in style, sound and intuition, but you'll just have to see it for yourselves. I am 31, and this had me so pumped up I actually busted out my old skateboard I hadn't been on in 4 years and hit the local skatepark, it's that good. If you were like me and were restricted to curb grinding and sluggish rail slides on wooden park benches, but always wanted to do the big boy stuff... buy this game. It will bring back great memories. Absolutely outstanding!

It was nice knowing you Tony Hawk

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

To be truly honest, I do not know where to start this review whether it's the smooth gameplay, the interactive environments, the realistic controls, the media,or the way the game just develops a true and realistic skate community is beyond me, but EA does it no less with style and accurate precision.

I got a quick glimpse of this game a couple of months in advance due to Ign.com in depth review along with some other sources. Ign was not exaggerating when they said, "It's hard to imagine ever going back to a regular action sports game." They are absolutely right in the sense that Skate changes the entire standard for actions sports games; moreover, they are still innovating and growing. But enough of the blabber and i'll get down to the nitty gritty and convince you Xbox 360 owners why this is a must own for new comers of the genre or for the stubborn skateboarders who refuse to let go of their Tony Hawk Franchise.

Right when you start your career mode your going to notice right off the bat how EA designed a beautiful world made not only for people who actually skateboard but for people who even might be remotely interested in buying an Xbox 360 because this game shows off the console's true potential. If it's not the scintillating sun igniting the crisp and smooth cement or the vibrant trees capturing mother nature at it's finest, skate regardless got my attention immediately. The minute you press that A button you feel like your truly are skating through a limitless environment because the truth of the matter is you will always discover something new. The second the wheels start turning you'll feel the motion of a real skateboard, Ea somehow renders this game into a skateboard simulator, (Well, maybe a slight exaggeration, but not far from it) The sound also contributes to the authenticity of a skateboarding game, between the ollie or the metal axel grinding against a steep stairway rail or possibly a 30 ft ledge next to a set of 20 stairs, you name it EA delivers with style. Now the controls of course are not easy to get used to especially if you have been playing the Tony Hawk Franchise for quite some time including myself. But let me tell you the gameplay is so innovative and different that it truly becomes addictive and fun because just when you think you've mastered some basic flip tricks there are plenty of more to complete. The true icing on the cake is when your finally able to kick flip or heel flip on command because the motion of the skateboard actually coincides with the analog stick. Its amazing. The way you position your board or the way you set up for a grind is the way you really do this in real life. If my explanation is still not good enough for you let me provide an example, lets say you want to execute a backside tail slide, something basic, (well in the video game world ) ok? In the Tony Hawk franchise you would approach a rail, a curb you name by either holding the left directional pad and pressing the "Y" button; however, in skate you align your board by holding down on the analog stick, (the harder you hold down, the bigger the ollie) then simply ollie slightly out or on angle to get the tail of the board to land on directly on the tail. You execute by just releasing the analog. For a video game they truly imitate the motion of a skateboard. Now they are so many skate spots inundated with slick ledges, skate buddies, rails you literally will be in awe and quite possibly might faint with anxiety. trust me you won't know where the hell to begin, but thats a good thing considering this game will keep you occupied regardless of the challenges or the rankings. Im just simply talking about free skate.

