I finally dl'ed and played the demo for skate, all of a week before the game hits store shelves. Yeah, way to keep pace with the rest of the world, right? Anyway. Going into the game after talking to my future brother-in-law and reading some of the information on this and other similar websites I was beyond apprehensive about it.You can agrue "user feedback" but check out some of the player reviews for other games that actually give abysmal games scores of over 9.5. The control scheme, from all accounts, sounded overly complex and needlessly complicated. I have to say that everything worked together incredibly well and the control scheme was challenging but not maddeningly frustrating. As such it makes any of the combos or even single moves you pull off (espescially early on while you're still learning to handle it) extremely rewarding and the feeling is very addictive.

I also really appreciated the fact that the game works to achieve a more realistic skating experience. As such even simpler tricks and combo lines seem more rewarding. Also (as evidenced by the competition in the demo) it means that goals and objectives will be more realistic, no more "grind the switch, wall ride the weakened wall" types of absurd goals or insane stunts that have you sailing hundreds of feet over the ground to grind on thin electrical wires and telephone poles. The skate video camera angle lends a nice touch to an already immersive feel. I also like the couple of filming challenges in the game which allow you to skate where ever you want and if they preserve the same technique to start filming challenges this game will be that much more rewarding.

All in all I am very pleased with this game and I plan on purchasing it on the 11th for my 360.

Yeah, yeah this is really late but I only downloaded the demo a few days ago.