In a land dominated by stale skateboarding mechanics, Skate is an amazing breath of fresh air.
Skates innovation comes from its unique analog stick trick system. To pull off the tricks in the game you flick the analog stick using the "Flick It" system. For example to pull off a kick flip you would pull the stick down to go into a crouch position, then flick the stick to the right side. Skate has a huge variety of tricks, some of which can be almost impossibly hard to pull off. All of the other usual tricks are in the game like grabs, grinds, and manuals. Grabs are the only trick not pulled off with the stick as they are pulled off with the shoulder buttons. Grinds take much more skill and timing than in the Tony Hawk games. In Tony Hawk you hit the grind button, and you automatically seem to attach to a rail. Skate requires you to time your ollie and to line up the part of the board you wish to grind. The type of grind can change mid-grind by simply shifting the position of the analog stick to move the board. The most important thing though is that this all remains fun, even when the game gets slightly frustrating at the later challenges.
The game progresses by giving you free access to the entire city of San Venalona to skate in. The city is split into five different areas, and each have a very distinct feel and look with different challenges. The progression in the game is handled by completing certain lines throughout each part of the city. As you complete more lines, the more attention you get. You constantly have a meter filling up for Skateboard Magazine and Thrasher. Depending on which type of line you complete, it adds some to the meter. Once the meter is full, you do a shoot for either magazine. The lines you must do for these are generally harder than what you hap been doing. Once you complete it you select your photo and you get coverage. Once you complete your first few you get access to the shops located in the city and start to get sponsors. Once you get sponsors for the various parts of your board and clothing, you can compete in competitions and other events that earn you more money and fame.
That's where the advertising comes into place. In game advertising is a growing thing in the industry and Skate fully embraces it. Sponsors are the obvious thing, so different skateboard companies logos are plastered all over the game. T Mobile has thrown is their money as well seeing as a Sidekick is your pause menu. While it's sometimes ridiculous, the advertising works well in this type of game since sponsorships are a real part of the sport.
The online component is where Skate gets really interesting. There is just normal free skate and HORSE, but that's just the competitive side. The whole other component to the online is the Skate Reel footage. At any time while skating, the game saves 3 minutes of footage. So if you pull of a crazy line, you can just go into the menu and access the footage. with the footage you can edit it by changing the speed, camera angle, filters, and sound. The video editing feature is very in depth and you can do a lot more with it than you may think. Once you have the perfect footage you just select to have it uploaded to your profile. Once the footage is uploaded, others in the Skate community can look at it, rate it, and contact you to try to set up a match if they like what they see from you. The same is done with pictures, you just choose one frame of the footage to upload to your photo section. EA picks out the best they can find and highlights it. You can access all this from your Sidekick pause menu, without ever leaving your game. Video editors have been around, but they've never been implemented so cleanly and easily into a game.
Skates presentation is top notch overall. The menus have their own flair to them, all in the skaters style. The graphics aren't very mind blowing, but overall they look very solid. The physics system plays a large part in the game, judging how the board will move, attach, and flip based on the pressure you put on the stick and from where you take off from. Unfortunately the framerate isn't the most solid thing. It doesn't dip too often while you're in the middle of a line, but it can slow up enough to send you straight into an oncoming car or pedestrian. The sound effects are spot on and each part of the board sounds appropriate with what material it's hitting. EA Trax has put together a decent music list in the game, but most will probably prefer to just turn off the music and play their own with the sound effects still on.
Skate is a rare game in this genre. EA Black Box wasn't afraid of taking a chance on a genre that is dominated by the annual Tony Hawk rehash. The result is a resounding success. The new fundamental mechanic of pulling off tricks with the analog sticks works very well and stays fun throughout the entire game, despite some uneven difficulty. The online is incorporated into the game like no other so far and it's also a resounding success. Skate has risen the bar for all skateboarding, or even all sports, games.