Skate 3 Review for Xbox 360

System: X360, PS3	Review Rating Legend
Dev: EA Black Box	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Electronic Arts	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: May 11, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2 (6 Online)	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Teen	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

Certainly the single-player side of Skate 3 is great, but the game really comes into its own when you head online. Skate 3 offers the most robust online features of any skating game ever. Whether starting a team of your own or joining an existing one, Skate 3 players are able to compete against others and cooperatively best online challenges. The online options include ranked and unranked as well as Team and Career modes.

Skate 3 screenshot

Joining a team online is much like joining a guild or clan in an RPG or shooter title. Being part of this team will give you access to all the team's content as well as allow you to create and upload content of your own to help represent the team. Joining up with team members will not only net you additional board sales, but it essentially opens up a whole other set of gameplay challenges, doubling the content and boosting the play value through the roof. For those that aren't so interested in joining a team or establishing a persistent online presence, just being able to call on a buddy to skate with you and complete challenges cooperatively is a worthy feature in its own right.

Presentation in Skate 3 is quite good. I already discussed the diverse and beautiful environments, but the skaters also look great and the move animations are typically very smooth. I especially liked the game's opening, live-action cinematic - it's hilarious and nicely sets the tone for the rest of the game. In terms of sounds, the collection of pro skaters and actors in Skate 3 do a remarkable job of voicing the characters, and the music selection is truly top-notch - being able to replay and skip through tracks on-demand via the D-pad is a great feature.

It's true that Skate 3 pretty much has it all. However, new players to the Skate franchise should know that the right analog stick governs nearly all tricks, with subtle tweaks coming into play from the face-buttons. This makes for a decidedly steep learning curve, especially if you cut your teeth on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater series back in the 90s. Unlike Tony Hawk games, Skate is more or less realistic. As such, keeping momentum (speed), linking tricks, and finding the best lines is often quite a task. While this several hour trial by fire may turn many people off, if you stick with the controls, you'll eventually get it and be richly rewarded with awesome gameplay. Overall, I'd say Skate 3's controls are both its greatest asset and worst feature; the realistic feel makes the game sublime, but you'll have to work hard to even get competent.

Skate 3 does suffer somewhat from familiarity (the gaming community is just about skating-gamed out) and it isn't pick-up-and-play easy, but this certainly is an excellent entry in the genre that rewards technical ability, presents a beautiful open-world to romp around in, foments a true community experience like no other title, and even gives players a creative outlet. Overall, this is a great game that deserves to be in your collection, assuming you're in the market for a virtual skater.

By Jonathan Marx
CCC Editor / News Director

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

4.0

Graphics
This is a good looking game through and through. The environments are particularly enjoyable.

3.7

Control
Tough one to grade! Some people will undoubtedly find pulling off advanced tricks to be too difficult to enjoy. Skate veterans and patient gamers are be rewarded with a more realistic take on the skating genre.

4.6

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The voice acting is hilarious and well executed. The musical selection is simply excellent.

4.8

Play Value
There's more content here than you could shake a stick at. What's more, it is all incredibly well put-together; from the single-player career to deep customization and truly robust online play.

4.2

Overall Rating - Great
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

Team up, throw down: Enjoy all the camaraderie and competition of co-op gameplay by building your ultimate skate crew with your friends. Work together to take on challenges and progress together through your career or slay all suckers in head-to-head competitive battles for bragging rights. Keep tabs on the happenings of your teammates and rivals with Skate.Feed, the all-new game and Web social network.

Build your brand, become a mogul: Form your team and rise up to become a skate industry mogul. Your team's logo brands the city as your popularity grows. The more boards you sell, the bigger the changes. And the cool thing is, everything you do sells boards. From completing online challenges to having your created skate parks or graphics downloaded by other gamers, it all counts towards your progression.

Everyone can skate: Learn the ins and outs of skating with the all-new Skate.School, a new place you can access at any time in order to learn, practice, and hone your skills on the sticks. Customize your experience with multiple tiers of success and with new on-screen guides including a manual meter and Flickit trick analyzer.

Skate.Create and share: We give you the game, you create the magic. Skate.Create gives you all the tools needed to create custom content for your team, your own private use, or to share with the world by uploading directly from your console. Returning favorites Skate.Reel and

Skate.Graphics are back and are joined by the all-new Skate.Park, an open canvas to create your dream plaza or mega-ramp park. Skate.Create is the definitive toolset to let you truly skate it your way.

It's a new city, with more tricks, more skate: Say goodbye to harsh security, skate stoppers, and draining pools, say hello to darkslides, underflips, and an all-new city -- Port Carverton, the skater friendly mecca you've been waiting for. Featuring unique districts, all-new plazas, and endless lines, Port Carverton delivers the true skater's paradise experience.

There's always room for meat: The Hall of Meat is back and gnarlier than ever. Brutalize your skater in the harshest ways possible with all-new total body control bails. Get ready for carnage that is sure to make you cringe.