UPDATED Skate series in review

[thesignguy]

Kind of a diary of sorts. I will ad with time

I wanted to make a (possible) final part including all 3 games. I never went back to any since the next came out. So each one is fresh again and my pros/cons are unbiased.*

S1:
The city is "better" no denying this point, it's the best but... It's not a plethora of spots back to back. There are plenty of areas that there is nothing to skate. The only difference is that each spot is unique and individual IE not cut and pasted over and over. And a lot of these spots are used in both other games or the color/texture is changed and pushed off as new.*

Pros: original, best map, colors seem the best as far as not over the top. You can set you session mark in more precise increments. Best soundtrack for what it's worth.

Cons: can't get off your board, this to me is the most frustrating con of all 3 games. Not only for getting up certain areas but for looking at areas or stoping. Ollie height seems horrible, impossible to barely Ollie or shuvs. Reel only stores 8 clips (ridiculous but they had no idea we would geek out this feature)
No handplants, 1 foots, no comply, movables and a slew of other things. The cam makes a lot of things impossible to film.

I was really let down going back. I expected to never want to play the other games again. In some way I wish the last 2 were never made because I never had that feeling I had with playing the first game and apparently I never will again.*

S2:
I'm only one night into it. It might actually be my favorite. It has plenty of places to skate/cam/new things you can do/movables

Update: this is the experience I expected og to be. The city is much better than I expected. The added tricks we got for s2 was amazing. I remember a lot of peeps saying s2 was more of a Skate 1.5 those statements were premature and couldn't be further from the truth. The city was a 1.5 I guess but thank god, I wish s3 was this way. The community was at it's best in s2 as well. The og's were much better and the new guys actually brought something to the table.

Pros:
AFC this opened sooo many doors for sharing different styles that just weren't possible before. Now you can do much more technical stuff and see it where before it might be impossible to even see the trick. The city is not much worse than OG shit half of the old city is there. GC customizing stuff brought on a entire new level of sharing and supporting on and off the game. New tricks, just getting off the board was a blessing let alone a sure fire way of getting in switch if needed and every other new gem. Larger clip storage on and offline. Easier to get around the map. Smaller lower pops, definitely more controllable.

Cons: cams are flukey, confusing at times why it spazzes out. Ghosting is extremely frustrating especially with fisheye, amazing how much closer you can get in s3. Quarky glitches, lots of odd leg shakes and invisible holes that movables fall in to.

Overall: if you just want to pop in a game and skate you just can't beet s2

[Antwan]

Well if you don't want replies you might lock this thread or something..
but I thought skate 2 was my favorite..
There's no running but the on off board animation looks pretty damn smooth I got a kick out of it going back to S2.
Movables started here.. and skate 2 gives off that I'm going to build shit DIY vibe and I love that about the career.
I've had the most fun in skate 2 online and in career..
I could never piece together the park editor on skate 3 as it frustrated me senseless I gave up..
I like a challenge but not a challenge to build shit.. come on.. methods to merging, really?
Skate 3 is pretty fun but I don't think anything tops skate 2.. it's outrageous and mellow and fun at the same time.
People will disagree oh OG is OG but I dig skate 2 man. I would only play skate 3 if I couldn't jam it out with my arcade buddies on skate 2 anymore..
but when I left last month servers were ok with a few issues now and again.

[thesignguy]

No replies are fine

Don't give up on CAP
it's not really all that difficult and I have never used any technique or whatever. It's almost a separate experience altogether. There's Skate 3 (not very good) and then there is CAP. to me they are different. If you don't take advantage of CAP I see no reason to pop in the disc.

[Antwan]

It's like I try something different every time in CAP to avoid the same issue but the things I want to make are a pain in the ass
seems like more frustration than it's worth.. and half of the time it's simple shit like two ramps into a straight wall just to wallride up
I just don't get it.

[thesignguy]

Only thing you need to know is go into settings and turn on/off snap and merge

[Antwan]

Yeah I've been there man..
Maybe I just needed a break from it..
Try something later I guess.. so many unfinished parks.

