Skate or Die!

Jun 1, 2007

Skating games have never had a "sim" version that's grounded firmly in reality. From Skate or Die to 720° to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, skating games have pushed the limits of credulity, always favoring an arcade experience. EA's upcoming skate is going to change that by offering skating in as real a form as has ever been seen in videogames. But just because skate is grounded in reality doesn't mean developer Black Box doesn't get to have a little fun when creating its skater dream city San Vanelona. This is after all, still a game.

In talking with Executive Producer Scott Blackwood and his dedicated team of skate fanatics, we learned that the dual-analog control scheme wasn't the endgame for innovation. The skate team hopes to create an immersive experience where gamers truly feel like a pro skater in a living, breathing world. If nothing else, skate offers an alternative to the reigning king of extreme sports games. Been there, done that? Not with skate you haven't.

Build a Better Skater It begins with creating your skater. Don't expect to find a handful of pre-made skins; the characters in skate are meant to be completely unique for each gamer. With more than 40 authentic skate brands, you can mix and match your dress to fit your preferred look. Then you can modify every element a little further. Want your sleeves rolled up? Who wouldn't? That and much more can be customized. Black Box wants you to be able to instantly recognize your skater among dozens of others in the game world. And when you upload your photos and videos online, your skater should be a statement of your own personal tastes and style.

Not only can you customize your skater, but you can also tweak your board to suit your style. Forget about custom grips and different wheel colors (which, of course, are in the game too), skate goes far deeper. You can tighten or loosen your trucks and choose between soft or hard wheels. Skate's realistic physics allow such small changes to have a large effect on how your board reacts to the environment. You may find a need to make these changes for a particular challenge. The first time you drop down Danny Way's Mega-Ramp, it might be wise to tighten your trucks for more stability -- gravity will take care of the speed and the massive lip offers all the air you'll need. Of course, you can choose to ignore that advice. You may avoid bailing; it just depends on your skill.

The Power is in Your Hand When you first drop in the world of skate, you'll probably want to spend some time just getting used to the controls. After all, it's not often you enter a game with every trick open to you. All you need to do to pull off hot lines like a pro is some ingenuity, skill with the analog sticks, and proper timing. It sounds easy, but that's only because for the past eight years you've been playing one specific type of skating game.

When you pick up skate, you may be in for a bit of a shock. Where you start a trick and what you trick on matter. Stick with it and in short time something will click internally. Soon enough you'll be pulling Backside 5-0 grinds and Indy 720s like you were born on a board. Just be sure to strap on your elbow pads first.

The only upgrades you need to worry about are improving your own skills and figuring new ways to pull off tricks. There are no stats or tricks that need to be unlocked. "How proficient you get with the sticks and how adept at using the physics at your command dictate how well you skate," Scott Blackwood explains. "Just like skateboarding, the toy is yours to play with; we aren't going to keep the good stuff locked away." Like we said, skate is going to be a very different experience than what's been offered over the past decade. Whether that's for better or worse, gamers will have to decide this fall. But Black Box is certainly doing something new with the extreme sports genre.

Once you have the hang of things, you may head out looking to engage the "story mode" in skate. Guess what? There isn't one. At least, there isn't a traditional pre-set story. In keeping with the theme of an organic skate experience, it's up to you to create your own personal story. Skate is all about living the dream -- but to get there you'll need to act like a pro. Make a name for yourself by owning skatespots, winning competitions, and earning covers on magazine.

San Vanelona is huge. Rather than comparing the city to the size of the areas of Tony Hawk's Project 8, Black Box prefers to compare the game to GTA. While a few areas are closed until you prove yourself as a skater, this GTA-sized world is largely wide-open from the get-go. Throughout San Vanelona you can find hundreds of challenges and will have incentives to reach scoring milestones and (at least on 360) earn Achievements.

Face Any Challenge Most challenges originate from sponsors telling you to go out and get some sick footage. You have your own personal videographer trailing you throughout skate, so the footage is covered; it's up to you to make it sick. But how you get good footy and where you do it is up to you.

When you're pulling off tricks to capture on video, you won't get your standard set of points for pulling specific moves. In other words, don't expect to get to earn 100 points for a kickflip. "The scoring is authentic," Blackwood explains. "We focus on lines, style and measurements -- things that make up a great video part as opposed to an emphasis on stringing together impossible combos and frantically button mashing as many tricks together as you can." If you've ever watched skaters in action, lines aren't some insane series of gravity- and physics-defying moves strung together over a two-minute period. It's more about using the environment to gain speed, stringing together a couple of tricks, taking a breath, gathering more speed, and doing it all again.

EA has deals with Thrasher and The Skateboard Mag, making both integral parts of skate. You'll want your mug plastered on the cover of both as often as possible. Other challenges, beyond making magic on tape and in stills, include bombing hills and skating in jams.

Bombing hills sounds promising. Thanks to skate's focus on physics, speed isn't a given at any time. As you race, you'll need to navigate for steeper hills and learn to pump (shifting on the board to increase speed). You'll also need to sweat traffic and pedestrians. To help avoid splattering against crosswalkers and oncoming cars, you can speed check by powersliding.

Prove Yourself Though much of skate is wide open, there are some more structured challenges. You can up your rep by skating in jams and competing in some real-world competitions. EA signed a partnership with ESPN two years ago and, as it so happens, ESPN is home to the X Games. While EA hasn't confirmed the inclusion of any specific pro skating competitions, it's a fair bet that you'll have a chance to compete for X gold. And with a completely open trick system, this is the first extreme sports game that could legitimately offer a "Best Trick" competition that actually includes gamers creating new tricks.

So who will you be competing against in these pro sporting events? Well, it won't be Tony Hawk (he retired!), but you can look forward to meeting virtual versions of Danny Way, Mike Carroll, Mark Gonzales, Pat Duffy, Chris Cole, Paul Rodriguez, PJ Ladd, Rob Dyrdek and Chris Haslam among many others. These pros don't just throw down in jams, they also hook you up with sponsorships, offer advanced skate lessons, and offer pro challenges. You can also play a game of S.K.A.T.E. with the pros. "These are worth playing just to hear some of the pros' comments," Blackwood teases.

The Way to Enlightenment So what does fame get you? Aside from more sponsorships and skate immortality. The end goal is opening up Danny Way's Mega-Compound. Based on the real skate park Way is building in Hawaii, the Compound includes the jaw-dropping MegaRamp featured in the past few X-Games. "The results are pretty amazing," Blackwood says, "mostly because, like Danny, the area takes skateboarding to a level not really envisioned or possible for most ordinary humans."

While the Compound is based on Way's designs, Black Box added a few pieces of flare. There's a loop, a bonus bowl, and a "truly huge" cradle. A cradle is basically a concrete dome at the end of a halfpipe. It's the latest in skating insanity and might be a nice capper to a long session of skating around San Vanelona.

The real gem is the MegaRamp, though, which we can't wait to bail on. The closest thing to a rollercoaster that skating has, the enormous ramp may prove to be skate's toughest challenge to conquer. "As with a lot of the skating in our game, it's all about the timing," Blackwood offers as a tip. "If you nail the take off and square up the landing, you're set. If not, you get worked. And worked hard."

For those with ice water in their veins, there's another, more dangerous version of the MegaRamp to be found in skate. "There's a not-so-mini Mini-Mega for the adventurous skaters out there to try, just be sure to have a spotter watch for oncoming traffic."

Skate comes to PS3 and Xbox 360 this fall. Be sure to check the video link below to get a first look at Danny Way's Mega-Compound.