GOTY 2020 - NUMBER NINE
Video version

2020 was the year that skateboarding games finally came back. Not to ignore the brilliant OlliOlli games that have kept me going over the last decade, but with Skater XL, Tony Hawk’s 1&2, the Early Access launch of Session, and the long-needed announcement of Skate 4, the genre feels more alive and diverse than ever. Crucially, all these games are distinct and have reason to coexist. Skater XL feels like the most successful step forward for the genre of the bunch.

Skater XL is very niche. While something like Tony Hawk’s might appeal to fans of 3D platformers or high-skill arcade games, Skater XL is designed much more for people who love skateboarding. There’s no real game here. It’s more of a toy. A set of different levels to mess about in, with no set goals or progression. For many, those things just clutter up a good skateboarding game. This isn’t interested in the standard structure of a videogame.

While Skate bewildered many THPS fans by taking more of a simulation-style approach, Skater XL makes that feel simplistic and videogamey. Skate approximates the movement of your feet based on how you move the right analogue stick. Skater XL splits control of each foot between the two analogue sticks. The advantage is not only how each trick feels, but the control you have – how hard you push a kickflip or how far you spin the skateboard for a shove-it. This gives you far wider range of options in how you approach obstacles, and the inspiration you get while weighing up the possibilities. A smoothly performed manual on a picnic table in Skater XL can feel far more satisfying than a 5-minute unbroken combo in THPS.

The whole things feels very much like an evolution of Skate. A wee group of skateboarding enthusiasts who loved the game, but were frustrated by how it chose to present certain things. Not to say that Skater XL is better than Skate. The levels are relatively cramped, and there’s animation and collision issues all over the thing. There’s none of Skate’s brilliant weight-shifting manipulation. The game’s strength is in the fidelity of the controls for street skating. Skateboarding is a creative experience, and Skater XL makes Skate feel like trying to paint a portrait with a crayon.

If you’re into this stuff, returning to Skater XL after a week feels incredible. After all the linear, join-the-dots blockbusters of the current games industry, or even the hectic, pushy noise and clatter of the old stuff, it’s great to have games that are played entirely on your own terms. Your engagement with Skater XL hinges entirely on what it inspires you to try, and what you can get out of its mechanics.

I kind of hate critical summaries of games that posit that if you’re not already a fan of the genre or franchise, an otherwise appealing game will do nothing for you. It dismisses games as mere merchandise, and not things that have value in their own right. It creates artificial boundaries to those who might want to try something different. Games that have nothing to do with skateboarding could learn from Skater XL. It’s just a nice wee thing.

I got a PS4! And of course that means the game I've spent the most time in so far has been a skateboarding sim that is on every platform! I'm known for making the best decisions!

Anyways, I feel like the low score on this website is because of it's initial price point but you see, I got this game for $20 used and for that I think it's really good! Controls are really fluid and honestly almost on par with the skate series. Of course there's plenty of weird physics bugs and such but honestly that barely hindered the gameplay, as pulling off moves and lives is super satisfying in this game. There isn't much to do in this game challenge wise, but there's plenty of levels plus even more fan made ones you can download. I think if you pick this game up for a good price used, you're in for a good time!

Skater XL on consoles is a $40 tech demo. The skateboarding itself is super impressive and feels way more dynamic and realistic than the Skate games. Setting up a line and doing something cool feels great and I'll probably continue skating every once in a while when I'm bored with other games. But part of what makes a great skateboarding game is the culture and the art of the activity, so making this a totally bare bones skating experience with absolutely nothing to do other than skate around a handful of discrete levels is pretty lame. Skateboarding isn't only about skateboarding. Hopefully they'll patch in some multiplayer so I can at least skate with a friend or two.

UPDATE: I've continued playing this game on and off since writing this log and I upped my score to a 3. The skating just feels so good and landing a sweet line is incredibly satisfying.

I LOVE skating games. I fucking adore them. I played so much of thpsr and have like a thousand hours in Skate 3.

This game is great fun, I love the two foot system, it's runs okay considering its clearly a lower budget Indie



But this is so shockingly devoid of content that I genuinely can't recommend this to anyone. Even die hard skating game fans like me. Don't bother

A skating game for skaters. The fine control in this is unparalleled in the genre. I won't say you CAN'T enjoy this as a non-skater, I'm sure you can have some fun with it, but be aware that if you're coming into this looking for Skate 3.5, turn and walk away - I really don't mean this in a mean and exclusive way, but you are not the target audience. The people complaining that this "isn't worth the money" are not the target audience either and shouldn't act like they are. If you want a game where you can get eased into the controls, with a story to accomodate you, you should just replay the Skate games and wait for 4 (tbh, just do that either way since those are still great games). But if you want a game that replicates the genuine, real experience of skating, the long grind (no pun intended) of building up your skills, the feeling of plotting out a line in your head, taking 50 tries to land it and then another 25 to get it to look JUST RIGHT (and these are lowball numbers), and the pure joy when you finally get that perfect clip, then Skater XL is going to become an addiction for you very quickly. For skaters, this game is not only worth the pricetag, but for me at least, I would still have been happy to pay double. And with the game still being under active post-launch support from the devs, you know that it's only going to get better and better.

I'll still admit console players drew the short straw somewhat, mods on PC are a whole other level, but that's the risk you take when you play on consoles. I'm sure most people who're seeing this will have enough faculties to realise this, but for those who don't, use your fucking brain before you start crying at the developers, yeah? They're a small indie studio in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. They're working on it to the best of their abilities; don't throw a hissy fit because you see PC players doing PC things.

This simulation adjacent skateboarding release has/had the potential to be something unique in the long stagnant genre but it's bare-bones approach is baffling. The best part of Skater XL is the unique controls that gives the player sandbox like freedom in how their tricks look and feel, but this alone doesn't feel like enough to keep the game fresh. The small handful of Skater XL's tiny levels feel static; something as simple as traffic or pedestrians would have gone someway to add a little bit of life to the levels, however even that wouldn't help alleviate by the numbers map design, lack of career mode, shoddy performance and numerous bugs. The bare-bones nature even applies to the sound design: lack of FX for things like bailing and the repetitive track-list by indie artists like Animal Collective and Future Islands really doesn't help the lifeless quality of the game. Skater XL could have been an exciting return to the lost extreme-sports genre that was a staple of the mid 2000s, but it's disappointing debut ends up feeling like an alpha, instead of a retail product.