The addition of walking is nice for stairs at least, but it's so floaty and unwieldy that it just kind of sucks otherwise. Other than that, it's basically more of Skate 1 except grittier, and a little heavier as far as physics go. I still like the first map more, but 2's is still good and both are superior to 3's. The challenges are about the same mix as in the first game; some easy, some challenging, some obnoxious. Doesn't take long to technically "beat" the career, but there's a bunch of challenges to play afterwards in addition to just skating around. Some of the control wonkiness (grind magnetism behaving weird, walking in general) and some of the more grating challenges can mar it down a bit, but it's still plenty of fun.

This was my first time with Skate 1, though I did play a bit of Skate 2 and hundreds of hours of Skate 3.

Right off the bat, I loath the low camera angle, just makes it hard to read things for me. It's easy enough to adjust to but I still don't enjoy it. Some of the challenges suck, specifically SKATE matches and the film challenges that give you 30 seconds to accomplish multiple things. The deathraces are also kind of rough due to the camera angle (for me) and the AI. Speaking of, the AI are basically skate terorrists. I cannot be convinced that they weren't programmed specifically to get in the player's way and run into them.

That said, I think this might actually be the best map in the Skate series. It's not as big as 2 or 3's, but the whole map feels so good to skate in. Lots of hills for speed, the environments were crafted super well to be skateable all over the world for the most part. There are a few areas with a lot of stairs that can be annoying to navigate due to not being able to walk, but it isn't a common issue. The game looks great, too, it's not as dark aesthetically as 2 nor is it as bright and ugly as 3. Small stuff like X-Games having a custom UI is neat too, and the X-Games park is potentially my favorite event park from the series.

Overall, the skating feels good and the map is great. The camera gimps enjoyment for me and some of the challenges can get pretty obnoxious, but it's still plenty enjoyable outside of that.

I'm gonna start with the flaws, because they are present and may be a turn off for some, but this game also has a lot going for it I think.

I played on normal, I'll probably do another playthrough on a harder difficulty and make an addendum if it's notable. The game is really easy; aim is more of a general thing rather than precise. Upgrades sort of inevitably route you to splash damage and explosions, which makes pretty much any gun capable of keeping you alive. I died more from platforming than combat, to put it in perspective. It's also pretty short, I just finished the story and am currently at 115 minutes, meaning I could even refund it. I won't though; on to the good.

The game is very stylish, they had an aesthetic they were going for and they nailed it. The animation is good and wears the anime inspiration on its sleeve with references and details. The voice acting (I think there's only 2 VAs for a total of 3 voices) is also pretty enjoyable, good personality. The writing is cheesy (presumably intentionally), I found it amusing enough - even if a little ham-fisted at times. The soundtrack is also fantastic, some bangers in it for sure. While precise aim isn't necessarily needed for the game, it is rewarded in the sense that if you can consistently get headshots, you will NOT run out of time as long as you keep moving. More than that though, the gunplay is very satisfying thanks to the combination of sound effects and meaty feeling guns. Even though normal wasn't especially challenging, I still had a whole lot of fun playing. I'm going to check out the endless mode and also see how harder difficulties fair and may update this, but overall I found the game fun and charming.