A kick flippin’ review for Skate 2.
Skate 2 begins with the character customisation screen, all the usual features apply with the ability to edit your characters facial features, body shape, clothing and accessories.
You can come back to the Character Edit screen via the Start menu to change your characters’ appearance, apparel, accessories and deck wheels and trucks. You must purchase everything before you can use it and some things need to be unlocked by completing certain single player and online challenges.
The story then begins with a video describing how your character has recently come out of jail and how the city of San Vanelona has changed since you were last here (Skate 1)
A brief tutorial section introduces you to the fundamentals of skating and introduces the new ability to get off your board and walk/run around and the ability to move some objects in the city to create your own skating spots.
After meeting with Slappy in his park and doing the first few challenges you are free to explore the city.
(Welcome to New San Vanelona)
There are a range of challenges and activities for you to complete within your single player game. Some of these are photo and video footage challenges, Death races and Thrasher Hall of Meat challenges. Completing challenges earns you money which you can spend in the Skate shop or on various betting opportunities during the game.
The photo an video challenges simply require you to perform a certain trick or line in a set area e.g. kick flip over the gap.
Death races require you to race against other skaters down hill to a designated finish line, you must follow a set path passing through checkpoints to add to your time limit.
The Thrasher Hall of Meat challenges were my personal favourite. At any time during game play you can press (LS)+(RS)+[LT]+[RT] and your character will force a bail (fall off his/her board) you can then hold your (RS) in different directions to make your skater perform different poses. Cannon ball, Judo Kick, Spread Eagle, Pencil Dive. Your (LS) then controls the spin of your skater during the bail. The higher you fall, or the longer you are in the air the harder you will slam. The object of the challenges is to fulfill certain damages to your skater e.g. break 10 bones in one bail.
(Hall of Meat description from the game developers)
Within your game you will meet a large list of professional skaters who will offer you Pro challenges which are similar to the footage challenges in which you must complete a certain trick within a certain area, some simply require you to follow the pro to a location staying within a certain distance in metres.
Owning the Spot is another returning challenge to the game in which you must perform a trick or a line of tricks to earn a set amount of points in a certain area aka spot. Once you have owned the spot you can kill it by performing tricks to earn a higher set amount of points on the same spot.
At any time during your game you can bring up the menu and enter into an Xbox live match. You can choose to join a quick match in which you join a random game either all ready in progress or about to begin. Or you can choose to join a custom match in which you can select a specific game type to play. To be honest I’m not sure what exactly all of the online activities are, as I didn’t play much online myself. I do know however you can do Death Races online. You can also do Best trick competitions in which players much battle to earn the most points in one trick or a line of tricks within a time limit.
New San Vanelona has changed and policing of the streets has become a big threat to all Skaters in forms of extra security and many areas have been “capped” (metal caps over stairs, ledges and rails rendering them un skate-able) Due to this you can use your phone, by pressing [LB] to call/hire some people to provide certain services for you.
You can hire Big Black and he will provide you with some personal security, allowing you to skate high risk areas without interruption from security guards.
Mikey will un-cap areas for you, so you can skate them freely, but if security are in the area and they “see” him do it then it may immediately become capped again.
Sammy will drain swimming pools for you, which turns them into skate-able bowls.
(Sammy’s Pool Draining Service, High Quality version available on Youtube site!)
You can also use your phone to offer throwdown challenges to pro skaters that you have met during your game. After deciding on an amount to bet you take part in a game of S.K.A.T.E. The object of the game is to set a trick for the other skater to copy, the pro always goes first, if you or the pro bail, or repeat a previously set trick then its becomes the other skaters’ turn. Failure to copy the set trick earns a letter. The loser is the first person to spell out S.K.A.T.E.
Upon completion of the main story challenges you get your congratulatory F.M.V, you are then free to continue your game, completing any un-finished challenges and earning any achievements you need.
So all in all I give Skate 2 - 9 out of 10.
Another graphically sound feature packed game with plenty of gameplay to enjoy. In my opinion the Skate games are alot better than the “Tony Hawk” Range, So if you want a real fun Skating experience I can highly recommend Skate 2!!
Thanks for reading
Peace & Love To All
- Pigeon
*IN GAME HINT*
Within the in-game Skate shop you can purchase a range of clothing for your Skater but there is no option to change the colour of your chosen items… Or is there…
This works for T-Shirts, Button Shirts, Hoodies, Jackets, and Sweaters. This will not work if you already purchased the Custom Tee. All I can say is when your doing this NEVER purchase the Custom Tee!
Please follow the steps they are very simple.
Step 1. Choose your T-Shirt, Button Shirt, Hoodie, Jacket, or Sweater. If you already have it purchased that is fine!
Step 2. Once you have your Top selected go back to Merchandise/Store. Now select T-Shirts, and click on Custom Tee. From there just hit Start, and it will take you into the purchasing menu.
Step 3. WHATEVER YOU DO DON’T PURCHASE THE CUSTOM TEE
Step 4. Hit edit receipt, check off remove item (Top: Custom Tee should be highlighted). Now just hit back to store and it should have your chosen top selected with the color palette. Choose the color you want and just hit start and your good to go.
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There are 56 achievements with a total of 1250 points.
(Achievement information from xbox360achievements.org)
(Here is an actress acting scared)
(It’s A Bit Messy)
(A young male character begining his journey)
(Oakfield’s Beauty in all its glory!)
(A completely evil character, with full Devil horns and glowing red eyes!)
(Being surrounded by bandits doesnt worry our brave hero.)
(A very “shocking” performance for those hollowmen!)
(Sorry about the quality, Here you can see the experience orbs on the ground!)
(“Do not worry ladies I have time for all of you”)
(My Hero displaying one of his many Trophies.)
(Trying to impress “Sue the Housewife” with some flirty expressions)
(Giving your faithfull friend some loving praise!)
(Here I am interacting with another player’s orb online via Xbox Live.)
(Choosing which music video / party game to play.)
(You can see on the left, this player has just earned the Technique medal)
(The Get Music menu option, the icons floating above are all of the songs I have added)
(Nissan Skyline GT-R vs. Porsche 911)
(Highspeed pursuit with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution)
(Sprayin’ Flames ‘n’ Takin’ Names!)
(All four instruments in play! Lead Guitar, Drums, Bass Guitar & Microphone [At the top])
(A song in mid creation!)
(A busy Giant carrying out his Lumberjack duties)
(Snow covered tree tops and pathways during a Kefling Winter time.)
(A happy group of players dancing with their Kefling followers.)
(Not the first thing you see upon leaving Vault 101, this is just an example of Capital Wasteland!)
