First Thirty: Skate 2

By Joe Haygood | January 16, 2009

As I came home from work the other day, a mysterious package sat upon my front door.  Seems that someone thought I should take a look at a new game coming out, and lo and behold, it was a copy of Skate 2.  As always, I immediately sat down to take a thirty minute stroll through the confines of the New San Vanelona.

I decided to go with the career mode, which allows you to create a personalized skater, adjusting all the usual suspects.  A fair amount of clothing was available, though most was locked for the time being.  I cannot remember in the first Skate game, but you can be a man or woman in Skate 2.  I just don’t remember that being an option, but I could be wrong.  You are then greeted with a funny intro video, that has you exiting prison, where you meet up with your favorite announcer, Cuz.

Shortly thereafter, you can go through training, which I did, and you make your way to the old skatepark, where you start to take on some challenges.  A couple of new things showed up along the way, like being able to get off your board (THANK YOU!), and setting a marker, which allows you to fast travel to a point.  The game uses this to set you at the top of a ramp.  Instead of walking back up the ramp, you can just recall the marker.  Very cool indeed.  You can now move stuff as well which may come in handy later in the game.

I did try out a few of the intro challenges, and they are pretty typical of Skate.  One thing is that the controls seem to have a better snap to them.  I loved the controls in the original Skate, but they seem to have been touched up just a bit for the sequel.  I just found myself hitting tricks a lot better right off the bat, instead of learning the system. 

So far, the game is looking good.  I will be skateboarding my way through all the new spots in San Vanelona this weekend, so come back next week for the full review of Skate 2.