Skate 3

Written by Nicole Kline  on April 29, 2010

Hands-On Preview: Coach Frank may know skating, but does he have an opinion on inkers?

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EA Black Box's latest in skating games, Skate 3, is due for release on May 11th. I took it for a spin Ц or rather, grinded it on the rails Ц in the recently released demo. Having not touched a skating game since Skate or Die on the NES, I considered playing it on easy, but decided there was no fun in that, and played it on normal. I chose my player Ц УChristi,Ф the only girl Ц and dove right into the tutorial.

A familiar voice greeted me as УCoach Frank.Ф I struggled to place the voice, but after a minute, the game answered my question for me, as Jason Lee popped up as my skateboarding instructor. He took me through the basics Ц riding the board, picking up speed, grinding rails, and then the more complicated board tricks, like flipping the board and grabbing it. Performing something successfully brought up a symbol and let you know that you УownedФ it. He also taught me what I felt was the most valuable lesson: how to place a marker. Doing this cut down on my aimless skating time considerably. By placing a marker, if I made a mistake Ц say, missed the rails and flipped over them head-first, or misjudged a jump and hit my shins on the concrete instead Ц I could simply go back to my marker and start over again.



Once I was done practicing and could successfully do several moves, I dove right into the УrealФ demo Ц the УHall of Meat.Ф What does that mean? Well, it involves lots of grinding, pulling off tricks, and Ц I'm not sure if this is standard in Skate games Ц lots and lots of broken bones and other trauma. The first thing I had to do was a simple trick off of a ramp Ц I did it quickly and easily, and even got to keep a photograph of Christi in mid-air. Not bad! After that, I got to skate off the roof of the library. I had to perform four bails in the air - a cannonball, a judo kick, a torpedo, and a spread-eagle, ending with just simply breaking a bone by re-directing myself in mid-air. These four things all involved me pausing in mid-air to rotate the right stick in a certain direction and then land on the concrete, where my broken bones were highlighted in orange through my skin. Uh, awesome? Maybe 13-year-old me would have lauded it, but 31-year-old me cringed. I guess the former would be embarrassed by the latter no matter what, so I'm just going to cringe and not feel bad about my squeamishness.

The rest of the demo was much more interesting in that it was fun, mainly through how challenging it was for me. In the first trial, УAccumulation Ц Grind Session,Ф I had to grind down a railing over and over until I built up enough points to move to the next trial. I got a little frustrated because it was here that my 20-minute time limit was up, and I had to Уrestart the demo.Ф If they were just going to let me restart the demo anyway, why did I have to stop in the first place? I did have to re-do the first easy trick, and then the bone crunching complete with cringing, and finally I was back at the grinding part again, which I flew through with ease. There were a few more trials filled with grinding on various items in the park, like УSimple GrindФ and УStair Counters RejoiceФ (both on the stairs) as well as УRainbow Grind TagФ on the benches and УCurves and GrindsФ on the planters. But the best Ц and hardest Ц part was the УTrick List Trial,Ф which involved doing eight different tricks on the same set of stairs with a crowd of people walking by. It was here that my memory was put to the test Ц grinding on the rails and tricking off of them, grinding on the outside and inside ledges, and pulling tricks worth a certain amount of points were just a few of the included items here. I found myself vacillating between frustration and amusement as people got in my way, shouting at me and dodging me all in the same breath. I couldn't help but laugh as I face-planted in the nearby grass, with shouts of how bad I sucked coming back to my ears as I returned to the place marker.

The final aspect of the demo was the online component, which was divided into three parts Ц Quick Match, in which you could jump into a random team challenge; Domination, where you out-performed other skaters to УownФ the most spots; and Own the Lot, where you could try to complete as many activities and УownФ that lot. Basically, it was just a lot of ownage happening. I played one game of quick match and got, err, owned? One thing was certain: I was definitely not the one doing the owning. I pulled a few grind maneuvers that I thought were pretty kick-ass, only to come to the end and find that my length did not match my opponent's, and I forlornly skated away. I played one of each online game, but realized I would need much more practice to be on the same level as these other skaters, many of whom seemed to know the ins and outs of the moves far better than I did. I guess with the help of Coach Frank, I could come back and drop some ownage on them. We'll see, kids. We'll see.

I had a great time playing Skate 3. I went into it with trepidation and doubt, but once I went through the tutorial stage and had a better idea of what exactly went into skateboarding on modern consoles, I started to feel more and more confident. As I breezed through some of the demo trials, I can say that I had genuine fun, and that I wanted to go back and just skate around the park to practice the moves and, more importantly, get a feel of what kind of precision was needed to make some of the jumps. I did end up playing the demo through three times Ц I only know that because that's how many times I watched the counter run out Ц but I can definitely say that this is something I'd enjoy playing online, especially once I got the hang of the controls.