this is the way skateboarding games should be played
The skating enviornment is just downright awesome. You're in a place called San Vanelona and boy is this place HUGE!!! A lot of places to skate from the suburbs, the city, or a skate park. There's just a lot to do. The transportation fits right into the game. You can take a subway, open up your map and select a location, or just do it the old fashioned way, skate there. Whatever fits your style. Many pro skaters to choose from. Some of them I've never heard of. Of course, you can create your own skater. A good amount of customizations. From clothes, accessories, all that stuff. Although it could have done a bit of tuning.
The replay editor fits in perfectly. You can change camera angles, change the shading, change the beginning and the end, the speed of the replay, go forward or backward, and take photos. Replays that you've saved and photos you've taken can be published online for others to view and rate.
Now the only problems in this game is the load times and the online play. The load times are just horribly long. It can take up to 30 to 45 seconds just to start a career or go back to where you left off. You know what, it takes about that long just to start almost anything. It's just ridiculous. Now for the online play. It's alright sometimes, but it can get laggy, even if you have a good connection. Although waiting for the game to start is kinda bad. Players are sent to a small place to skate in before the game starts so there's not that much freedom. Plus for some reason, I don't know why, I got one of the online achievements where I'm an Icon trickster or something like that and I only played 2 games. I guess i got it cuz i played one of the best tricksters in the game, I dont know.
Buy or Rent?
If your a skateboarder, or love skating, or just looking for a good individual sports game, this game is for you. So it would be a definite buy. Lots of replay and a good amount of achievements to get. I would only rent it if I needed something to pass my time to wait for a new game or something of the sort.
Graphics- 8/10
The graphics are alright, but nothing special. The skating will take you deeper into the game.
Controls- 7/10
Although the controls are revolutionary to a skating game, it can take quite a while to get used to. Especially if you've transitioned from the Tony Hawk series to Skate. What I recommend you would do is if you have access to Xbox Live, download the demo. It'll take you straight to the tutorial where you can learn the controls of Skate and it gives you a half hour to skate one of the many places in San Vanelona.
Gameplay- 10/10
So many places to skate, so little time. San Vanelona will practically have you traveling around every single area in San Vanelona.
Story- 6/10
Though I didn't explain the story earlier, lemme sum it up for you. You get in an accident, you recover, and from then on you try to make a name for yourself in the skateboarding world. So basically the story is like the same as in T.H.U.G. Sorta.
Replay- 7/10
Though the city is big, the replay is not. Once you've done every single challenge in the game's story, there's not that much to do except skate, which can sometimes get repetitive. Online play wouldn't really be an option for replay as it is kinda broken sometimes, but hey, it never hurts to try.