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Last week, I took a trip to the EA Redwood Shores to get some hands on time with Skate 3. I briefly played the original Skate and found it to be a nice alternative to the Tony Hawk series but ultimately being a casual skate boarding fan, I decided to pass. A year later EA released Skate 2 and remembering my experience with the original, once again I decided to pass. So when EA asked me to attend a community event for Skate 3, I was unsure if i was the right person to attend but ultimately felt that since I am casual skateboarding fan, maybe I am the audience that developer Black Box is trying to capture.
Keep reading after the jump for my impressions of Skate 3.
What I enjoyed most about Skate 3 is that Black Box wants everyone to have fun and to learn how to skate, create and share. With Skate.School, casual fans are given a place to practice and hone their skills at a pace that is comfortable and does not force you to do anything until you are ready. Skate.Create is another feature designed to encourage creativity by allowing the design of custom content for private and public use. Skate.Park allows you to create and share the skate park of your dreams. The new and improved Skate.Graphics provides you the web tools needed to design custom logos and the ability to share from the comfort of your PC. With Skate.Reel, you will create and edit videos to show off your best stunts and tricks with all your friends and rivals from around the globe.
The online team based challenges were the highlight of Skate 3, these online modes allow for 3 vs 3 competitions that vary from time trail race events, head to head competitions, and capture the territory modes. I don't want to be too specific on what we saw at the event as this was pre-alpha code but lets just say I am determined to "Jump the Shark" and when I do I will be sharing it online for the world to see.
Lets take a look at some of the features you can expect in Skate 3:
- Team Up. Throw Down. - Work together to take on challenges and progress together through the career campaign or slay all suckers in head-to-head competitive battles for bragging rights. Players can keep tabs on the happenings of their teammates and rivals with Skate.Feed, the all-new game and web social network.
- New City, More Tricks, More Skate - Say hello to darkslides, underflips, and the all-new skate mecca, Port Carverton - featuring unique districts, plazas, skateparks and endless lines, this is the true skater's paradise.
- Build a Brand, Become a Mogul - Form teams and rise up to become a skate industry mogul by selling boards. From completing online challenges to creating skate parks to having your graphics downloaded, almost everything skaters do in the game counts towards their progression.
- Skate.Create and Share - Returning favorites Skate.Reel and Skate.Graphics are back. The all-new Skate.Park is an open canvas for players to create their dream plaza or mega-ramp park. Once created, they can share their masterpieces with the world by uploading them directly from their console.
- Always Room For Meat - Hall of Meat is back and gnarlier than ever. Gamers can brutalize their skaters in the harshest ways possible with all-new total body control bails. Get ready for carnage that is sure to make players cringe.
Ultimately I walked away from Skate 3 impressed, Black Box has done an excellent job in making Skate 3 accessible for both the hardcore and casual skate fan. Being able to skate, share and create is what bring a new and returning audience to the series and it is the same skate, share and create that will keep you coming back for more.
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