Skate It (Wii) Review
Posted by Joe Richardson on 02.11.2009
EA revolutionized the skating genre with Skate. Does the Wii version, Skate It, bring the revolution to Nintendo?
Title: Skate It
Developer: EA Montreal
Publisher: EA
Genre: Skating
Players: 1-4
Rated: E
For the last few generations of consoles, skating games have been synonymous with the Tony Hawk series. It took last year's Skate from EA to break the mold the Hawk series had created and revolutionize the way skating games were played. Now the series comes to the Wii with its own take on the FlickIt control scheme.
Graphics
Skate It tries to bring the realistic graphics of its PS3 and X-Box 360 predecessor, Skate, to the Wii and the results are pretty disappointing. The Wii just doesn't have the power to present a realistic cityscape. The textures are bland, the characters are blocky and unrealistic, and the color palette usually ranges from gray to darker gray. Elements you can grind or use are usually colored in a stark red, blue, or yellow. The whole thing looks like Mirror's Edge gone terribly wrong. Its an unfortunate choice as cartoony graphics usually work much better on the Wii, and realistic ones look great on the X-Box 360 and PS3. EA Montreal just wasn't playing to the strengths of its platform.
The menu's have a distinctly grungy illustrated feel to them, and they look fantastic. You also have a lot of choice in the clothes and skateboards you use, but the character models are still poor. Your character gets called all over the world to compete in different competitions, but if you dropped me into Rio, London, or Paris and asked me to tell you which one i was in, i wouldn't be able to tell you. Each city looks almost exactly like the one before it.
The other visual issue I have with Skate It is that you are completely alone in your skating. Never do you run across a single other pedestrian, skater, cop, or even your own photographer. Nothing in the levels move, and the whole thing feels very dead.
Gameplay
The reason Skate reached such popularity on the X-Box 360 and PS3 was because it revolutionized the controls with their FlickIt scheme. Not unlike the current NHL, or Fight Night series, Skate used the analog sticks to great success.The Wii's version of this utilizes the Wiimote in much the same way. There are a few methods of controlling your skater, but it is clear that the intended method is by using the Wiimote and nunchuck. Think of your Wiimote as the deck of the skateboard. You lift it up to do an ollie, lift the back to do a nollie, twist while in the air to tweak, and turn in a circle to flip. Grabs are preformed with the B button and you turn and tilt your skater with the analog stick. It takes some getting used to, but once you do the feeling is very good. It's easy to pull a kick flip, land in a manual, and ollie onto a rail for a long grind. It feels organic and natural, though it does take a few hours to prefect.
An alternate control scheme incorporates the Wii balance board. I was very excited to see this feature, but a few seconds after stepping onto my board, I became disappointed. Pushing, jumping, and pulling tricks feels great, but your only method of turning is by leaning one way or another on the board. Most times I wanted to slightly adjust a line, but leaning just a little doesn't turn you at all, and leaning hard turns you as hard as possible. I usually ended up spinning in circles. The other irritant with this scheme is that in pulling tricks occasionally the game grinds to a halt, pulls up a pause screen, and tells me not to jump on my board. I wasn't jumping, I weigh 165lbs, and this happened more than once. It's jarring and the more I played Skate It the more apparent it became that this control scheme just wasn't meant to play the game with. Stick with the Wiimote and nunchuk, you'll be much happier.
The story is pretty nonexistent. Apparently some kind of natural disaster hit the city of San Vanelona, and you're the only one left in town to skate the ruins. This doesn't matter very much as after just a challenge or two you'll be jetting off to Rio, London, Barcelona and other exotic locals. The whole point of your skating is to climb the ladder of competitive skaters, win competitions, and become sponsored. Your personal photographer follows you around and presents you with different challenges for you to complete, but he's nothing other than a fairly obnoxious voice, especially when you fail a challenge more than once. Other skaters invite you to check our their place, or skate with them, but outside a few cutscenes you never see them in game. All in all though, it's a skateboarding game, you're not here for the story.
There is local multiplayer for up to 4 players passing the same Wiimote between each other. You can compete in best trick, best line, best time, or biggest injury. The biggest injury one is kind of a kick, but the others are just what you would expect.
If I have a beef with most skateboarding games it's that your movement is completely impaired by the slightest of rises in front of you. It doesn't happen often, but it's very frustrating when you're in a race, careening down a street and a small 1 inch curb throws you from your board like a catapult. I also have problems with stairs in skateboarding games. I know that Skate 2 allows you to get off your board and walk up them, but Skate It doesn't have this feature, so if you challenge starts at the top of some stairs and you miss it just slightly, you've got to reload the whole thing since you can't walk up a single step. We've been playing skateboarding games since the 1980's, and stairs have been the mortal enemies of gamers since we first ran into them, someone please end this idiotic feud.
All in all the gameplay in Skate It is pretty fun. When you're playing freestyle or trying to earn a bunch of points in a given amount of time, the controls really shine. It's a vast step up from pressing different button combinations to pull off tricks, and the whole thing just makes sense.
Sound
The soundtrack in Skate It is a good mix of grunge and punk rock. The songs are catchy if you're in to that sort of thing, but they aren't obtrusive and that's a good thing. The voice of your photographer is annoying. He mocks you when you fail, and every completed challenge ends with him yelling "YOU OWNED IT" or "YOU KILLED IT." Frankly he's annoying, but between the songs and the voice work things balance out.
Lasting Appeal
The multitude of challenges will take you some time to complete. Earning every piece of unlockable clothing and skating gear will also give completionists a lot on their plate. Multiplayer is nice, but you won't pack away your copy of Mario Kart or Smash Brothers for it. For those looking for a bit of skateboarding on the Wii there is no better choice, and you can kick around for hours just pulling off line after line of tricks.
Fun Factor
At first I found Skate It very frustrating, but after a few hours of learning the controls, everything opened up. The Flick It scheme on the Wii really does translate well and it's a blast stringing together tricks. Put the game on freestyle and enjoy running around each locale. It's not perfect, but I'll be very excited for Skate It 2.
The 411
EA decided instead of simply porting Skate to the Wii, to build things from the ground up with Skate It. Some things such as the graphics don't work, but the overall control scheme works well. The balance board needs some tweaking, but that doesn't get in the way of a very good skateboarding game. Hopefully with Skate It 2 problems with the balance board, stairs, and graphics will be improved. Once those things get fixed you'll have a fantastic game on your hands.
Graphics
5.0
The Wii just isn't powerful enough to support the realistic style Skate It is trying to present. Citys look bland, chacters look blocky, and the whole thing just feels institutionalized.
Gameplay
8.0
The control scheme takes some getting used to, but once you've mastered it, it feels great. Some challenges can be frustrating and the story is nonexistant, but all in all the gameplay works. Hopefully they can fix the balance board for next time.
Sound
7.0
The music is pretty good, the voice work is annoying. Call it even.
Lasting Appeal
7.0
There is a lot to do, and the challenges will last you a while. The game moves quickly though and areas are unlocked before many hours of play.
Fun Factor
8.0
Once you learn how to control your skater you'll have a blast pulling off tricks. It takes a while and some getting used to, but it's worth it in the end.
