The best skateboard game ever made?

The tricks are the stars
Individual kickflips, grabs and manuals long lost their magic in Tony Hawk's, in favor of ridiculous drop offs, telegraph wire rides and thirty-move combo strings. But with Skate, it's the little things that are really pleasing.

Learning the game's range of tricks (we're hoping to see every real-life move replicated in game) and performing them with the game's instinctive stick-based controls could keep us occupied for days, it's that much fun.

Our proudest moment in the play test was clearing a wall from a ramp - a typical real-world skateboard challenge. And, just like real skateboarding, as soon as we'd achieved it we were thinking of different, more spectacular ways of doing the same thing.

Could we kickflip it? Laserflip it? Laserflip it and then manual out? Sessioning a spot is a highlight of real world skating, grinding pylons isn't. And, though you might be surprised, it's the former that's the more satisfying.

The tricks are the stars
Individual kickflips, grabs and manuals long lost their magic in Tony Hawk's, in favor of ridiculous drop offs, telegraph wire rides and thirty-move combo strings. But with Skate, it's the little things that are really pleasing.

Learning the game's range of tricks (we're hoping to see every real-life move replicated in game) and performing them with the game's instinctive stick-based controls could keep us occupied for days, it's that much fun.

Our proudest moment in the play test was clearing a wall from a ramp - a typical real-world skateboard challenge. And, just like real skateboarding, as soon as we'd achieved it we were thinking of different, more spectacular ways of doing the same thing.

Could we kickflip it? Laserflip it? Laserflip it and then manual out? Sessioning a spot is a highlight of real world skating, grinding pylons isn't. And, though you might be surprised, it's the former that's the more satisfying.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.