Skate Comments by Luke Albiges

"A 9!!!


Really EG what is with you guys lately. Where are the critical reviews where games need to at least be the best of the best to receive a 9 or 10. You guys are giving them away like too easily."

- maybe there are just a stream of great games comming out at the moment on all formats?

>You guys are giving them away like too easily

But if they didnt, the fanboys would moan saying they're "anti" one console or another

Well said richardiox. Is he honestly suggesting that high scores should be rationed out? Maybe some sort of Bell Curve applied??

I personally have to disagree with the people who say the Hawk's games are dead. Project 8 was a good step in the right direction for the series after the Underground games bent the rules of the series perhaps a little too far. Proving Ground has just taken all the elements that I like about Project 8 (Nail The Trick mostly) and added even more stuff to help build on it. Rigging is fantastic, adding ramps, and rails to other objects to help bridge a gap, and increase your score potential is really well done, and easy to use, and Nail-The-Grab really works well with the previous Nail-The-Trick too. Just holding LT when in slow-motion, and tweaking the board with both sticks feels effortless, and it really does increase the scope for high scores. Seeing demos of stuff like the Skate Lounge which allows you to build your own skatepark, and a place to hang around with your friends online is another interesting addition. I liked the Skate demo as well, so both of them are on my shopping list. I may just get TH:PG first though. Looks like it has just that little more variety, and things to do, to warrant the full price-tag.

If the Wii could have a version that would be lovely...

1) Use of the Wii Fi board
2) Inferior graphics, obviously

Good to go!

THis is also my halo 3.

great review spot on.

thsi months £35 is spoken for :)

Looks brilliant! Although i'll be getting Tony Hawks: Proving Ground as well...purely becuase it's like a yearly ritual for me! :)

Argh! You're gonna bankrupt me you bastids!

Getting Eternal Sonata, Assasins Creed, Mass effect and I'm ashamed to say, Halo 3 (but costing me 15£ so not that big of a deal). I don't usually go for skating games but this was pretty decent.

damn, there are so many games I want at the moment, not to mention those coming out in the next 2 months! The demo was awesome so I will definitely be picking this up, only question is when....

Not owned a skating game in years so could be the perfect time for me to get back into it :)

Xiphos... you're not trying to say that folk who like Halo don't like anything else, and vice versa surely? That's just stupid. I'm looking fwd to Halo3, Skate, PGR4, and PES in the next few weeks. And it is odd to put a AAA title out on the same week as Halo 3 and not expect it to get overlooked.

So have they fixed the camera angle from the demo, 'cause half the time you couldn't line up a grind due to the view being too low. Not entirely sure I like the controls on the stick either.

The demo is absolutely fantastic.

Insta-buy for me.

Loved the demo ... but please, please, PLEASE can someone make a "realistic" snowboarding game based around the same sort of mechanics? SSX is just (enjoyable) nonsense - I want something more towards a sim.

This game everyone should get.. now.

ive played tony hawk games for like 8 years, but after around 10 hours of the skate demo now i just cant go back to buttons, it was the same deal with fight night and its stick control, it just clicks with me. the demo is all sorts of awesome, and if anybody doesn't get it straight away i suggest a little patience, it took me a good few goes to recondition myself out of all the years of TH control system. Now that i have it is so very rewarding nailing tricks.

erm i know there good but no mention of the gfx in the review?

oh well *sold!*

>erm i know there good but no mention of the gfx in the review?

Like that matters how? Look at screenshots.. IMHO graphics in reviews should only be mentioned if they're spectacularly good or spectacularly bad. Same as special effects in movie reviews.

I have a feeling EA is going to garner unexpected critical acclaim this holiday season and this is just the first drop (things look promising for Crysis, FIFA 08, NFS Pro Street, Burnout Paradise, SimCity Soceities). Whatever anyone thinks, they are clearly not sitting on their thumbs.

And by the way, starting with BioShock, I don't think I have ever seen so many high scoring games and so short a span of time. It does look like this will be the banner year for gaming.

spindizzy - this is EA we're talking about - most environmentally friendly games company there is. Won't be long before they'll recycle this game engine for a snowboard game. Which actually sounds great, to me.

The problem with the TH series has never been the arcade direction they've taken it in -- rather, the arcadeyness of it is exactly what makes it brilliant (at least as far as the core gameplay engine is concerned).

Skate may be equally brilliant in completely different ways, but that doesn't invalidate TH's approach.

*frustrated at all the moronic comments about realism being inherently better than gameyness*

When my skater does a faceplant into the side of a brick wall, I want him to not get up again. When he slips on a railing and smashes his nuts, I want to see him doubled over in agonising pain.

Now *that's* realism.

/is pretty sick

*frustrated at all the moronic comments about realism being inherently better than gameyness*

Agreed. Some people are probably a little bored by now with TH series - I presume that's why a fresh approach sounds and feels "better". I, of course, could be completely wrong, since I haven't played Skate (demo) nor TH games. Ever:)

@spindizzy

+1

Full game is even better than the demo. A really big environment that rewards exploration. It really does feel like skating. Some big hills that give you a genuine sensation of speed, and the feeling when you nail a 'realistic' line is palpable. Awesome stuff.

"Any impressions / recommendations on the 360 vs. PS3 version?"

According to CVG: "The PS3 version, arguably, is a little rougher round the edges than the Xbox game, with some minor slowdown and glitches, though the texturing and detail is richer. Both versions have identical features, however, with exemplary animation, so the difference really is negligible."