The challenges are incredibly innovative and incredibly challenging with some of the pro's giving tips as well as some tutorials such as Jason Dill teaching you how to manuel or to kick flip out. These challenges are also for you to deicide to engage in maybe you want to free skate the environment and you want to step up your reputation in the skate community go right ahead, no pressure. Or Maybe you want to hangout with some of the fellow skate buddies by impressing them with your new skills. oh yeah did i mention you can capture yourself with the fun editing option that Skate provides. Sure, you want your footage to have a retro 80's style or maybe you even want to show it off to the rest of the world by uploading it in the xbox live community, Bingo! EA's got you covered. Now the skate world is so vast that you could get some exercise by going on classic foot, but this is SKATE you can just take the subway. Literally, skate to the subway station, 8 second loading screen pops up and your in the heart of the downtown financial district where you skate the city for hours and hours without any redundancy. Sure some skate spots might be restricted in terms of security, (for example, the hospital) a security guard will run after you, meanwhile you'll be popping nollie hard flips in his face, but thats called realism and that where Skate succeeds in every aspect in this game, it truly is amazing; And if you think you can just automatically skate on any ground without falling, YOUR WRONG. Try skating into a curb, you won't make it without falling flat on your face. The power slides and the way you stop is a whole new category that deserves attention, because nothing feels automatic as opposed to Tony Hawk, you feel like you have complete control over your skateboard thats when you develop the skills of course. For example, I am a big fan of kick flipping on cement banks, when executed with skate, depending upon the momentum of the flip or your speed the board just flows gently and just feels like your on a steep bank. It difficult to explain, but the EA's Skate is able to capture a sort of realistic momentum that no other actions sports game has. What also so great is that you build yourself from scratch, authentic clothes authentic skate shoes, your good to go except you need practice. Enter competitions or just skate at your own ease with no pressure its solely your decision. Now I know I have been bashing Tony Hawk, but I have alot of respect for that franchise as well, now going on it's 8th title. The problem with long running franchises is that it gets harder and harder to innovate, as a result you get diminishing returns. Without Tony Hawk there probably wouldn't be a SKATE, I still remember being in 8th grade picking up my fresh new copy of PS1 tony hawk, also simply amazing. Here Skate is redefining the whole new action sports game genre. It's probably a good thing a game like this didn't come in my youthful skating days because I might have dropped out of school, Well, all in all, deff worth the 60 dollars, and with that in mind i think skate is here to stay hopefully spawning off some new and improved sequels.

Wow I could play this all day long.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: September 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is just bananas, plain and simple. I actually just returned tony hawks project 8 to get this game and wow what a difference. Its totally different then tony's previous games and is like a breath of fresh air. Just when i was thinking what else can tony hawk games do they are getting kind of repetitive and I was getting tired of jumping off buildings onto electrical poles and all that silly unrealistic stuff, here comes the savior of the skate games category. After this game you best believe skating games will have there own little spot in the sports game section. The game plays so smooth and I was blown away by the amount of detail that goes to the skater such as you can see the shoe laces perfectly and even the bearings on the freakin skate wheels! The create skater mode is sweet, the clothes look so realistic and sneakers are insane (especially those sweet Supra's with the concrete tone)If you are a skater or ever skated before in your life, you will cherish this game. Now to the gameplay, first thing that came to my mind is that this game is pretty hard at first, because ain't no button mashing allowed here! but after a little practice the game gets very comfortable and you get used to the camera angle which is different then tony's previous games. But the feeling you get when you land a nice grind or flip trick is great, almost as good as when you land one in real life. I'm actually very surprised this game would do so well after Tony hawks game have reigned supreme for skating games since like 1998, but looks like now there is a new kid on the block. I also look forward to proving ground but for now and a long time we will have S.K.A.T.E. Hey the more skate games the better!

Eat your heart out Tony Hawk.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought "Skate" today and downloaded Tony Hawk's "Proving Ground." Hands down, "Skate" is the new skate boarding champion. The new Flickit control actually feels more like skating, which makes you feel better for accomplishing certain tricks. You are going to hear about how there is a steep learning curve but to be honest, it wasn't as hard as I expected. Once you get into it, you are going to enjoy doing these tricks and it will come secondhand afterwards. On the contrary, Tony Hawk feels less realistic with its finger-smashing tricks. The graphics looks amazing. The camera angle is extremely close to the player, which makes it difficult to see everything around you. However, there is so much detail that you can't help but marvel at the awesome design. I am not a skater and this is my first skating game I ever bought but I am really enjoying it. With all the hype about this game, I took a chance and bought it. I don't regret it one bit. Move aside Tony Hawk. Here comes a real skating game.

