Skate 2: Tony Hawk Edition

[lost]

So! What did everybody think of the Skate 2 demo?

Personally I was pretty happy that they maintained the control system and it seems much tighter at recognizing input. Everything looked pretty and replays are still a blast.

The game did have the distinct smell of Tony Hawk around it though. I'm not complaining, I love Tony Hawk but I'm not sure everybody will dig an actual storyline. Getting off your board has been included and that's great because the game really needed it. The dude moved too slow though, it's only meant to be a stopgap. You want on your board again as soon as possible.

Also, the moving items around the world thing? I dunno.

I'm still very excited about the game but I think if they take things in this direction it'll begin to look like a knock-off. Then again, I guess the Tony Hawk series has done just about everything to stay popular over the last decade.

[vallancian]

the whole point of skate was to go around a set world and find your own spots etc. whereas on this it just seems like they were too lazy and let you go do it yourself because they cant be bothered. its a great game and everything but its goin too much like tony hawk. im still gona buy it purely because the first one was awesome.

[Gusj]

I never played the original Skate (only the demo) so I can't compare with that, but when I played the demo of Skate 2 I did notice that it was very similar to Tony Hawk Underground (the last TH I played) with the story telling.
Part from that I really liked the control scheme. I remember the demo of Skate 1 was too short for me to get a hold of the controls, but this time I got enough time to learn the basics. I had fun with it so I want the full version. Money is kind of thight now though, so I may pick up a used copy of the original instead.

[Triprotic]

I think it's hard to tell from the demo how the whole game will pan out.

The first game had a story, even if it was a weak one so I'm not so fussed. I'm just hoping that when the game does let you run around the world free there will be lots of places and areas to find and skate that will feel like natural skate spots, and not have forced placement of ramps and rails like in Tony Hawks.

Getting off the board it pretty essential tbh, to climb over small obstacles, get up steps or walk up ramps even), thankfully they've not made it like tomb raider where you can jump and climb over everything. Making the walk/sprint so slow is also a good thing as it encourages you to stay on your skate board more.

After playing the demo of skate 2, there were a few things that I thought were great additions, and will make the game awesome all round.

- Grabbing objects and moving them into position. Ok, so Tony Hawks has had the ability yo move things around and make you own areas, but having to get your character to move them makes it feel like you have an effect on the world, and you have more precise control over where things are.
- The hippy jump. This was sorely missing from skate1, especially since it was shown in the original promo videos. It good fun and satisfying to pull on off where you jump over something and your skate board goes under. Try it over the park bench in the demo.
- The video editor. Wow, I've spent I don't know how long in the video editor (since the demo timer doesn't count down while you're in it), it's easy to use and you're got a lot of control. Not as much control as I'd like, but it still fun mixing up the cameras and speeds on a well done trick line or a particularly funny bail.

Those things plus all the other new tricks they've put in (rail grabs, hand plants, etc...) make it really hard to wait for the full game.

Note: I loved the Tony Hawks games, but dropped them like a ton of bricks as soon as skate1 came out due to the personal sense of achievement from doing even simple tricks compared to the buttons mashing, balls of cheese games that Tony Hawks turned into.

[ElektroDragon]

I thought that Skate 2 is trash compared to Skate 1, based on the demo. Yes, I own Skate 1 and have played it quite a bit.

[beefyjr]

I thought that the demo was disappointing. Getting off the board and moving shit around felt really clunky, and I'm not really sold on the moving shit around part. I'll reserve final judgment on that until I play the retail game.

More distressing to me is the prospect of having to jump through a bunch of fucking hoops to play the game. I spent maybe an hour working on career mode stuff in the original Skate; that game's main appeal to me was just cruising around, coming up with lines and putting a video together. Even more so than the controls, that aspect of the game really captured the essence of real skateboarding: hanging out, taking stock of your environment and using your creativity to make your own fun. It stripped out all of the video gamey bullshit that the THPS series has been a slave to since it started. Somehow Black Box seems to be oblivious to that, because instead of focusing on the awesome shit that makes their game different than the competition's, they've managed to make it look pretty fucking similar.

So yeah, I totally agree that this (at least right now) looks more like a Tony Hawk game. If the game has a free skate mode right out the gate, I'm in. But I'm really uninterested in having to slog through a shitty story mode in my skateboarding game just so I can open up new areas to skate, and the idea of getting chased around by cops and security guards doesn't appeal to me at all. It's a shame that this went from a must-have to a wait-and-see, because the first Skate was my GOTY for 2007.

[lost]

The security bit of the original Skate was easily the worst part of it. Effectively barring you from certain areas.

Bringing it back, never mind building on it, was a bad idea.

[beefyjr]

Totally. I seriously feel like they don't realize what made their game so special and different. I mean, really; who wants to play a story mode in their skateboarding game? They would have been much better served by taking a page from Burnout Paradise and just making an open world where you can toggle into challenges if you want to and making it easy to invite your friends into the game with you.

[lost]

I think you've hit the nail on the head there.

Problem is that the first skate took a good few years to develop. They're now on a very nearly yearly schedule. Makes it easier to expand on the easy stuff.

The demo should make people sympathize with Neversoft. I don't think people realised how well they actually coped with the schedule and how much they looked to improve and change and add every year.