Skateboarding games have come a long way from Skate or Die (which still holds a special place in my heart). Vans Sk8: Pool Service looks to take advantage of the sport and gaming genre’s popularity by bringing skateboarding to the iPhone. While the game stumbled a bit out of the game, the recent v1.1 patch proved to be advantageous and solidified Vans Sk8 a spot on my iPhone.

My favorite part of skateboarding games has always been hitting a ramp and doing tricks. Vans Sk8: Pool Service does this very well by putting you in an empty pool to trick it out until your hands bleed. With 9 events, tons of unlockables and achievements, deck customization, and a nice size trick list, there’s a lot here to make you come back. Controlling your movement is done by tilting the iPhone (a tilt sensitivity option was added in the recent patch) with tricks performed by swiping your thumbs in various directions; very simple and effective.

Before the v1.1 patch, controlling your skater was tough. I had major problems getting him to go anywhere I wanted. After the patch, this works much better, so make sure you update your apps. I would have liked to see more than just two skaters available to choose from (Bucky Lasek and Omar Hassan). The soundtrack gets a bit repetitive as well, so it would be nice to be able to listen to your own music from the iPhone during play.

While I was initially frustrated with Vans Sk8 because of the control issues, I knew the patch was coming, so I waited on writing this review. Now that you can set the tilt sensitivity, it’s a non-issue. The quick pick-and-play mechanics allow you to fire this game up when you have a couple minutes to kill. Overall, a pretty fun game for $2.99.