Scott

So far three stars... PLATFORM: PS4 I just got the game yesterday and having been a skater for 20+ years growing up with THPS and Skate, I was really hyped for a new skating game, despite the fact that EA have now announced a new Skate and THPS 1&2 are being remastered and released this year (will they have the Autokick Off option and Sim Mode cheat though!? That's the big question for me lol). Skater XL seemed like a nice new prospect, and while it has been pretty low key with it's console release it was a day one buy by virtue of it's acclaim on PC alone. Sadly it feels like the PS4 version is really just a Beta and so far not worthy of the £34.99 price tag I paid for it. I'm all for supporting Indie companies so no qualms there but I really hope we see a lot of incoming quality of life and updates and other improvements before long. Graphically it's ok but not amazing... I do like how natural some of the trick animations feel, although the real time physics do at times feel borderline True Skate (the mobile game) where your board looks like it's half way between floating matrix style somewhere mid flip and actually getting put down and landed cleanly... although to be fair you just have to watch Street League a few times tonsee that kind of thing happen IRL. Front and Backside 180s feel smooth and steezy (think Tom Penny's switch FS 180 in that legendary school line he did) and while I'm not a massive fan of the control scheme as I feel that it's far more intuitive to use the left analogue stick steer your skater rather than the triggers, it could grow on me over time. Anyway here's what I feel the PS4 (and other console versions?) needs based on what I've played so far. Bear in mind that I have no idea where the PC version is at as I'm not yet a PC gamer! It would also be a lot of fun on Switch just because it would be portable. - The "legacy" i.e. Skate control scheme as an option. - The ability to get off your board. - Powerslides and tail drag stops. - Late flips? Not sure if you can do them already! - Footplant tricks like no complys, bonelesses etc - Better character customization and clothing options - More options in Settings to tweak camera distance and other fine tuning stuff like that. This is also based on me literally having just bought the game without playing it a whole lot already.... so these are effectively just initial impressions. My big takeaway at this point though is that the game does feel a bit Beta and should have cost at least £10 less... and for the console versions at least where modding is not an option, they should have labeled the game as Early Access or Beta... 🤙