I went into the Shaun White Skateboarding review with an open mind. Matt and I saw the game at the Ubisoft Press Conference at E3 2010 this year, so I went into the game knowing the audience which it’s probably going for: the teenage boy or girl who hasn’t ever bought a skateboarding game before, but loves Shaun White and his style.
Can you think of anyone you know in that audience? If so, they’ll probably love Shaun White Skateboarding. If not, and their further along in their skateboarding game timeline, they’re probably better off buying Skate 3 or a previous Tony Hawk game (definitely not Tony Hawk: Ride). What I found surprising about Shaun White Skateboarding was that I could open my mind up even more open-er, or something. Read on.
The premise of Shaun White Skateboarding is not unlike most of the other skateboarding games out there. You’re this up and coming skateboarding dude who goes out into the world and shreds, building fans and building relationships with other skaters who want you to expand the mind of the white-collar workers or people who fill the city.
The story for skateboarding games can really only go so many places. Trying to add secret assassin boss battles or terrorist organization you need to take down is just tacky. Not that Shaun White Skateboarding tries to do any of this, I’m just saying: have a guy skate, unlock parks, tricks and parts of the map, what’s wrong with that? This game does all of that but takes things up a notch.
The game world is overrun by this oppressive organization called “The Ministry”. It’s sole purpose is to take the fun, liveliness, and colorful characters out of the world around you. The environment starts out grey, drab, and everyone thinks the same and wears the same exact thing. It’s your job as a skater to grind, shred, jump, ollie and flipkick the shit out of this stuff and make it cool again. See what I mean about that teenager mentality? Sounds like the same thing teenagers try to do to their parents.
Doing tricks throughout the world is just downright fluid. I’ve never played a skateboarding game before, but within minutes I was grinding, twirling and doing toe-grabs like the best of them. The control scheme is based on skating, skating and more skating. Trying to just run around or skate to gain speed is just pointless. You’ll notice when your skating that your character will slowly aim for the next ramp, rail, park bench or article in the game just to grind on something. There’s really not a “fast” button, so for me I looked like I was constantly pushing my character through molasses. Skateboarding (at least my vision of it) is mostly about gaining speed, and Shaun White Skateboarding fails to do this.
The controls as I got deeper into the game are somewhat complicated for a game like this. Young gamers will have a tough time with the controls as they venture deeper. You’ll need to press the left analog stick forward to accelerate the rider, then letting off the stick at the base of a vert and press it forward again to elevate the character even higher in the air to do tricks. Imagine trying to do this in a short half-pipe over and over. This type of control scheme just detracts from the rhythm (or flow) of the game.
In order to change the world around you (dramatically I might add) in Shaun White, you’ll need to build up your flow meter at the bottom of the screen. You do this by continuing to shred your board across the map in different areas and build up points. The amount of flow you have will continue to fall off if you don’t continue skating and doing tricks. Once you have enough flow built up you will need to hurry over and perform a trick in a predetermined area to change the world or gain access to a new area or demolish a Ministry held location. This is also used in completing missions. Skate here a LOT, do this, unlock this and continue. Rinse and repeat. Like I said, not much to these skateboarding games.
Oh, and don’t worry about bailing out or injuring your character either, you’ll just get a red circle around the base of your characters feet to let you know you didn’t do the trick the right way. He’ll kind of run a little bit and then jump back on his board like nothing ever happened. I guess you can’t ever injure your skater.
One cool feature (that I thought was going to be in the game) that was shown off at E3 was the customizable grind rails. These were scattered across the maps to allow the player to reach new elevated areas of the map. Grind on these special green rails and then control where the rail goes with the analog sticks. Go anywhere you want. From the top of statues to the top of buildings, nothing the Ministry held was safe. This could lead to some incredibly long intricate rail systems that would make Tony Hawk shit in his pants 150ft up in the air. Sadly though, this was dropped from the game, being replaced by a player-customized ramp system.
These ramps are noted on the ground by a bright green rectangle and can be brought up or down depending on which way the player pushes the stick. This works okay, but man, I’m still bummed about those customizable grind rails.
For a video game that speaks to it’s teen audience about pissing off the man and taking over the city, Shaun White Skateboarding shines in it’s weird quirky way. It’s perfect for a teenage kid who wants to just space out and wants to pick up and play their very first skateboarding game. For everyone else whose a little bit more of an adult though, it definitely gets a pass. I’m not here to say I’m an “adult”, but the rest of us out there will quickly grow tired of the “open your mind hippie mentality” and the over the top voice acting and animations. Ubisoft knew who they were talking to, and they did a great job (minus a few control issues).
With all that being said, Shaun White Skateboarding can in fact open up your mind more-er, or something man.
