SKATE 2

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Double the tricks including footplants, crail slides, fingerflips, and the ability to Skitch
• Walk around on foot and move nearly 100 different objects to be a part of your run
• Expanded Reel editor allows placable cameras to record your favorite scenes
• Create male or female characters, and us the new in-depth graphics creator
• Create your epic spots and challenges, then upload them and share them with friends around the world

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B001GGM2M6
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: January 21, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,287 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #2 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Sports > Boarding & Blading
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360

Amazon.com Product Description

Black Box redefined what the skating-game genre could, and should be, with Skate It. Now they have come out with the long anticipated sequel Skate 2 for the Xbox 360. This new installment features a lot more exciting and sophisticated tricks, an improved Reel editor, a deeper create-a-skater, and much more.

Grind on any surface you can find. View larger.

The reel editor lets you create videos of yourself. View larger.

Giant ramps let you catch massive air. View larger.

You can buy property and turn them into skate parks. View larger.

The Story Continues
Skate 2 is set five years after the events in Skate It, where many earthquakes had devastated the city leaving it in ruins. Instead of the skaters' paradise that the city used to be, the new city dubbed New San Vanelona, has stepped-up security, thanks to Mongo Co., in order to protect the best parts of the city. This is the setting for you to rebuild your skate career and revive the city's skate scene.

Whereas you started the last game by learning the basics of skating, with Skate 2 you'll be immediately challenged by find a couple huge ramps. You start out at Slappy's, and while there are some tutorials, veterans will be able to blaze through them in about a minute. New players, on the other hand, will find Slappy's park to be inviting and easily accessible, and can get a taste of what's in store for them before taking on the entirety of San Vanelona. And once out there, you'll find that people you run into remember you and what you did five years ago, and are excited to see you back in action.

Exciting New Features and Capabilities
While the controls will be instantly familiar to fans of the previous game, there are loads of new tricks to perform. Skaters can now do footplants, crail slides and fingerflips. Or show off with a lip trick, an Ollie North, and the long-sought ability to Skitch (grabbing the bumper of a moving car) to gain speed.

New to Skate 2 is the ability to get off your board and walk around. While on foot, players can move certain objects in the world, creating their own lines with nearly 100 different objects. Changes to the environment, big or small, will stay put in the game regardless of how long you play. Should you decide that you no longer like your giant stack of trash bins or some other madness you've set up, one touch of a button can return the items to their original position. This means gamers can create their own epic spots and challenges, which can then be uploaded, shared, and experienced by others around the world.

Loads of Great Improvements
Skate 2 expands on the original's popular Reel editor, allowing gamers to place a follow camera or a fixed tripod camera wherever they want, recording their wicked tricks and brutal crashes. And speaking of crashes, skaters will now experience, and be able to highlight, damage to their threads. Clothes get dirty and become torn, and players get cuts and bruises depending on their actions. And if you crash big enough, you'll see a bail score pop up and increase as you take damage, culminating in the Thrasher Hall of Meat screen that tells you how well you've done crashing, and gives you an x-ray view showing your broken bones.

Skate 2 also features the choice of creating either a male or female character, rather than just male, and will offer an in-depth graphics creator. The role of money increases, allowing players to buy up pieces of property and turn them into a full-fledged skate parks. And there is a great new Goofy vs. Regular competition variant, where two teams of three skaters compete in the same park at the same time.

In short, Skate 2 ups the ante in delivering all the grit, creativity and culture of skateboarding, with all-new tricks and capabilities that allow players to truly skate it their way, on and off the board.

The create-a-skater features lets you personalize your player.

Product Description

SKATE 2 X360

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Never looking back to Tony Hawks..., April 15, 2009

By 

El Coti (Ohio) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skate 2: Platinum Hits Edition (Video Game)

First skateboarding game I played was Tony Hawks, 1&2. The best skateboarding game of its time. Decided to take a look at the Skate 2 demo (mind you, I've never played Skate 1). I was BLOWN AWAY. Tony Hawk, move aside, Skate 2 is the new and improved kid in town! I shortly bought it after not getting enough from the demo. Well worth the money. What a revolutionary title! Forever more, skate 2 is gonna be known as the skateboard game that changed it all. No longer do you get to add stats to your player (speed, Air, jump, etc) everyone is on an equal playing level. If someone else can pull off an amazing trick/jump/flip, I can do it too. Anything is possible! There are little challenges and what not, but honestly, if this game came without the challenges, I would be happy. I just do them to do them. The people over at EA really did a good job with the city design. You will never get bored cause there is always something new to attept. Recommended! You won't regret it.

30 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the best skateboarding game since Tony Hawk 2., February 9, 2009

By 

Raul Duke "Gonzo HST" (Pittsburgh) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skate 2: Platinum Hits Edition (Video Game)

dont forget to vote yes/no whether this helped or not ^_^

so rarely do we see a sequel so true to the original yet better in every way. Skate 2 takes the basic mechanics of the original and creates what is possibly the best skateboarding game ever, but to be fair to the times, the early years of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater are legendary.

Graphically theres little to complain about, great character models, great lighting effects, and generally great use of textures, aside from most foliage and some lackluster water effects everything looks solid. the bruising/body damage from bails is nicely implemented as well.

the game controls just like the original with that fantastic analog control. if you havent played it, the let stick controls the skater, and the right trick controls the board for ollies, manuals, flip tricks, ect. similar to the ideas behind NHL 08/09 and Fight Night Round 3. and dont forget the replay editor. gameplay can be paused at any time to edit your replays. you can change camera angles/styles and the speed at which each clip in the video plays. any of your replays can be uploaded for all to see.

