Skate (game)

The main feature of the game, the “Flick it” system ( lit. “click”), appeared long before the appearance of the game itself: the first prototype simply read the stick movements of the gamepad and issued a message about the trick, as well as read speed and accuracy. The developers noticed that in order to obtain more accurate information during quick manipulations with the gamepad, it is necessary to read data at a speed of 120 Hz ^[2] .

The game makes extensive use of the physical capabilities of the engine for the behavior of a skater. The choice fell on the RenderWare engine package called Drive for modeling joints in human bodies. Initially, it was planned to get off the skateboard, but the character’s walking animation became a big problem for the developers. They also abandoned the female skater, as this would add to the work with animation.

During the development process, the game underwent a number of changes. For example, in the early stages, the city of San Vanelona was planned as a coastal city, with harbors and a football stadium. The soundtrack has also been changed. Previously, it was planned to include blues tracks in the spirit of The Doors , but later the balance shifted towards more heavy music and hip-hop .

The demo was due to appear on Xbox Live in August 2007, but was delayed due to issues with Skate Reel (video editor). For the PlayStation 3, a demo was released in September of that year. In it, the player was given half an hour of the game, and the scene of the action became the public center of the city.

A mobile version has also been released. It had in itself only two game modes: Thrasher Mode (where the player had to complete tasks to get on the cover of the magazine of the same name) and free skating (where you can also ride at levels from the previous mode). The player is free to customize his skater. The game has only three areas: area, halfpipe and business center.

The game takes place in the fictional city of San Vanelona ( born San Vanelona ). The player takes on the role of an anonymous skater who, having recovered after a terrible accident, begins to make his way to fame. The player has at his disposal a whole city - San Vanelona ( English San Vanelona ), on which you can freely move. To achieve his goal, the player needs to compete with professionals, fulfill sponsorship contracts and participate in competitions. All this in order to participate in the annual X Games .

Starting the game, the player can adjust the appearance and parameters of his character: his physique, skin color, hairstyle, clothes. You can also individually customize your riding style and board settings. After that, the gameplay itself is reduced to the implementation of various tasks from both other skaters and sponsors. With the money received, the player can buy new clothes or new design for his board. Tasks range from competitions to video and photography. Once on the cover of the magazine, the player improves his performance, receives new sponsors and participates in more prestigious competitions.

The main feature of the game is the Flick it system. Using the right stick, the player can literally control the legs of the skater and perform all kinds of tricks by rotating the skateboard. This is facilitated by the camera, which is focused on the legs and board of the character. In addition, the player can use the “triggers” of the controller to perform grabs (tricks with the capture of the board), as well as control the balance when sliding. For performing tricks the player receives points. The number of points depends on the height, complexity of the trick and the purity of its execution. As you complete the tricks are combined in chains that bring the player much more points, turning into a kind of combo. The longer the combination, the higher the multiplier and the more points the player will receive in the end.

The game also has multiplayer. Players can compete with each other both in freestyle and participate in competitions, races, SKATE modes (the player who scores the most points in several rounds wins) and Own The Spot (getting the maximum number of points on a particular object) wins. Another online component is the skate.reel system, which allows you to shoot gameplay and share materials on the Internet.

Skate It (styled as skate it ) is a video game developed by EA Black Box , Exient Entertainment, and EA Montreal Studios for the Nintendo Wii , Nintendo DS, and iOS consoles. Spin-off of the original game. The game was released in November 2008 .

Game events take place between the original and Skate 2 . The city of San Vanelona was affected by the earthquake, so the player now rolls around the dilapidated city without any interference. Although, later the player will be able to move to other cities, such as London , Paris or San Francisco . Unlike the older version, the Wii and DS control circuitry has been redesigned. The Wii version uses Wii Remote motion control as well as the Wii Balance Board controller. For the Nintendo DS , a stylus and a touch screen console were used ^[3] .

The game was warmly received by critics. IGN gave her a score of 8.5, noting an entertaining single player mode, soundtrack and control, but criticizing the graphic component. The Nintendo DS version also received encouraging reviews for its “challenging but interesting gameplay,” but was criticized for bugs and overall game quality.

IGN delivered 9 point versions for the Xbox 360 and 8.8 versions for the PlayStation 3 . Of the advantages, the environment, control scheme and soundtrack were noted. Among the minuses were problems with multiplayer, problems with physics, rare glitches, as well as the lack of freestyle tricks. GameSpot delivered 7.5 for the Xbox and 7 for the PlayStation. A good start to the game and its innovations were noted, but the abundance of advertising and product placement was criticized, which lowered the score by half a point. GameSpy rated both versions 5 stars. Praise has been given to the control scheme, the extensive environment, audio and content. Of the minuses were identified learning problems, poor camera and slowdowns online.

The game not only received approving reviews from critics and players, but also doubled in sales another skate simulator of 2007 - the game Tony Hawk's Proving Ground ^[11] .