Review: Skate 3 (PS3)

Author: Tigervamp | Date: June 21, 2010

I have been a dedicated Tony Hawk man for quite some time. I even own a Tony Hawk VHS tape in which he shows off some of his tricks. Admittedly, that VHS tape is still in its plastic wrapping, but I do own it. I used to sit and play the Tony Hawk games for hours on end. When it comes to business EA are pretty smart and their policy over the years, especially with sport titles, is that if something is popular they should do it themselves. Skate burst on to the scene a few years back and, in true EA sports style, had a flashier appearance than its competition.

After a fun intro movie, in which skaters play a variety of roles, it’s time to choose a team name and logo. I went with Flaming Tigers as it’s pretty cool name and if you disagree you’re totally wrong, deal with it. The choice of logos was a disappointment. There isn’t many to choose from and there are no Tigers so I ended up picking a black cat on a skateboard. The success of your team is connected with your reputation which you increase by successfully completing challenges. The challenges vary in difficulty and may be straight forward like following a skater to a point on the map or more complicated like performing a string of tricks within a time limit.

There is an easy and hard mode which adjusts how difficult it is to perform the tricks. The easy mode is helpful for newcomers while more experienced Skate players will appreciate the chance to test their skills on hard mode. There is also a skate park mode, which is similar to the Tony Hawk games, where you can create and play your own skate areas.

Electronic Arts have a history of making the best looking sports games and, while the graphics don’t appear to have improved since Skate 2, this is a decent looking game. Of course, the benefit EA have with a skateboard title over other sports is the lack of competition on the market.

The soundtrack isn’t as good as in the previous two titles. The first Skate title had tracks such as Green Onions by Booker T & The MG’s, Lounge Act by Nirvana, Raining Blood by Slayer, Pretty Vacant by The Sex Pistols, and Express Yourself by N.W.A. Skate 2 had tracks such as Heroes of our Time by Dragonforce, Eat the Rich by Motorhead, Harder Than You Think by Public Enemy, Low Rider by War, Ghost Town by The Specials, and Sleep Now in the Fire by Rage Against the Machine. The tracks I listed may not be to everyone’s taste but I don’t feel the soundtrack this time around is anywhere near as good. Having said that, I did appreciate the inclusion of Debaser by Pixies and Disorder by Joy Division.

Skate 3 is a good game and fans or the sport will enjoy it but those who own Skate 2 won’t see many improvements. For that reason I recommend this more to newcomers. With that said it comes down to whether or not fans of the series are interested in a few decent additions to an already solid game.

7.5/10

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