Skate It Review
By Wrecker + Schrekdog
The city of San Vanelona has mysteriously been destroyed and all of the residents have evacuated. Well, everyone except you, your budding cameraman and your skateboard. How appropriate then, that this urban wasteland has provided the perfect setting for a skater's playground. So, hop on your board and get to it, you have many tricks, grinds, manuals and jumps to perform in your attempt to become the skater of the year.
Although Skate It is again set in San Vanelona, as was the case in 2007’s Skate on the Xbox 360 & PS3, the game is not a port or a sequel. It does however use a modified version of Skate’s game engine. The best place to start in the game is the tutorials or freeskate mode. The tutes teach you the basics such as steering, manuals and many of the tricks. In freeskate mode you just select an area, such as the local school or plaza, and basically do as you like. There are no other people present in the on-screen action in any of the game modes. At times, this tends to give the game a somewhat empty feel, but maybe that’s to some peoples liking.
Career mode is the main game mode and this involves you attempting to complete various tricks and challenges to earn sponsorship and unlock various skate gear. As you progress, well known pro skaters, such as Mike Carroll and Danny Way, will ask you to perform specific tasks as well. You will also get the chance to skate at various real world skate locations including Brazil, China, Spain, France & England. The overall aim of this mode is to become skate magazine ‘Thrasher’ skater of the year.
Skaters also have the ability to take photos and footage of whatever tricks they like. There is a complete replay editor included which is actually quite advanced for the Wii standards; you can cut, edit save or simply replay your big tricks or spills. At times the gameplay feels a bit convoluted as there seems to be a lot going on at once. Go here; achieve this; take a photo; make a video; check your e-mail. It can be a bit unstructured but it adds some variety and eventually you get used to it.
There are three ways in which Skate It can be controlled; the Wiimote, the Wiimote and nunchuck, or by the Wiimote and Balance Board. In all three modes the player uses the A button to push and the B button to grab. The single Wiimote controls involve tilting the controller left and right to steer and up and down to perform manuals. Tricks are performed by flicking the Wiimote in certain directions, with variations performed by twisting. This method is quite intuitive, although it can be difficult at times whilst twisting the remote at the same time. For more precise controls the Wiimote and nunchuck are the go. Steering is performed with the directional stick on the nunchuck as well as controlling aerial manoeuvres. With this better steering it is a bit easier to perform tricks. And that leads us to the Wiimote and Balance Board. Obviously for the most realistic experience the Balance Board is a must. Lean on the board left and right to steer or forwards and backwards for manuals. Initially the steering is way too sensitive and we had to turn it down to be able to steer comfortably. The tricks are performed via six areas on the balance board with a low or high pressure variant for each, providing the possibility of twelve tricks at any one time. All your standard skate tricks are there ranging from manuals, varials (shuv its) and ollies to name only a few. There are four different preset trick lists to choose from via the D-pad as well.
A warning for Balance Board owners, with Skate It you will find it is difficult to stop yourself jumping on the board, or trying to flip or ollie the board like you might on a real skateboard. Once you overcome this urge, you will find that the board is reasonably responsive, but mastering the tricks is a different story. At times it is difficult to execute the trick you want even when you are sure you did it correctly. This inaccuracy in the Balance Board controls can be somewhat frustrating, especially when required to perform specific tricks. In short, persistence is the name of this game; the more you do it the better you'll get. There also is a certain satisfaction gained from correctly completing tough tricks; even if it was a fluke.
Goofy footers fear not. You have been catered for here. Often balance board games only features natural stance, but it would have been remiss of the developers not to include a goofy stance option in a skateboard game.
The game has some nice vibratrion effects for the Wiimote, not only does the Wiimote vibrate when you have a big stack but it also vibrates as you skate over different surfaces.
Skate It contains four multiplayer minigames. They are best trick, best line, best time and hall of meat. There is no simultaneous play here; it’s one at a time pass and play. While this works ok, it may have worked better split-screen as you have to wait for your turn and for it to load and recalibrate every time you swap over. The most unique of these minigmaes is the hall of meat, where the objective is to do as much damage to your character as possible by deliberately crashing into objects or launching Lemmings style off high places. Although a bit of fun can be gained from these multiplayer games they don’t add too much to the overall game. Unfortunately there is no online multiplayer, or online sharing of your custom vids which would have added another dimension to the game.
The animations in Skate It are good, the manoeuvres look realistic and there are some nice cringe-worthy spills, although the graphics tend to look a little washed out and bland looking at times, but perhaps this was the feel the art directors were looking for. The menus are all presented well and are clear and colourful. You do have limited ability to customize your character model; up close these models look a bit poor though. There are also plenty of well known skater brands present such as DC and Globe to pimp out your character. One nice touch is when you crash the screen turns to a slow-mo black and white film negative that allows you to appreciate each bone crush and tendon pop. Overall the graphics are quite good for the Wii, just don’t load it up side by side with Xbox 360 or PS3 equivalents.
The sound in Skate It is of a very good quality. The soundtrack has your typical skater punk/ska style tracks, but there is some variety present too in the form of some funk, hip-hop, classic (The Clash, The Specials), and even a metal track. This gives the soundtrack a slightly more diverse and balanced feel, which is a welcome change from just a list of full-on punk songs. The good news is if there are any songs you can’t stand you can always exclude them via the options menu.
The sound effects are appropriate and do their job quite well. The various 'flip' noises of the board; the sounds of the surfaces you skate on; the body smack of a big spill; all effects are what you'd expect from a skating game. The voice acting, mostly from skate pros, is adequate and your camera sidekick provides a constant commentary of the goings on. At times he can be humorous, other times rather annoying. If you leave the game after a while he'll start rambling about trivial things, like where to get a nice sandwich, which is quite amusing.
The game can be difficult to play at times and it is very tough to master the Balance Board, but there is no shortage of tips and info given to you on-screen and by your camera buddy. The best fun is had with the Balance Board as it is the closest mode to mimicking a real skateboard. It can be challenging, but the fact that you require some good co-ordination adds another layer of depth and realism to the game. Having said that the other modes both work well, and you don’t necessarily have to have a Balance Board to get something out of this title.
Skate It has good graphics, a decent soundtrack and innovative controls. Sure, the storyline is odd (to say the least), the camera guy can get annoying and there are some hit and miss moments with the controls. However the gameplay is solid and the balance board controls will force you to get up off the couch and do something that involves some real co-ordination. Although there isn’t much competition, Skate It is definitely the best skateboarding game you can get for the Wii; and how else you can practice your skate board tricks at home without breaking your bones or your skateboard.
Gameplay: 7.0
Good core gameplay, three intuitive control systems to choose from, although difficult to perfect, and a somewhat strange storyline. But it's all about the skating, right?
Graphics: 7.5
Great looking menus and reasonable in game graphics. Backgrounds look a bit drab, no real eye candy on the levels.
Sound: 8.0
Nice soundtrack, good sound effects and adequate but sometimes annoying voice acting. Overall very good.
Difficulty: 8.0
Easy enough to get into, but mastering is another story. Balance board is fun but can be frustrating.
Value: 7.5
Lengthy single player campaign, lots of in-game help plus a decent replay editor. Multiplayer games don't add much plus no online play.
Overall: 7.5
Skate It is definitely the best skateboarding game you can get for the Wii. Skaters and non-skaters will both enjoy and get something out of it.