[pawnluvguitarist]

it is nice having 3 completely different games, 3 completely different mindsets.

For me, if i want to cruise the city, or do popless/UGs ect its OG all the way, S2 for moveables and S3 for Caps, each game has its own strengths and weaknesses, just pick which one is best for what you wanna do kinda thing.

[fallingskyline]

S1
pros:
- best spots / city
- one complete city (same as s2)
cons:
- can't get off of board
- cams

s2:
pros:
- get off of board
- afc (advanced free cam)
cons:
- no real switch, better said its effed up
- cam glitches when hitting the ground

s3:
pros:
- best cams in all games (and cam swap online)
- cap and (best)gc
- hardcore mode
cons:
- city is less attractive
- gc creator is more bitchy than it was in s2

for me s3 is my favorite

[knexzor]

s1
Pros:
Best level design BY FAR
Skating physics and animations the least glitchy
Best graphics (Colors, Lighting etc.)
In-game challenges the least cheesy
Best soundtrack

Cons:
No getting off the board is a pain
Ragdoll animations lol
No filming
No onefoots

s2
Pros:
Essentially the San Vanelona we knew from s1
AFC
Nice looking grey hat...
... come to think about it, s2 had the best clothes
(+ all ze memories!)

Cons:
Essentially the San Vanelona we knew from s1, only they kinda ruined it
AFC ghosting and collisions
Weird rugged graphics, dark areas

s3
Pros:
Graphics Creator
The fact that they implemented CAP
The fact that they implemented hardcore mode
The fact that they fixed AFC
The fact that they fixed head-tracking and other demands from the community

Cons:
Worst city
Worst graphics (colors and lighting)
Worst physics and animations
The fact we had to pay for a fixed AFC
Worst coding (name one feature without flaws?)

[MF JORDAN]

what this guy said ^

[agusbmxarg]

it is nice having 3 completely different games, 3 completely different mindsets[...]

each game has its own strengths and weaknesses[...]

Simply this. Going s1 vs s2 vs s3, besides all the objective and proven pros and cons, its like windows vs mac, or nikon vs canon.
It is all about personal tastes.
I wish I could played s1 and s3 atleast for a total of 5 hours to be able to do a little review but I can't.

[NotedDerk]

Reel only stores 8 clips (ridiculous but they had no idea we would geek out this feature)

Weird, from what I recall I was only able to have three clips at a time and whenever I was uploading another, it would just override the first of the three clips.

[thesignguy]

I meant saved data, reel is gone for og. I'm capping everything from here on out most likely. Shitty quality because all 3 of my capping capabilities are not HD but I have never really been a fan of quality anyway haha
But yeah S2 and S3 almost let you save enough for a full part 18-30 clips or someshit

[MarcoPoloUSN]

Skate 1

Pros:
- Best city
- Best skate sounds
- Best skate physics, especially mini ramp physics
- Best skate animations
- Best music

Cons:
- No creative filming
- Lack of tricks (hand plants, no comply, one foots)
- Lack of off-board game play
- Weak variety of brands (They left out the legendary skateboarding brand name, Vans)

Skate 2

Pros:
- Newly added replay system
- Best game for pictures
- Enhanced character customization (new brands)
- Best clothes
- Smooth colors, Daytime changes
- More trick variations

Cons:
- Ollie sound
- Monkey-looking black people
- Re-hashing San Vanelona
- Movable objects replacing parts of the Community Center
- Ghosting

Skate 3

Pros:
- Create A Park
- Graphics Creator
- Fixed glitches in the replay system
- Hardcore Mode
- DLC
- Best game for video production
- Allows the most creativity

Cons:
- Worst city
- Worst concept
- Worst physics (mini ramp skating is a fucking struggle)
- Mediocre skate sounds

[BannerBoy360]

s1
pros:
obv the city as it felt like a real city.
the intro is so sick with all ththe pros acting and i know they did it with 2 + 3 aswell but imo wasnt as entertaining.
when you meet a pro they have like a cool sponsor vid thing.
career mode was best of all 3 i think cause you had to work your way up from am status.
was funner.
creators were more inventive and paid attention to detail eg theres little bits of scarface grafiti in a few different areas. (guess this might fall into city)
replayability level off the scale for me
cons:
as already said advanced free cam. if s1 had afc itd be the only one i would play i think.
not getting off board.

s2:
pros
colours are insanely good, look great on film.
afc
getting off board.
gc arrives.
cons:

afc was a little hard to use.

