Tom Webb

First thoughts, I was left confused and frustrated. The controls felt clunky and floaty. I couldn't get anything timed correctly and it all felt very underwhelming. The lack of points challenges and any narrative really just emphasises that this was built as a simulator more than an arcade challenge. As a simulator, the game sets you up with a series of walk-through challenges to help you master the mechanics. Other than this, there's really nothing that tries to engage you other than your own creativity. Once you do start to get an understanding of the controls, the game opens up endless waves of satisfaction littered around the few, but large, maps. Moves such as reverts, power-slides, and pre-winding spins can demand a lot of technical mastery but a lot of that is down to your own creative ideas. However, the lack of basic options such as tweaking your trucks for tighter turns seems careless. Many of these options are available as mods on PC. If you skate, or understand style in skateboarding and creating "lines", then with some persistence you will be able to eventually enjoy the game... a lot. It's a bit like watching a boxset that isn't any good until the 3rd season. But if you're looking for an arcade game with structure, characters, and an end goal narrative then it's unlikely you'll find much fun in this. In a perfect world, if you took the mechanics of this game and put it inside Skate 4 it would be amazing (with snap-to-grind options etc). As it is, this isn't something anyone should pay for as a full game.The absence of point-based tasks and any linear direction is weak and will put off most gamers, but the potent satisfaction at the end of the steep learning curve makes it an eventually fun 'pick up and play' session game.