So you want to be a professional Skateboarder, but you suck and don’t want to have crowds of people laughing in your face as you attempt an ollie only to fall flat on your face or maybe your just too old to lace them up anymore who knows. Well If you fall into one of those categories or you just like pulling off insane tricks on the go you may want to grab EA’s newest iPhone game entitled Skate It.
Skate It is a very realistic skating game where you have many skate parks at your finger tips, literally. First off you can create your own skater by using the many customization features such as body, face, board, and outfit. Many of these features will be locked at the start but as you progress through the game you unlock many items which add for some added fun throughout the game.
The main focus of the game is Career mode in which you travel to about 20 different skate parks to do various tasks. Each skate park has many tasks to perform and many different ramps and objects to skate around on. The tasks include anything from doing various skate tricks such as riding the rail, racing against an opponent, or playing a game of horse with a pro skater.
Once you complete a given task you can unlock other tasks in each park as well as unlock various customizable objects. The other modes of the game consist of Freeskate which lets you skate around freely. You can also select pro skaters that you unlock in career mode. The other modes are My Spot, which lets you create your own skate park, and My Skate which lets you customize your skater.
The controls of the game can be somewhat tricky and one of the major flaws of Skate It. The controls consist of both touch and tilt control. To get moving simply tap the push button on the bottom right of the screen and to grab while in the air simply tap the hand button at the top left of the screen.
Steering is used by tilting the device left and right. To perform various tricks such as an ollie, kickflip, grinds, etc. simply draw a “flickit” gesture on the touch screen. Drawing gestures are easier said than done. First you have to remember the gestures to truly enjoy the game which isn’t fun. You can go to the menu and a trick book option is available to look up specific gestures for the moves you need to perform.
You need to draw while skating and most of the time you will block your view when you are drawing creating some frustrating times in the game. Also many of the tricks have similar drawing patterns so many times it will perform a different trick then you want to. Sometimes the tricks seem a little delayed which can mess you up if you are trying to perform a certain trick in a certain area. Many tasks in Career mode become frustrating because you need to perform a certain trick but many times you can’t get it to work right. This hinders your ability to move on in the game and it often becomes to frustrating to continue.
As you play though it becomes easier as you grasp the controls and figure ways around its flaws. The graphics of the game are in rich 3D environments which make Skate It stand out from other games. Every skate park has wonderful graphics and stunning visuals that make you feel like you are truly skateboarding.
The one downside of the graphics is the characters themselves. The face selections are very odd looking and can be very unrealistic but that is a small complaint which doesn’t take anything away from the game. The menu graphics and interface are stunning as well and really fit the skater punk edge that you want from a game like this. The main menu features skateboards which you slide, this can be a little frustrating at times because the sensitivity is too high.
You will often flip past the option you wish to choose. EA is known for their music in games and Skate It is no different. The music is superb and features many hit rock/punk songs that go along great with skateboarding. You can also select the option to play your own music.
Overall Skate It is a top notch skateboarding game but has some control flaws that bring it down. This game is a must have for any skateboarding fan though. It even features many pro skaters such as the famous Rob Dyrdek. The game lets you replay your tricks as well by tapping a camera on the side of the screen, it lags slightly but it is a cool option that lets you really play around and have fun performing tricks.
Skate It is a game that has everything you want in a game: great graphics, fun game play, excellent music but lacks in good controls. This flaw can be simply overcome depending on how good you become at it or may even be resolved in future updates of the app. If you love skateboarding in real life or enjoy watching the pros perform those sick tricks then you should definitely give this game a try. Electronic Arts has put out another top notch game and it is one that I will continue to play and work around the controls because it is that good.