[emericaridr11]

all sick games....

s1- needs AFC, and thats it

s2- is janky, but nice little city

s3- kicks ass, shit city

[MarcoPoloUSN]

This should be stickied.

[Roke]

S1:
Pros:
-Fell in love with Flickit Controls

Cons:
-Played the shit out of it.



S2:
Pros:
-oh wow S1 all over again but less good areas (hate Old Town more than anything).

Cons:
-still played the shit out of it



S3:
Pros:
-most overall fun game in series

Cons:
-EA

[Antwan]

Skate 1

Pros:
Kicked tony hawk's ass

City is fun

Cons:
So hard to get back into or go inbetween other skates (for me)

Shimmy walking ollie 180 up stairs to find high spots.. serious drag.


Skate 2

Pros:
Fun Track

Hills are pretty ok..

snake runs are pretty fun

Movables have meaning

LOVE the gameplay.. can't stress it.
My Favorite.

Cons:
No running


Skate 3

Pros:
Positive aspects of skate 3 override the negative for me
I love skate 3 as is


Cons:
Dark.. way to dark
I can deal with tall buildings and stair rails..
no problem, those are around in real life..
darkness has always bothered me a little bit in filming some of my favorite spots
it's just dark man.

Overall:
San Van, New San Van and P.C. are all great cities
where others see flaws I soon see possibility.

The Ability to switch between arcade and realistic skating and having three different cities to experiment with is amazing..
2 styles x 3 games=endless fun
and applying what you learn from arcade skating into realistic skating makes a very positive experience for me.. through every game I've been able to do this.
It feels that much more realistic to me in the sense that you adapt to street skating..
you apply what you know to other situations; I.E. New Game Engines, New Cities and New tricks.

If Skate 4 were to come about..
I would love to see some more realistic environment reaction
Fences flexing when you ollie into them.. popping over cracks.. making movables legit setups like you see in videos would be insane.. it would even make arcade tricks look more difficult.

[thesignguy]

Updated with s2

[Antwan]

The whole vibe changed with skate 3.. like the cool kids at the park rather than the guys having fun..
and maybe this is speaking for other people and I don't mean to but
I think Skate 3 was a blessing but in a different light Hardcore, Normal and Easy brought on a new expectation for viewers and skaters alike
I see so many one up comments on newcomer's videos about not playing on at least Normal.
Where's that love at man? So many realistic skaters used to bomb hills with manual pops and blast big airs now it's all restricted hardcore realism
(for the most part) There's still a few guys out there doing big stuff but It kind've frustrates me with this turn we've taken..
just on the sidelines being the person that I am who enjoys something thought of outside of the box skate 3 came in.

edit: Play on different modes in skate 3 for even more possibilities.

[madsser]

S2 was awesome. I just. I can't play that.
I can't play the skate series without filming stuff. And i just can't be bothered to spend so long on filming in s2. With the fucking glitches all over the place, the ghosting. All that.
Can't be bothered. That's why I don't play S2 anymore.

+ s3 really changed my filming style to the "up close" cams, which i just can't get with S2 cause of that dumb idea that is ghosting? (i mean who came up with that?)
Loved it when it was the best we had, but now that S3 is out. Man.

Give me OG skate feel and graphics and shit, S2 or OG world and S3 AFC and hardcore mode and you've got my perfect game.

[Ayreon]

i like s2 for the graphics, city and animations. But s3 wins with cap, filming and hardcore mode. cant touch og. the filming is too shitty and not being able to get off the board is a bitch. i do agree s1 had the best campaign..but i dont give a shit about the campaign.

if they released s1 with s3's gameplay mechanics and s2's graphics and animations....it would be the perfect skate game.