A Skateboarder's Dream Come True

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: September 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First, I would like to say that I've been a die-hard Tony Hawk fan since the original Tony Hawk's Pro Skater dropped in 1999. I started skating in 1995 and at that time I dreamed about a REAL skateboarding game that would allow me to pull off some realistic tricks. Tony Hawk games have always been filled with an insane amount of real tricks and some cool environments, but they have never been considered simulation games. The goals, the environments, the speed, the crazy 1 million point combos - it's always been very over-the-top and very fictional. It has basically always been an action/adventure arcade game that happens to feature pro skaters and a crazy amount of skateboarding tricks. This is extremely fun for the first few games, but started to grow a little stale by the time the series went "underground". They have been consistent with adding new features and upgrades, but overall the entire concept had just become stale and boring.

Enter SKATE, EA's first attempt to de-throne King Tony. And we have a new champion on our hands, folks. This game makes Tony Hawk games look WEAK in comparison. Seriously, it's that good. Every trick is controlled with various "flicks" of the right analog stick. The only buttons that are used are the triggers (to grab the board with your left or right hand) and the X and A buttons (used for pumping with the left or right foot). This may sound limiting at first, but the different motions are almost endless. Basically every street trick (minus flatland, unfortunately) is in the game - the catch is that you have to LEARN the tricks.

I have to tell you that this game is hard and will take a lot of patience and practice to nail every trick. Grinds can be really difficult sometimes. Timing is everything in this game. For example, if you see a rail in the distance and you want to grind it, you must hold the analog stick down to crouch and then flick it up when you're close to the rail to ollie onto it (or flick it a different direction, such as diagonal, to do a kickflip or heelflip). If you're not lined up perfectly then you'll bail every time. You just have to think like a real skater. If you only have a casual interest in skating or if you want a more arcade-like experience where you can do crazy tricks and link together massive combos, just stick with Tony Hawk.

The graphics are amazing. Everything looks very real. The city is HUGE and is scaled perfectly. As an added bonus, the entire city (minus the skateparks) is unlocked from the beginning so you can freeskate the city for hours and find new spots. Unlike the Hawk games, you could easily spend 10 minutes trying to nail that perfect grind on a 10-stair handrail. Freeskate is actually more fun than the career mode sometimes.

The career mode is pretty sweet and includes a good variety of challenges. Not some goofy challenges like you would find in Tony Hawk, like "launch your skater into some life sized bowling pins" or "do a triple backflip off a 10 story building". I'm talking about REAL challenges like "follow homeboy to the 10 stair gap without hitting any pedestrians" or "do a kickflip to nosegrind on the handrail" or "win a game of S-K-A-T-E against your competitor."

The amount of clothing and accessories is also insane. Many big skate brands are in the game, such as DC, Etnies, eS, Circa, Lakai, and more. If you're a real skater, you might find the same t-shirt and shoes that you own! I decked my skater out with some nice threads and the same pair of Etnies shoes that I plan to buy in a month or so.

There is a good selection of tracks that include rock, rap, and everything in between. The soundtrack is fully customizable, too.

I haven't messed with the video editor yet, but it looks pretty sweet. You can add music, switch camera angles, add slow-mo effects, and more. That's more than I've ever seen in a skateboarding game (thus far), so I have no complaints here.

The bails look pretty brutal when you take a big fall or get hit by a car. Ouch! No blood though.

There is a map that you can access from your backpack that shows different spots and challenges. You can choose to skate to each spot or you can be warped there automatically to save time.

If you're skating on a long downhill street, start at the top and pump a few times. Then hold one of the triggers to crouch and grab your board. You will pick up some good speed. Just watch out for traffic, which can be pretty heavy sometimes!

The pedestrians react to you in funny ways. Sometimes they will yell at you if you skate too close or hit them. Sometimes they will praise you for an awesome trick. Sometimes they will even run over to you after you bail and ask if you're okay. There are other skaters around the best spots, so you have to be respectful and watch out for them, or else you will probably get hit and bail.

