Anyone who has played either of its predecessors will instantly feel familiar with the format of Skate 3. The game starts with a live action video featuring cameos from every professional skater in the game. This little introduction is meant to serve as the base point for a rather unconvincing story. Most people will realise that skateboarding games aren’t designed to bring you a thrilling narrative, and that trend continues here. In short, instead of earning experience points you’ll be earning board sales. The more challenges you complete, the more fame your company gains and in turn, the more sales you earn. The increased number of sales will allow you to access a greater amount of customisable attire for your character and team mates. It’s your objective to become the most successful skateboarder in the whole of ‘Carverton’ (original, right?).
After making your skater wear some ridiculously tight clothing, you’ll finally be allowed to start playing the game, at which time you'll begin to notice that Skate 3 looks almost identical to its predecessor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as the game is far from ugly, but a lot of the characters and in-game objects lack an extra layer of polish. The environments generally look quite natural and blend well together, but seeing a blocky car driving through the streets in a very erratic motion definitely takes away from what is an otherwise good looking game. It’s functional, but you can’t stop feeling that your console is capable of so much more.
"Didn't expect to find me here, did you?"
Skate 3’s presentation, again, offers nothing new. The HUD is kept to the bare minimum while accessing challenges through a map in the pause menu makes travelling to different locations much easier. However, the developers have removed one feature - the mobile phone. Gone are the days where you’ll be contacting friends in order to get rid of security guards or to drain a pool. Instead, every part of the game is accessed from the pause menu and just like the graphics, Black Box have made this functional but uninteresting. Hopping between challenges and different game modes is relatively quick and easy, so in that sense it’s mission accomplished.
Not much has changed in terms of the gameplay either. The control scheme remains unchanged, so prepare to twitch those analogue sticks. Skate was a breath of fresh air, completely removing the use of face buttons to perform tricks. Each analogue stick controls a particular foot and depending on how you move them, players will be able to jump and flip their way to some impressive scores. From the outset, every trick in the game is unlocked, but it’s going to take a lot of practice in order to master each one. To coincide with the finger flipping goodness, both of your hands are mapped to a shoulder button. This will allow you to grab your board in whatever way you can imagine, all the while performing spins and backflips. The controls are demanding no matter what skill level you’re at, but a helpful tutorial from none other than Jason Lee will help you get to grips with how Skate works.
Thankfully Black Box has listened to the criticism directed towards the off-board movements, which have previously been a little rough to say the least. Skate 3 has fixed almost every issue with character movement, allowing for a much smoother experience when you’re trying to drag objects around your favourite public park. Jumping still feels slightly unnatural, but this is only a minor hindrance. Further improvements have also been made to the ‘Hall of Meat’ challenges which proved to be a great new addition to the series. Online lobbies were previously ruined by a glitch allowing players to fly into the air gaining absurd scores. Competitive matches are now a much more even affair with everyone getting a chance to crush as many bones as possible.
Music is something that goes hand in hand with skateboarding. The set-list for Skate 3 brings in a wide array of genres ranging anywhere from rap to metal. Black Box always manage to compile some of the best musicians around, so expect to be jumping over gaps while listening to Joy Division, or grinding down a hundred metre rail to the sounds of Them Crooked Vultures. When everything flows correctly, then it can be one of the most rewarding games out there. There’s always a great sense of accomplishment when you win a competition listening to your favourite song, Skate 3 will give you that feeling many times over.
The photo editor, making average tricks look incredible.
The majority of your time will be spent playing through Skate 3’s ten hour solo career. Challenges include photos and videos, races and competitions along with a number of encounters with other professional skaters. At this stage you might be starting to wonder, was this sequel needed and does it really warrant a one hundred dollar price tag? Even though Black Box has made improvements, veterans will certainly feel short changed because nothing worthwhile has been added. Sure, you can take plenty of photos and build some impressive looking parks but we've seen these features already in past Skate games and the Tony Hawk series.
Even the much touted online component of Skate 3 lacks originality. One of the main new features for Skate 3 is the idea behind having your own team of skaters (both online and offline). After the creation of your company, skateboarders will join your team, giving you the opportunity to play co-operative challenges. Of course this idea was mainly designed to be used with friends in the online world so you won’t be getting the full experience by playing with the AI. Unfortunately, Skate 3 is a bit of a mess when it comes to co-operative play. Your AI teammates look like they dropped out of school five years too soon, so don’t be surprised if you see them pushing their board into a brick wall over and over again. This is a pretty major issue since both skaters need to complete each challenge. Having one half of your team staring at concrete or walking around in circles doesn’t help your progression through the game.
If you have some friends who are willing to help you, then these problems will disappear. But that doesn’t address the fact that Skate 3's online just involves adding another player or two, as the core gameplay is still identical and lacks any fresh ideas. Having your own team and competing against others around the world is enjoyable, but it’s not exactly revolutionary. And that’s where Skate 3 disappoints - there simply hasn’t been enough of an improvement to justify releasing it so soon. It’s hard not to feel that Black Box have been too hasty in releasing this, especially when you take into account that there are issues with the online servers and the fact that many achievements on the Xbox 360 version won’t unlock. Glitches and bugs should not occur in such a high profile sports game and if Skate 2 is anything to go by, then we won’t be seeing a patch for a number of months.
"I swear, if one of you screws this up..."
Skate 3 is a difficult game to judge. There are a number of bugs and glitches that need to be fixed sooner rather than later. The core gameplay is identical to the previous Skate title released in 2009 and Black Box has failed to introduce any groundbreaking new features that would warrant forking out for their latest game. At the same time, it's the only option for fans of the genre. Since the decline of the Tony Hawk franchise, there hasn’t been any competition and this could well be the reason for Skate 3’s lack of ambition. However, when all is said and done, the core elements are still the same and when you finally do pull off a ‘miracle whip’, then Skate 3 will satisfy you like no other sports game can.
Fortunately for Black Box, the pros have outweighed the cons this year, but only just. This is still a well crafted skateboarding game, but it was also well crafted in 2009. If you already have Skate 2 then you may want to reconsider buying this. If you want the most complete skateboarding game on the market, then this has just scraped in as your best option. The decision is yours.
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