Overall Thoughts, this game could be good eventually but probably not

I have mixed feelings about this game. Mostly if not completely negative, but it’s Early Access and I guess it could improve but let’s be realistic. There’s a high probability that it will not and will just be another corporate slop using the franchise name to bait nostalgia from the oldies and made to prey on those who care about cosmetic peacocking and those that don’t know how good this franchise actually used to be. The act of skating feels good, and in some ways actually better than all the previous games. But thats where it ends for me. Everything feels inauthentic and PG, all “style” and no substance, no soul. I played all the previous games and this feels nothing like them apart from the Flick-It system. Without that, this game would not be “skate.” at all

I understand this is free to play, but instead of making money by pandering to childrens’ desire to impulse spend on cosmetic items (let alone locking the simplest of cosmetic items behind a paywall), perhaps improve the quality of life, lack of missions/activities/events, or anything meaningful to contribute to the longevity of this game and win over the core fans of the franchise instead of drip feeding content locked behind a “road map” for stuff that’s probably already coded into the game.  It is common place for free to play models to earn income this way but it is still just as frustrating to see and why couldn’t they innovate the process? Or simply, why couldn’t they wait to release this Early Access until more content had been good to go for its launch?  I guess it’s easy for me to feel this way since I’m not the one working behind the desk as a developer or under the management of a big publisher but still..

The most polished feature of this game is its cosmetic/micro-transaction store. This game shouldn’t be called “skate.” The first/original game was called “skate.” and this is an insult to the core fan base and its culture, or at least what was left of it. You can’t even play “s-k-a-t-e” at the moment (or anymore if they never add it), which I thought was a foundational part of the culture. 

Aside from the act of skating itself, nothing feels authentic. The city, the art, the missions, the dialogue all feel like ChatGPT came up with everything. Completely Disney-fied content, you know what I mean (clean, accessible, and every line of dialogue has to be quirky and comedic which is ALWAYS annoying to hear). Thank you for the mute VO and mute Vee option by the way! And why do all the main missions feel like tutorials I can’t skip? I’ve played all the Skate games, and I don’t get an option to skip any of it. Fluff.

At least for what it’s worth the Flick-It system still feels nice even though some features from previous games have been omitted (for whatever reason..). I apologize for the rant but I expected better from this game. Maybe in 6 years if the game hasn’t died it will be better or have made enough money to actually make a “skate.” game worthy of the franchise but this is cringe and embarrassing. Now i’m waiting for a Randy Pitchford type comment from EA to tell me that I’m wrong. 

Of course this is all just my personal opinion and I’m sure most of the new player base will disagree with me, but I say all this because I genuinely love this franchise. Unfortunately, this could be where it ends.