#SKATE CITY NINTENDO SWITCH PRO#
#SKATE CITY NINTENDO SWITCH SERIES#

#SKATE CITY NINTENDO SWITCH SERIES#

Don’t get me wrong, it doesn’t even come close to capturing the perfection found in the Tony Hawk’s series of games, but the more chilled out feel of the soundtrack suits Skate City’s vibe perfectly.That seems nice, doesn't it? Low-stakes skating through levels inspired by a few cities around the world. I’ve got to give a shout out to the music too. There are a few performance hiccups here and there, but it’s mostly consistent throughout. It’s not packed to the brim with detail and the locales you visit don’t offer too many unique sights, but there’s enough variety between them to make skating across the world look and feel slick. Visually, Skate City looks pretty stylish, with the muted colour palette of the world fitting the 90s-style aesthetic that I associate with skateboarding (at least in my own head anyway). Looking for a skating game to really invest yourself in fully for hours on end though? Maybe Skate City won’t be for you… “There’s something almost *relaxing* about the experience that makes it easy to fall into a small trance when playing.” It shows that there is more to the game than just challenges and it is certainly enjoyable as a bit of a mindless (and mostly stress-free) experience. Sure, I wasn’t overly challenged and I was running out of things to do, but there was something so soothing about just unwinding with Skate City’s world. I actually listened to a podcast whilst playing the game for review and found myself sitting for close to three-hours straight just skating and relaxing, and you know what? It felt nice. There’s something almost *relaxing* about the experience that makes it easy to fall into a small trance when playing, especially in the Endless Mode where you can switch off your mind and just… well… skate. That being said, Skate City isn’t really about challenging the player or having them pull off semi-impossible tricks and flips across death-defying skate parks. There are online leaderboards to try and climb if you’re into that sort of thing – I’m not really the score-chasing type though, so it didn’t really appeal to me.

It won’t take players long to see everything that each of the three environments has to offer, whilst the aforementioned challenges can be zipped through quite quickly. It doesn’t help that there’s not a whole lot on offer to keep players coming back for more. “Skate City’s core gameplay experience ticks plenty of boxes as far as enjoyable skating action is concerned, but I found it a bit too simple to get fully engrossed in.” There are things like the Photo Mode that incentivised me to play around a little, but even that lacked the stylish flair seen in bigger releases. I rarely felt like I was really challenged, but instead in a routine where I did the same things over and over again. There was no real sense of nuance found when pulling off tricks, whilst the basic layout of each level meant there wasn’t a whole lot of room for experimentation. Skate City’s core gameplay experience ticks plenty of boxes as far as enjoyable skating action is concerned, but I found it a bit too simple to get fully engrossed in.

Each bring their own unique look and up the ante as far as the difficulty is concerned, so there’s a genuine sense of progress felt as you navigate them that does feel satisfying. There are three levels on offer in total that bring their own set of challenges, with Los Angeles, Oslo, and Barcelona putting your skating prowess to the test. None are overly difficult and mostly consist of hitting tricks and so forth, but there are a few creative challenges that did feel more befitting of a typical skating game. It’s with those aforementioned challenges that you’ll probably spend most of your time in Skate City.

#SKATE CITY NINTENDO SWITCH PRO#

“It’ll be more familiar to those that have played OlliOlli as opposed to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, and it works quite well.” I was pulling off all sorts of fancy moves quite quickly, whilst the progression that’s tied to completing challenges saw me improving my capabilities (and unlocking new decks and outfits) to help pull off even slicker manoeuvres. It’ll be more familiar to those that have played OlliOlli as opposed to the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series, and it works quite well.

Everything takes place on a 2D plane, so you don’t have to worry about navigation sure, there’ll be some obstacles you’ll need to ollie over or between and there are plenty of rails to grind, but it’s always a case of simply working from left to right. Fancy stringing in some manuals? Just hit the shoulder buttons following a trick.

Skate City’s gameplay is simple to get to grips with, with players kicking their way across the ground with a press of the A button and then pulling off tricks by flicking both the left and right stick.

Skate city nintendo switch