For practically pioneering a new type of skateboarding game, Black Box was able to nail a lot of ideas really well for their first outing and it's aged way better than I thought it would. It's been awhile since I've played the first but WOW this controls way better than what I remember. Sure, it's not perfect and you can't get off your board (which feels really weird considering how much I played Skate 3) but the trick system still feels decent enough to control, which makes it all the more satisfying when pulling off insane combos later into the game, though that can be a bit broken from time to time.
There’s not much to say about the story really, but I liked how open the rest of the world felt once you completed the tutorials. San Vanelona has a good amount of variety and being able to do the photo and video challenges anywhere you wanted was always a cool way to see if you can push a certain area for a good score/combo. These can start to be a little monotonous once you get near the end, but the other pro challenges, death race and S.K.A.T.E add some nice variety in-between, and since the control scheme is great to mess around in sometimes just skating around and seeing how long you can keep your line going for is a challenge which the game insentivises.
And aesthetically, it might be my favourite out of the three? The menus have this ‘cut-out sticker’ feeling to them which was never replicated in future instalments, and having the menu BE your backpack adds more to the style- something that Black Box have always been great at achieving. There are also some kick-ass song selections to go along with it and not only that but an original soundtrack as well?! which honestly surprised me how much it came up to par.
Many ideas here might be in their infancy and are fairly basic (especially the player customization and progression) but that doesn’t mean they’re bad by any means and Skate still feels fun to play even in 2024. I can’t wait to revisit the others as they build on the solid foundation that was made!
There’s not much to say about the story really, but I liked how open the rest of the world felt once you completed the tutorials. San Vanelona has a good amount of variety and being able to do the photo and video challenges anywhere you wanted was always a cool way to see if you can push a certain area for a good score/combo. These can start to be a little monotonous once you get near the end, but the other pro challenges, death race and S.K.A.T.E add some nice variety in-between, and since the control scheme is great to mess around in sometimes just skating around and seeing how long you can keep your line going for is a challenge which the game insentivises.
And aesthetically, it might be my favourite out of the three? The menus have this ‘cut-out sticker’ feeling to them which was never replicated in future instalments, and having the menu BE your backpack adds more to the style- something that Black Box have always been great at achieving. There are also some kick-ass song selections to go along with it and not only that but an original soundtrack as well?! which honestly surprised me how much it came up to par.
Many ideas here might be in their infancy and are fairly basic (especially the player customization and progression) but that doesn’t mean they’re bad by any means and Skate still feels fun to play even in 2024. I can’t wait to revisit the others as they build on the solid foundation that was made!