9/14/07 - skate. (Xbox 360, PS3)

[Morfiend]

Release date pushed back from the 11th to the 14th. WTF does pushing back two days mean?

http://kotaku.com/gaming/ea/eas-skate-delayed-297813.php

Also, I love the demo of this game. The skating feels so realistic and smooth once you get the hang of the controls.

[Rasix]

I played through the demo 4 times, each until I completely ran out of time.  I don't think I've played another XBL demo more than once, except Lego Star Wars and that was because I had no games and never intended to buy the game.

The skating is just pure joy.  It reminds me of playing Links 2003 on the XBox, where you finally had a controller motion that improved the feel for the game.  The first time I actually figured out how to do a backflip grab, I nearly leapt out of my seat.  I can imagine the difficulty of this one going straight through the roof, however.  The game takes your input and leaves it up to that, your skater has very little self preservation motivation and a fuck up nearly guarantees a dive.

I'm pretty sure I'm getting Stranglehold for my birthday and will be immediately trading that title in for this.

[Driakos]

The good:  It plays awesome.

The bad: Multiplayer is completely broken at the moment.  Like, it just doesn't work.  Also a patch as soon as you connect to XBL (which is when I turn my 360 on).

Edit: The multiplayer started working last night. I guess they patched the servers or something. Still kinda herky-jerky looking, but you can play with friends now.  The X-Treme games XTREEM ramp (or whatever it's called) was big fun. I landed a 7100 point trick. Too bad it doesn't count in freeskate mode.

[schild]

I suck at the controls. My right hand never uses that analog stick for anything other than moving the camera. I don't know how to play this game. I like it. But I suck.

[Morfiend]

I am really loving this game. There are a few things that make me crazy, but over all very fun game.

One of the reviewers (I think gamespy) stated "this game is good, but if they make a part 2, it will be perfect". I totally agree with him. Like I wish they had added the ability to get off your board. There are a few time when some thing is right next to you, but you have to skate all the way around cause you just cant quite get up a set of stairs or some shit.

[schild]

Kind of like how Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 is still the best in the series. Goddamn that game was a masterpiece.

[stray]

Sweet, it has the freakin' Gonz in it. I love that dude.

Anyone have the PS3 version?

[MisterNoisy]

Sweet, it has the freakin' Gonz in it. I love that dude.

Anyone have the PS3 version?

Demo apparently just went up.

[MisterNoisy]

So Amazon finally got my (preordered) copy to me, and it's the expected good time.

One thing I could do without is EA's silly-ass 'second login' for uploading videos and photos.  Apparently I linked my GT before with another email that's long since forgotten and there's no way to break that link and reassociate it with my actual email.

[Rasix]

Got it.  I like it a lot, but the learning curve and difficulty is just through the fucking roof in parts.  In years past, I might have broken a controller or two playing this.   Perhaps I'll write a min-review or something.

[MisterNoisy]

Actually, the difficulty is one of the big draws to me - it makes landing a challenging sequence something of a triumph.  I've literally spent an hour or more at times just trying to nail a picture-perfect line on a piece of interesting terrain - not because it advances the game any, but just because it's there.  I haven't bothered with the subway or map for moving around the city yet, simply because there's so much cool stuff to play with between locations, and there's some really fun spots stuff hidden away on side streets and in alleys if you're willing to explore.

[Morfiend]

I really wish they had included the option to get off your board and walk. I want so badly to go up steps some times.

[stray]

First game I've bought in 6 months. Am I still the only one with the PS3 version?

[EDIT] I like how I can choose my pushing foot. On a real board, I skate regular, but push goofy.

[Rasix]

I think I just found my new most favorite thing about the game.  The filming.  Find a gap, find a fun transition and start playing with it. 

My first vid. Great spot. Kept trying to go for really big air, great tricks, and a perfect ending.. but this particular sequence kind of stuck with me.  Not perfect (wish you could piece together separate clips) as I could do with better transition work with the cameras and the end is a smidge off.  Played around with that spot for an hour before I realized I need to get to bed.  Still do.

[stray]

Love that gap. I watched it twice!  :-D

[Rasix]

Yah, that gap was so worth it after beating that bullshit "Big and Rob" pro challenge.  Damn tech crap.

[Morfiend]

(wish you could piece together separate clips)

This is some thing the game really needs. As it is, the making the video mode, is more like, make the clip. I was really excited to find out I could make a skate video, then bummed that I couldnt put different pieces together. I had an awesome Bails reel saved up.

[Rasix]

I'm having lockup issues whenever I try to access my saved clips on my 360 elite.   It's pretty much guaranteed and has been happening since I bought the game. I experienced my first freeze outside of this yesterday too. 

I hope clearing the 360's cache will fix this.  Other options like clearing out all skate data (ugh), that my 360's hdd is going bad, or that the 360 itself is on the precipice of red-ringing make me queasy. 

I was actually toying with the idea of making a youtube clip reel (hey, I've always wanted to acquire some meager video editing skills). Somewhat difficult if you can't get to your non-uploaded clips. 

[Rasix]

lolz

Crash issue persists after trying a number of things. 

Edit: changed vid.  Wish there were more upload spots.

[Morfiend]

I have an absolutly amazing crash clip saved. Its one of those ones that would probably kill you in real life. I tried to host it online, but it would hang every time I tried to post it. I havent logged in to the game for like a month, but I was playing the demo last night at a friends house while the party was winding down, and now I have the itch to play it again. Maybe Ill start over from the begining with a new "style" and see if it makes any difference in play.

[Rasix]

Fuck, I just wanted to play for around 30 minutes last night to try some hippie flips, but instead spent over an hour and a half doing various gaps.

There's this one spot I sometimes end up at to see if I can land it.  There's a way, but it's pretty much a glitch (or suspected as one).  It's a 70' drop and even though you land on an angled surface, it's not enough.  The glitch grab works by doing a double grab(s) right before you land so that your knees are bent when you hit ground.

First video shows this more than the second one.  Replaced vid.

Second video is better and less obvious.  Shows how it's really more about your knees being bent at impact.  I like the shot of the drop right before the ollie and flips are fun.

[NiX]

Stop it. I want this now. STOP!

[Rasix]

If it's any consolation, the online competitive aspect is an abberation worthy of being drowned in a shallow tub. 

It can be fun when you're playing with people who are playing like it's a skating competition or just aren't to the level of twitchtard. Otherwise, it's munchikinism to the fucking extreme.   On the spot battles, people will do an advanced flip, stall to a manual, followed by another advanced flip before taking on the spot (this gets them a 3x scoring multiplier before they even try their scored trick).   On the best trick competitions, people will find some part of the obstacle to ramp off and get speed and then just manual/advanced trick/manual across the entire fucking area.  People will get 12k tricks on something that a you can realistically get 1k most on.  It's disgusting.  About half the matches I've done have been without this kind of crap and that's only because I did 3 matches in a row with people who weren't playing like it's THPS Flickit Version.

Online freeskates aren't bad though.  I'm glad the mic support in this game doesn't work that well, since I really don't want to listen XBL people like "Psych0 Cl0wnk1ll3r 342" talk.

I've yet to try the deathraces, which should be immune to this.  But I'm sure the spot races suffer from extreme munchikinism/twitchtardery.

Now that I'm done venting.  Here's a fun two rail line.

[WayAbvPar]

Finally downloaded the demo and played it a bit. I can totally see how this could be completely addicting.