The other day, I downloaded a demo of EA's new skating game, aptly titled "skate." I've been a fan of the Tony Hawk games as far back as I can remember, so I'm always willing to try out a new extreme sports game (I don't follow them at all in real life, I just think the games are crazy fun).
I download the demo, and literally less than thirty seconds into the demo, I'm already completely lost. The control scheme primarily uses the analog sticks for nearly everything you do. Flicking the right stick up makes you jump, flicking them to the left or right makes you do a flip trick, etc. The main problem is, you have to press the A and X buttons to push, otherwise you don't move. So, you have to press these buttons to go fast, and at the same time, hold the right analog stick down to bend your knees, preparing you for a jump.
Problem is, the A/X buttons and the right analog stick are both on the right side of the controller. So, you're pressing these buttons to gain speed, and with the same hand, holding down the right stick to prepare for a jump, and as you're doing this, you still need to steer yourself in the right direction with the left stick. Adding to frustration is the camera angle; it's behind your skater as it is in the Tony Hawk games, except it's zoomed in much closer, and you only see the lower half of your skater. Also, it's somewhat at an angle, so just skating in the direction you want to go is a challenge in itself.
The demo offers a tutorial right at the beginning, but even with the cheeky skater stereotype yelling the controls at me as I try to complete his challenges, I found it way too confusing and eventually, I just gave up and quit. Looks like there's a reason why the Tony Hawk series is really the only skating game out there nowadays. I know this was really long, but I feel the length is necessary to explain how frustrating the demo really was, to me at least. Anyone else download the demo? Feel free to share your thoughts.
