Skate 3 Update
We return to Port Carverton to see what the Career mode has in store for us.
February 15, 2010 - EA Black Box's Skate franchise transformed the skateboarding genre (if there's such a thing) from button-based moves to a much more natural (and even somewhat realistic) control scheme where the right analog stick controls your moves. The first release was essentially genre-redefining, whereas Skate 2 put a polishing finish on the formula. With Skate 3, it's quite clear that Black Box is being careful to not fix what isn't broken, and it looks like the studio is fine-tuning the franchise rather than making sweeping changes.
I've written about the team-based structure before, but as a quick recap, everything in Skate 3 is going to be based around teams, from the online play to career mode. If you're playing the career by yourself, you'll have two AI teammates. If you hop online, friends can join in and the three of you can work through the career together.
What's curious here is the way that the career is set up. Rather than being a story-driven affair, Skate 3 basically leaves everything up to you. You're already a big shot, so now you're just looking to build your brand. So, you form your own team and work to sell decks. Simple as that, it seems.
[ign]19212&downloadURL=http://xbox360movies.ign.com/xbox360/video/article/106/1069230/skate3_vdp_021210_flvlowwide.flv[/ign]
Selling decks is essentially the behind-the-scenes reward system in Skate 3. Practically everything you do, from completing challenges to uploading clips that others watch to creating parks that others skate in, helps establish your brand and, in turn, sell decks. The overarching goal is to reach one million sales.
What's cool is that the challenges have multiple ways to beat them. Owning a challenge means that you've completed the baseline goal, but if you're good, you'll go the extra mile and complete the Killed goal, netting you extra board sales due to your awesomeness. Black Box has tried to address concerns from some folks that the series has been too hard for non-skaters to get into. To solve this, Owning a goal will be easy, but Killing it will be much more difficult.
From what I can tell, this means that the game is even more freeform than the past two releases. If you want to hit up a proper skate park, there will always be something to do. If you want to take your skills downtown, you'll find plenty of ways to sell decks. Want to explore the unknown? Because fame can come from practically anywhere, the world is your oyster.
![[IMG]](http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/106/1069154/skate-3-20100212013222086-000.jpg)
Port Carverton feels familiar.
In terms of the online mechanics, I jumped into a game with two other guys and we set out to take down a couple goals. Rather than freely skating around Port Carverton, the host would pick a location, we'd warp there and then freeskate until he picked out a challenge for us. We could always decline it or suggest another one, but I just went along with his options. After completing a goal, we'd just be in freeskate again, and he'd choose another goal. This wasn't as freeform as I thought that it would have been, feeling more checklist-esque in nature, for better or worse.
With regards to how the game feels, see Skate 2. That's not a bad thing, especially with how robust your abilities were, and there are a few new tricks at your disposal, but by and large it's very, very similar.
Skate 3 is currently slated to ship this May. While a lot of what I've seen reminds me very much of Skate 2, we still haven't seen how the park creator will work out, which could turn out to be a pretty big deal if it's capable enough and the online sharing element is handled well.
|
