Skate 2 Reviews

  • AbylitiesAbylities97,108
    29 Jan 2009
    37 5 10
    I'm awfully afraid of reviewing this game, because, after the 6 days straight I've spent playing it, I can think of little other than phrases singing it's praise. But I'll try not to be biased.


    Skate 2's starts with you, previous SOTY, being released from prison. What you did is unclear, although there joking speculation that you beat someone at a football match with Haggis (I wonder where that Scottish joke came from?). As you would expect from there on, you spend your time remembering to skateboard, and climbing your way back up the ladder, gathering sponsorships and contacts. In my opinion, the storyline is a lot better than it even needs be; I'd be happy with a map and a skateboard.

    The first instance of interaction with the game comes with creating your character - a feature that was fantastic in the original skate. There is very little difference in the sequel - create a face, adjust your weight, choose hair color, then move on hastily to skateboard. Although the create-a-character feature still isn't fantastic and your skater can tend to look a bit... otherworldly, it's there. It's good (or should I say, adequate), and quick. The next step is choosing your clothes and gear, of which there is a lot of choice. There's obviously a lot of brand influence here, but all legitimate skateboarding brands and neither company is favored - the choice is completely yours (although I have to say, the game really wants you to wear a 59/50... very few other styles of hats even exist in the store).

    I've said before, I would have been perfectly happy paying £40 for a whole new San Vanelona, a new map to play around on. And with the few changes EA have made to the gameplay, that's almost exactly what skate 2 is. So after saying that and receiving it, am I happy? Absolutely. The story dictates that San Van fell victim to major land-changes while you were tucked away in jail, so there are still a fair few spots recognizable, but the city has been re-laid and it really does just feel so much better. You can still cruise through Old Town, warp to the DC Mega ramp or bomb the hills of the Rez, but the entire place is remodeled and really works nicely.

    The overall feel of the game is still fantastic, flickit feels beautiful and there are a few new tricks such as no-complies and hippie jumps that have been incorporated quite nicely. Obviously a huge feature implemented is being able to get off your board - this, I'm afraid, is not the game's strongest point. By pressing Y you jump off your board, giving you the ability to run up stairs, move objects to skate and so on. But this feels awfully clunky, requiring both sticks to move around properly, being very sluggish to turn, and you're even unable to walk backwards in the slightest. Although I can appreciate walking up stairs, I feel the game could completely do without this feature. Objects you move are likely to be pushed around by pedestrians/security guards, and it forces you all too often to use your feet instead of your wheels. A severe disappointment in an otherwise brilliant game.

    Achievements... Well, those of you that played the first skate will know that a full thousand in the game took less than a week's play and was never especially tasking. In this game they've stepped it up slightly, but not to a point where you're unable to achieve 100%, not by any means. You're looking at about 900/1000 by simply playing through, no especially hard achievements, and then the last 100 is just slightly time-consuming, with online freeskate activities and Legend rank being the hardest. Absolutely a game to 100%, just perhaps with a little longer than the first.


    Overall, skate 2 is an improvement on it's predecessor, with a fantastic map, a few new tricks and some really great challenges. The graphics aren't quite as enhanced as I was expecting, and getting off your board is a severe pain - though it doesn't hinder gameplay if you avoid it, leading me to give this game a solid 5 stars.
    5.0
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    AdamRawrrSkate 2 vs Tony Hawks?
    Posted by AdamRawrr on 15 Mar 09 at 22:37
    PeteMintSkate 2 all day long, TH sucks bad, it's all just button bashing.
    Posted by PeteMint on 28 Apr 09 at 17:42
    FarBeefI love this game, The only thing that really BUGS me about the game is that some of the music is pritty bad. not all of it: theres some Nas, LL Cool J and other nice tunes but for the most part I think that the music could have been thought out a little more
    Posted by FarBeef on 20 Feb 10 at 20:27
  • PeteMintPeteMint88,245
    28 Apr 2009
    14 4 0
    Well, I will try to be as fair as I can.

    To start, Skate 1 was the MOST playable game I've ever played, and I really couldn't wait for the release of Skate 2.

    I bought it on release day, and when I got home, I wasn't dissapointed.
    Everything that was wrong with Skate 1, has been fixed, and improvements all round.

    You can even skip the video intros if you don't wanna watch all the storyline, and just skate. Which you couldn't do in Skate 1, and it was a pain.

    So, the gameplay, well, loads of new stuff, you can now get off your board, which is VERY handy, as sometimes in Skate 1, you would be sat at home shouting at the TV "I wish I could get of my friggin board!!!".

    So, new challenges, new maps, great download addons, and an awesome game all round.

    For anyone who liked Skate 1, you will love this game, for anyone who didn't try Skate 1, this is an awesome game, and well worth buying for any gamer.
    I would easily say it's the most playable game I've ever had the joy of playing, and all my games were put to one side for a good few weeks, whilst all I did was skate, skate, and a little more skating. lol

    Go buy it now!!!!!
    4.0
  • Broken WaifuBroken Waifu310,731
    01 Sep 2011 03 Sep 2011
    6 2 2
    I have no idea why i downloaded this game in the first maybe it was the fact that i had the first game and i wanted a game on demand. Wierdly this game is awesome and fixes all the problems Skate 1 had mostly by letting you get off your damn skateboard and not being stuck on the roadside not being able to get up the curb. The flick-it control style seemed annoying on the first game but somehow it seems to work better on the second game after a while you get so used the Flick-it controls the idea about going back to a Tony Hawks style skateboarding seems insane. The city is great apart from guards pushing you off your skateboards and tazering you seems abit extreme if you ask me and some of the missions seems like the game just wants to laugh at you by putting you in a place with guards and telling you to do a stupid task. You can change what your character looks like with inbuild clothes or if you can be bothered you can go on the Skate 2 Website and make custom stuff so you can show off online with a big picture of Kirby on your chest but doing it is some ackward i say its a waste of time. DLC in this game is good giving you two rubbish places with easy achievements and three places from Skate 1 but with no cars and proper controls. The only thing that lets this game down is some of the missions like "Can you spell Girl?" when you need to cheat to complete a mission you know its bad times and some of the things you have to do are insane and not hard to do but just ankward with the flick-it controls. A great feature in this game is party play its great to see local multiplayer its so rare to see in this day and age and wierdly Skate 3 toke it out why i'll never know but apartly it's bad in skate 3 with DLC but i downloaded that DLC and can't find the party play but never mind. Party play i say is one of the best things about this game nothing is better than trying to kill your skater in more harsh ways than your friends and seeing who can break more bones kinda kicks the whole skateboarding style in the head but who cares its fun.
    5.0
  • Removed Gamer
    Gamer has been removed
    4 9 2
    This game is fun but also stupid at moments i liked it for the graphics and also how far you can go in customization.If you like Tony Hawk games then you might like this. Skaters have to buy this game because it will be an easy game because you know what to do. This game has good gameplay and also very good music in my mind. The DLC's are also worth buying. This game might get hard at moments but just come back to it and then play it again.If you like skate games then get this one don't get skate 3 or original skate just buy this one its the best and people are also online at all times.This game also has replay feture which is also pretty cool to mess with.
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