Skate City review

Intro

I was still in search of a cool skateboarding game on the Nintendo Switch when I encountered Skate City. It was originally released on Apple Arcade and recently made its way to the Nintendo Switch. I already played OlliOlli: Switch Stance, but I was still looking for something more realistic: enter Skate City.

Gameplay

Controls

The controls are largely the same as OlliOlli where gain speed by pressing A and pull of tricks with the left and right sticks. Grinding is also the same: hold the left stick in any direction in mid-air near a grindable spot. Unlike in OlliOlli, you need to keep your balance when grinding or doing a manual by pressing the left and right triggers. And fortunately, you don’t have to press B on landing.

Realistic

In contrast to OlliOlli and Tony Hawk, you almost can’t do impossible trick combos in Skate City. With the exception of the impossible trick of course (skate joke). Ollies are of normal height and flips, spins and grinds are done at a normal speed. This moves the focus more from gaining high scores to actually performing cool and realistic skateboarding tricks. It feels good to land a regular 360 flip or a 180 flip down some stairs.

Shooting clips and waypoints

You can set a marker/waypoint/spawn point or whatever it’s called at any place in a map. This allows you to instantly spawn back to that point so you can skate a spot over and over again. It took me a while to figure out why I couldn’t move the marker because none of the controller buttons or sticks worked. It’s controlled by the touchscreen. This makes sense since this game was originally created for mobile devices but I wonder how this works in docked mode…

There’s also an option to start a recording for a video clip. When you do this you can adjust the camera zoom level and angle while skateboarding. This literally brings some depth to the map. With the press of a button, you end the recording and immediately sell it for cash. You can’t actually see the recording which really is a shame.

Maps and challenges

There are only three maps available. It’s not much, but they contain quite some challenges so there’s plenty to do. Also, the maps are based on real-life locations which is pretty cool.

Each map has an endless skate mode in which you can skate on your own leisure or try to complete any of the 30 challenges. Most of these challenges require you to do a certain trick at a certain spot on the map.

Next to the endless skate mode, there are about 60 challenges per map each with a 3-star progression system. One challenge for example is achieving a certain high score. This grants you 1 star. For the 2nd star, you need a higher score and an even higher one for the 3rd star. Some challenges require you to race another skater to the end of the level or run (skate) away from a policeman so there’s some variety to these challenges.

Hidden skills and customization

There’s a shop in which you can buy new gear and clothes to alter the looks of your character + skateboard which is always fun to do. It gives you a purpose to spend the money you earn with completing challenges.

The game doesn’t tell you this, but you can also buy skills and special tricks in the skate shop. The harder challenges really require you to upgrade your skills so it’s weird the game doesn’t explain this somewhere. The speed skill is the first you want to upgrade as this makes it easier to win skate races.

Gameplay rating: 6

Graphics

Skate City is fully 3D rendered but is rather low-poly and the colors are really dull. There’s a day and night cycle which is only annoying in my opinion.

Adjusting the camera zoom and angle in the so-called recording mode allows you to skate in a different perspective. The game looked ‘fresher’ when I placed the camera semi-behind the skater. It’s a shame you can’t that view mode as default.

Graphics rating: 5

Audio

A bit like OlliOlli, the jazzy soundtracks are to keep you focussed on skateboarding. They add a pleasant, relaxing vibe to the game. The skateboard sounds are mediocre and are often drowned out by the background music.

Audio rating: 6

Memorable

Where OlliOlli has its own unique style, Skate City has virtually none. The graphics are too simple and the gameplay is not sufficient enough to make me want to pick up this game again in the future.

Memorable rating: 4

Conclusion

I like the realism of Skate City, but the dull colors and lack of maps make the game quick boring to play. There are a lot of challenges, but they quickly get repetitive and achieving all 3 stars in a challenge feels like a chore.

Played on the Nintendo Switch in handheld mode.