[Last week, one of our new writers had the chance to visit EA to get a hands-on demo with SKATE 3.]

A week ago I was invited out to EA’s Redwood Studios to get some hands on time with SKATE 3, the newest entry to the franchise.  When SKATE hit the market in 2007, it effectively started from scratch, ignoring any established norms the skating genre was used to.  As a result, we got a very complete game that sported a very unique and intuitive control system.  Its sequel improved upon the first, adding tricks, story, and (most important) the ability to get off your board.  I was definitely looking forward to see what the team over at Black Box had in store for me, and I was quite happy with the results.

So far it seems that SKATE 3 is shaping up to be a real solid game when it hits the shelves next May.  The first two entries, while revolutionary and solid were plagued by a few nagging problems.  Luckily I can say the team has really focused on refining the formula rather than reinventing the wheel.

I got a chance to get a feel for the game as a whole, in addition to playing each of the new team-based multiplayer modes.  First I’ll look at some of the general stuff that’s new, then I’ll detail the new team-based multiplayer modes.  Let’s jump right in…

New City

While the first two games had us skating the streets of San Vanelona, we’ll now be taking on the Port Carverton.  The new city is broken up into three bureaus: the University, Downtown, and the Industrial Section.  I got to spend a substantial amount of time free-skating in the University, and I really liked what I found.  A big part of the game concept has always been the ability to turn any part of the city into a skate zone.  The area I got to play around in had a nice looking courtyard filled with ledges to be grinded and linked into lots of pointage.  What’s great is how real the location seemed.  It didn’t feel fake, as if the designers were trying to force skate spots into a zone, rather it felt like a real University campus.  It even features a football stadium with a huge statue of a shark outside.  Naturally the stadium’s roof supports just so happen to function really well as ramps, allowing you to get big air and jump the shark.

I was also quite happy to hear Port Carverton was going to have much less anti-skate security and random obstructions to skating.  The previous game’s storyline featured and upped level of security officers and arbitrary skating blocks, and while it added some bit of depth to the story it detracted from the free flowing skating that makes the game so much fun to play.  This time it seems the team has listened to its community, which is never a bad thing.

New Tricks

While the trick catalogue has been quite robust thus far, there was a demand by the community for some additions, and Black Box responded.  In SKATE 3 we get treated to the dark catch, darkslide, and underflip.

The dark catch is simply a grab mid-air of the board when it’s upside-down (rather dark-side down).  If you transition this into a grind, it becomes the darkslide.  This is triggered by hitting the right bumper mid-air to flip the board, which is simple enough.  Be careful though, since trying to land with the board still upside down gets you a faceplant.  You have to flip it back again to land it.

I really liked playing around with the underflip.  An underflip is essentially getting halfway through a kickflip or heelflip, stopping the board from spinning with your feet, then flipping the board back.  What’s nice about it is how intuitive it has been implemented.  A kickflip is simply flicking the right stick down, then up to the right (a heelflip goes to the left).  To turn the trick into an underflip, you simply flick the stick quickly right back down mid-trick.  This simple addition is an easy, fun, and intuitive way to rack up tricks in a sequence, which is key to getting big points.

Other New Features

Again, the community has been heard, and skate.Reel and skate.Graphics are being expanded.  These are the tools the community can use to create and publish custom skate videos and images, respectively.  These tools have allowed the SKATE community to show off their creative side, using the game as an engine to create a lot of their own personalized content.

What’s even bigger is the announcement of skate.Park.  As it was explained to me, if you hate looking all around town for that perfect spot to link a grind, you can build it.  Wish there was a ramp and a rail near this one spot?  Make it.  I remember being 11 years old or so, staying up past 1 in the morning (a big deal for 11) playing with a demo of a skate park editor.  Bringing one to SKATE  is definitely exciting.  While I only saw a few clips of a basic looking park editor, it’s still in an early stage of development.  Be on the lookout for more solid information on this exciting addition.

And last but not least, the off-board character movement has been completely refined!  While it was great that you could get off your board in SKATE 2, the movement was sloppy and slippery.  I’m happy to report that this has been completely fixed.  The controls now flow seamlessly from on-board to off.

Be on the lookout for more coverage and an interview soon!