Fans of ollies, flips, grinds and pops have been able to find virtual decks in the world of console gaming for over three decades now – 720 Degrees, by Atari, one of the first extreme sports games, debuted in 1986. Skateboarding games have always been a popular genre, and titles from this category regularly appear on the best-seller lists.
This article will focus on two legendary game franchises and their most recent offerings for seventh-generation gaming consoles: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. Some titles in the two franchises are also available on handheld consoles, mobile platforms and/or personal computers.
It is impossible to talk about this genre and not mention the Tony Hawk franchise. There have been sixteen TH titles to date. The first, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, was an immediate critical and commercial and became a genre-definer from the moment it hit the shelves in 1999. There are rumors that TH Shred, the latest game, is to be the last TH title, following Activision’s Feb 2011 announcement that there would be no 2011 TH installment.
Shred is officially aimed at younger players, and is packaged with the cool motion-sensitive board controller (first released alongside TH: Ride). The controller, alongside the ‘Go Big’ trick mechanics and the social gaming aspect of the title are sure to entice older fans to have a go at too.
Like all TH games, the tricks in Shred are huge and crazy and cool. If you feel like carving through powder or shredding down a treacherous alpine mountainside, have your skater strap on a snowboard. TH: Shred hit retailers in October 2010. TH titles are all developed at Neversoft, published by Activision and, of course, endorsed by professional skater Tony Hawk.
Electronic Arts’ innovative Skate series (Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3 for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Skate It for the Wii) has impressed critics, veteran- and novice gamers alike with its innovative Flick-It control system, feature-richness and awesome environments. Unlike the button-combinations (some would say button-mashing) traditionally used to pull off tricks, the first Skate introduced a control scheme made up of pulling, pushing and flicking the two analog sticks in certain patterns. Flick-It gives a much more tactile, precise feel to pulling off tricks, and the control scheme has only improved with each sequel.
Skate 3, released May 2010 for the Xbox and PlayStation 3, is set in an all-new fictional city called Port Caverton. In contrast to Skate 2′s San Vanelona, which featured stark and gritty visuals and learnt an ‘underground’ feel to the game’s skaters and skating, Port Caverton is openly skater-friendly and its cityscapes are much more colourful. There are new easy and hardcore difficulty levels, and a Skate School which will keep your basic Flick-It skills in nick. Online game modes have been nicely expanded to include three new online team play modes: 1-Up, Domination and Own The Lot. This adds a particularly fun dimension to an already cool game.
The first Skate, developed by EA Black Box (as are the sequels), debuted in September 2007. Skate has trounced Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground (released at the same time) in terms of sales, selling almost double the amount of units. Shred did not have a promising opening week, and Skate 3 shipped many more units once again. Only time will tell whether the veteran series will get up swinging or if Skate will continue to dominate skateboarding games sales.
There are some pretty good online skateboarding games that you may be interested in. Free skateboard games are always worth looking at.