Sequel Grinds In

Pump, grind, tranny, grind, grind, watch that old lady, tranny, pump. You come to a stop, stomp your foot down on the end of your board, flipping it upwards in time to catch it in your hand. From behind you a guy wearing your brand leaps his board down some stairs and lands in front of you. A woman follows; she grinds down the rails and stops next to him. They catch their boards and wink. Thumbs up dude, this is Skate 3. This is your world, you call the shots, you go where you want to and skate on, across and over anything you like.

Skate 2 established a unique and original control system, accompanied by an appealing and addictive gameplay as well as a vast and captivating online society. Skate 3 builds on this, introducing new locations, features, gameplay and tools for you to play around with as you grind your way up the skating career track. This time, however, you are not alone. You’ve gone pro and hit it big in Skate 2, earning yourself some fame on the streets for being good at the sport you love, and now its time for you to hit the big leagues. Time to get yourself a team.

Team Up. Throw Down

Skate 3 is all about teamwork. Your goal as a character coming from Skate and Skate 2 is to create your own brand, or select a pre-made one, and assemble a team to support you as your reputation increases. You and your skaters will take on original team challenges, as well as compete against rival crews for control of the streets in the new skaters' heavenly playground, Port Carverton. Bragging rights for each turf will be yours once you’ve proven yourself in a crew battle. It’s up to you to build the greatest team and show your opponents who's the boss of the boards. Producer Brian Lindley says: “Skate 3 is very team associated and not many people relate skating with being a team sport. In reality, skateboarding does become a team thing, once you’ve become a pro, the next step is to start your own brand and then your own team.”

In the previous titles, Skate has developed a huge online community where people are able share videos and socialise with other skaters. Players also began to form their own skate teams and created competitions, which they filmed using the video recorder function. The development team saw this as a popular trend and decided to encourage it to grow. Skate 3 introduces a whole new co-operative mode, allowing players to join a social network with their best friends in order to skate around town. A lot of the modes from the old Skate games return, but have been adapted for team play.

With the option to play offline or online, Brian Lindley suggests that ”it’s better to play online in order to get the best out of the Skate community”. This is not a requirement though and if you decide to play offline then your crew will consist of an AI team. One expansion to the online community is that players, who create user content, get rewards that help them to progress through their career if other players use their products. Whether you’re playing online or off, the goal still remains the same, aim for the top and don’t stop until you’ve rolled all the way there.

Tricks and Tools

Senior Producer Jason DeLong says: "The social and community aspects of the Skate franchise are something we've always embraced, but we've never done anything to the scale you're going to see in Skate 3. We're giving gamers a very unique experience by providing them with the tools they need to build their ultimate team or to create a team comprised entirely of their online friends. From there, it's all about proving yourself - teaming up, and throwing down." And it’s true. The new Skate tool systems provide players with even more customisable options than before.