Create a Spot - you can now, at any time, pause gameplay and create a box to designate the trick area, set the score on given ramp/gap/rail/ect, and upload it for all to see and compete for the high score.

challenges/activities abound from tournaments and races to individual spot contests, competing for the best trick. they even added online for this one, all the styles of activities available in career can be chosen for online competition, as well as online freeskate with your friends. unfortunately all online modes are limited to certain areas, so you can forget traversing the whole city with your friends GTA IV style. a small complaint. actually my only real complaint about the whole game.

the soundtrack is great too, varying from oldschool rap to modern rap, classic rock to modern metal.

on top of all that Skate 2 features one of the most advanced physics engines in any game except maybe GTA IV (why didnt that have a replay editor?!) every bail is unique to the situation. everything moves as it should whether you're nailing a grab over a staircase or slamming into a knee high steel gate.

all in all its slated to be one of the best sports games of 2009, right up there with Fight Night Round 4 in terms of respective quality. it could be one of the best games all year period.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm impressed - Non-Skater, New to Skate series, April 2, 2009

By 

J.S. Knapp "ViperMan" (Hagerstown, MD) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Skate 2: Platinum Hits Edition (Video Game)

I'm going to compare this game a good bit to Stoked - a snowboarding game. The reason for this comparison is that they both came out at nearly the same time, they both have received similar reviews and scores, and they both use similar control schemes. Lastly, there are some things in common between snowboarding and skateboarding.

I purchased Stoked - and ultimately Skate 2 - because I was looking for something different. I was tired of driving games, shooting games, and there were no good RPG's on the horizon. I needed a change.

I bought Stoked because it was $10 cheaper. Bad mistake. I rented Skate 2, and ended up trading in Stoked (and a few other games) to purchase Skate 2.

The controls between both games are similar. Left stick "steers," right stick controls jumps and pivots and tricks. Of course in Skate you can push yourself around, in Stoked - well, you're just sliding down a mountain.

Skate 2 wins the comparo for a bunch of reasons. San Vanelona is a living town with pedestrians, traffic, security, and other skateboarders. Stoked takes place on a relatively-lifeless mountain, with some stationary onlookers at various "trick spots." Skate 2 is a "sandbox" oriented, whereas Stoked - though certainly not linear, still only lets you slide down the mountain, restart, and slide down the mountain again. If you miss a trick in Skate, you simply push yourself (or walk - a welcomed addition to the game no matter how awkward the controls) back up the hill and try again. You can even set a "waypoint" at the start of a hill, railing, obstacle, etc - and with the press of two buttons, return to the waypoint to try again. If you miss a trick in Stoked, you have to restart at the top of the hill, FIND the area you were in, and try again.

The control schemes seem a little easier in Skate - at least until you scan through the trick guide. Stoked is all about holding a button and moving the right stick in a certain direction. It basically requires memorizing a lot of button combos, or pausing frequently to check the instruction book. Skate 2 relies on a similar structure, but most of your stunts are done by moving the right stick in a specific pattern. The good news is that you'll often do A trick. It may not be what you WANTED to do, but you'll get points at least. I have not yet run into challenges were a very specific trick was required, though I have read that this may occur later. Skate 2 seems a bit easier to play as you can "fudge" your way through the challenges a bit easier, being creative as opposed to just checking off a list of required stunts.

As someone who is entirely new to the Skate series, and skateboarding games in general, I found Skate 2 very easy to get started in and enjoy. Moving around is very easy and intuitive. Learning the basics like ollies and grinds was very easy, and let me get a decent way into the game before I had to broaden my horizons. I also like how advancing through the game opens up "contacts" which allow you to do things like draining pools, removing "traps" that inhibit skating, and even requesting a little "muscle" to help with security. The various missions and "spot" challenges can be pretty fun, and though often times they require multiple attempts to succeed, somehow it never becomes very frustrating. I'm not a big fan of doing things over and over again, but maybe because it all happens pretty quickly, you can run the same challenge many times in a single minute - especially with the "waypoint" system mentioned above. I cannot tell you how easy that makes Skate 2 to play.

As fun as the challenges and missions and side-jobs can be, simply zipping around San Van is a lot of fun in itself. It's really a welcome changed in a sandbox game to be able to entertain yourself without shooting people or worrying about health or a "wanted level." Many times I'll find a railing that I want to practice grinding on, or a ramp that I want to practice jumping from. Drained swimming pools are incredible fun for flipping, grabbing ledges, grinding, etc. Skate 2 also gives you an awesome feel for your height, your speed, and your frequent-impending doom when you realize halfway to the ground that "this one isn't going to go so well..." But even the wrecks pay off though with the "Thrasher Hall of Meat," which adds a hilarious and even profitable twist onto bone-snapping crashes and accidents. Wiping out in Skate 2 makes me laugh over and over again. Never before has failure been so much fun.

Skate 2 is a great game that encourages creativity and is packed with lots of different things to do. It's entry-level access is great for new players and old fans alike. The controls could be a little tighter, the walking technique could be greatly improved, but most of the nuisances become pretty insignificant when you catch that air and nail the landing.

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