It needs some work

I’m not writing this to bash on this game like many others do, but because i’m genuinely disappointed. The mechanics and map are fun, but that’s just about it. There’s no real way to progress, just spend hours following bearings and owning spots to unlock the next part of the map where you do the same thing again for some neon green socks and confetti sports bras. My first real issue is the cosmetics, the devs constantly spoke about “diving into the skate culture” and apparently that is represented by a few half assed logo slap collabs with Dickies, Vans, and Thrasher, about 70% of the original cosmetics consist of denim dresses, pleated skirts, neon colored crop tops and not even a pair of plain white socks. Sure, there are some baggy pants in the game but the selection is so extremely limited that you either have to go out of your way to pay for such basic cosmetics or grind your **bleep** off and open a box about 11 times for a pair of black pants. In short there is not a large selection of easy to reach actual skater attire. 

Secondly the music SUCKS, I understand the concept of wanting to give smaller artists a voice, but I don’t think i’ve turned a game soundtrack off this fast before, for the love of your game watch a few skate parts and use your stupid “skater ears” to create some better and more diverse playlists.

Third, Vee, and the entire long **bleep** “tutorial” segment is horrible and corny, it sounds like my mom trying to be hip at the dinner table when my friends are over. I don’t want to listen to “I love watching you cook at the Tri-Towers” or any of the other sarcastic comments made when you bail, this is such a drastic downgrade from the actually authentic feeling coach Frank instead of some roboslop monotone voiced orb (so naturally i also turned her off).

Last but not least, pedestrians and traffic. Currently, they only serve the purpose of not making the city feel like a ghost town, but i would love to see that change, atleast in skate 3 I could sock an annoying pedestrian in the face with my board if I felt like it, but now they just stroll around for no apparent reason. Adding security to spots might be able to fix this and add to the realism of the game (and also give people a real reason to turn pedestrians off). Traffic is also completely useless other than just looking the part, you can’t hitch on cars like in skate 3, so there’s not really a reason to have it on anyway. 

I know this is quite harsh feedback and it might seem as if i’m complaining just to complain, but if you want to make a game with “skater culture” you have to do it right.