There is just so much to like about this game. I could go on forever, but I won't. Just do yourself a favor if you're a skater or a fan of skateboarding and BUY THIS GAME!!!

AMAZING!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: September 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i played the demo and then just got the game today. it is amazing. i love the feel of actually skateboarding other than like "they" say in the tony hawk games all u do is like tap buttons and everything. LOVE IT!!! this is a must buy game if you like realistic and skating. A+++++++++++

Amazing skating game. One of the best if not the best.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

As the title says, this game is amazing. I have played this game for countless hours, and I still have a great time playing it. There are a couple of annoying things in the game, but every game is going to have some parts like that. It would be nice if you could walk sometimes instead of skating everywhere. Overall I would recommend this game to anybody regardless if you like skateboarding or not.

Tony Hawk has a new neighbor!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was skeptical when I heard about this game, but till you play it you won't know how satisfying a simple kickflip is. skate is the best skateboarding game out, period. The controls are easy to get a grasp of, but take weeks to master! Whenever a goal is completed in this game you'll feel a sense of accomplishment that was missing from every Tony Hawk game. From beating a pro in a game of skate to winning the X-Games you'll be challenged the whole way through. The graphics are amazing with some of the best animations seen in any game. The soundtrack has a little bit of everything for everyone. Give this game a shot and I'm sure Tony will be forgotten. Not everything is perfect though. Being able to get off your skateboard to climb some steps would've been heaven-sent!! Some of the goals are a little obscure in their description. And finally the pedestrians mightas well be roadblocks in this game. But these gripes aren't large enough to hinder the greatness that is skate. Amazing game!

Better feel than other skateboarding games

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is very good for killing time on a boring day. The days of, " leaping off the ground,mashing a bunch of buttons, and stopping before you land", formula of skateboard games are over. When you grind on a rail in this game, you gotta hit that bad boy with perfection. I really liked the fact that I could choose how tight my trucks are, and the wheel hardness. The controls are rather complicated at first, but with a little practice you get used to them. Look on the bright side, it's still easier than learning to ollie for real,,and less painful. A few complaints though, you will run into more things than you ever have on a real skateboard, not just because it's a game and you can't get hurt for real, but because sometimes it's hard to see that rail right in front of you with that third person perspective, but I guess it was unavoidable. Another thing, if you bump into something, your skater will turn around, and then, the camera will whip around, if you get stuck bouncing off a lot of stuff, It can get a little dis-orienting. Yes, some of the tasks in this game are challenging, but the real frustration comes when having to consistantly set myself up for the trick. I can skate off to make it easier, but I don't always wind up in the perfect spot. Example, was the challenge where I had to jump a gap and score 300 pts in the process, it would always set me up a few feet from the edge of the ramp, it's impossible to get a push and ollie in time without hitting the edge and falling off, gotta turn around and skate around a bunch of people, and obstacles to get situated again. Sometimes, you'd feel like you were going to nail it, then another skater hits you outta nowhere. So, yeah, the game is fun and frustrating too, but I appreciate the challenge, just spending the time getting set up over and over makes me want to bail on the challenge after a while. I'm serious, you could spend thirty minutes to an hour trying to do the same thing over and over in this game. That feeling where your stuck in time, unable to acomplish, what a horrid feeling. I am glad you can drop the challenge and hit the open world. Slide on some curbs for a while, release some frustration. I hope in the sequel, I can get off and carry my board. Sometimes, I just want to be able to get off the board, and climb to the top of those stairs instead of skating around the block looking for the ramp up. Then, try to use the map to find your way back to that awesome rail, and falling off may require another trip around the block( it would be cool if he limped up the stairs..you could hit that ramp in a wheelchair....joking.). Gone is the realism of being able to step off the board, line yourself up with that sweet rail, running and leaping on your board with that little bit of momentum already propeling you forward. To sum up, it still is a very fun game, just look forward to a challenge, and hope my request of being able to get off the board goes through on the sequel.

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