Product Description
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In the world of pro skateboarding, there's always some
cocky unknown kid coming up from nowhere, bidding to blow away
the established stars using sheer outrageous trick-power. In the
world of skateboarding videogames, Skate was once that new kid on
the block - but with Skate 3, it has honed its skills to such a
huge peak of perfection that it's now the undisputed master.
So what's it like?
Format-wise, it's reassuringly familiar - you design your skater
(using an awesomely powerful editor), and a logo, then you're
unleashed into the fantasy skaters' paradise otherwise known as
the city of Port Carverton. Forget reconstructed bits of real
cities - Port Carverton is what you'd get if skaters planned
cities - it's huge, vertical and diverse, with skate parks
galore, the biggest multi-storey car park you've ever seen, a
deliciously rusty abandoned shipyard, all manner of overblown
architectural features begging to be skated on, plus rails and
stairs everywhere. No wonder, then, that it's full of virtual
versions of all the world's top skaters - you'll recognise the
likes of Ryan Smith, Rob Dyrdek (star of the reality show Rob And
Big), Chris Cole, Joey Brezinski, Dennis Busenitz and pretty much
all of their peers. Port Carverton is so skater-friendly that
even the security guards skate.
No shortage of challenges
After an insane intro movie, in which you see the process by
which trees become skateboards, your mission begins: to sell as
many skateboards as possible by inspiring skaters with your
antics. There are vast numbers of challenges which allow you to
do this, and of several types. To be specific: Deathrace, Film,
Hall Of Meat, Own The Lot, Own The Spot, Photo, Pros, Team
Promos, Street Contests, Training and Tranny Contests. Within
those basic categories, there is plenty of variation - in the Pro
challenges, for example, you might have to track a pro as he
heads to a new spot without falling behind, nail a specific trick
on a specific object, or take him on at a game of 1-Up, in which
you vie to land the highest-value tricks in a series of timed
runs. For us, particular highlights are the Street Contests,
which mix highest-value trick sequences with timed jams in which
both teams occupy the street-furniture at once, and the vastly
improved Hall Of Meat, in which you have incredible fine control
over your body positioning once you've bailed, and some
awe-inspiring vertical drops from which to break every virtual
in your body. The Own The Lot challenges, in which you have
to pull of lists of specific tricks, are a great test of your
skills, too.
Social skating
Skating is a sociable pursuit and, for the first time, Skate 3
reflects that, with a bunch of seriously cool features allowing
you to play it with your mates - helping each other out with your
career progressions - and against other teams. Even offline, you
get to build a skate team as you pass board-sale milestones - or
you can draft in your mates to tackle those team challenges
together. And you can build a team comprised entirely of your
online mates. Skate.Feed lets you keep tabs on all your
team-mates and rivals, social network-style. And Skate.Create has
been expanded - along with Skate.Reel, for capturing your team's
exploits on celluloid and Skate.Graphics for defining your team's
look, there's an all-new app called Skate.Park, which, as you
might imagine, lets you and your homies generate the ultimate
skate park.
What else is new?
Too much to detail here, that's for sure. But there are new
tricks to master - notably darkslides and underflips, both of
which are very cool indeed. Underflips are when you catch a flip
and flip it the other way, and in darkslides, you grind rails
with the board upside-down - see you need to flip off the rail in
order to land them. Also new is Skate.School, which lets you hone
your skills before hitting the streets (under the tutelage of
Coach Frank, who looks like a tennis coach but doesn't sound like
one).
Skate 3 is massive, meaty and amazing to behold, and there's no
doubt that the immaculately conceived and constructed Port
Carverton (if it really existed, nobody but skaters would want to
live there) takes centre-stage. The two-stick control system is
as smooth and intuitive as ever, as you would expect. But one
aspect that really stands out is the game's impeccable mixing of
the realistic and the fantastic - its tricks are believable and
flow naturally from your finger-movements, and thanks to the new
online team elements, you really can lead a vicarious virtual
skating life. But then there are the aspects which are simply
better than real life, such as the hilariously masochistic Hall
Of Meat or the huge ramps and vertical drops which let you take
advantage of life-threatening as of air. Whether you spend
half your life on a skateboard, or just dream of doing so, you
will love it.
The definitive skateboarding sim is finally here, with a chance
to take your skills - and your friends -online for the ultimate
showdown. Already the most realistic skate sim ever, the Skate
series returns with its innovative flick-based control system
that gives you complete control of your board.
This sequel mixes things up with a whole new city to explore and
two new play modes. One makes it easier than ever for first time
players to get on board and the other ramps up the difficulty for
a truly hardcore experience.
As you put together a crew of real friends or in-game pro skaters
you can take on challenges wherever you find them, in new
co-operative modes like Own The Lot or in competitive classics
like the -crunching Hall of Meat. And whatever you do you can
use the replay editor to record it all and show off about it
later.
Box Contains
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DVD ROM
- About this item Team Up. Throw Down: Work together to take on challenges and progress together through the career campaign or slay all suckers in head-to-head competitive battles for bragging rights. Players can keep tabs on the happenings of their teammates and rivals with Skate. Feed, the all-new game and web social network. New City, More Tricks, More Skate: Say hello to dark slides, under flips, and the all-new skate Mecca, Port Carverton - featuring unique districts, plazas, skate parks and endless lines, this is the true skater's paradise.Build a Brand, Become a Mogul: Form teams and rise up to become a skate industry mogul by selling boards. From completing online challenges to creating skate parks to having your graphics downloaded, almost everything skaters do in the game counts towards their progression. Skate. Create and Share: Returning favorites Skate. Reel and Skate. Graphics are back. The all-new Skate. Park is an open canvas for players to create their dream plaza or mega-ramp park. Once created, they can share their masterpieces with the world by uploading them directly from their console..