TheXboxLife

Look out Tony Hawk fans, there is a new skateboarding game coming to a video game store near you! After years of the Tony Hawk series dominating the console-gaming world as far as skateboarding games go, Skate 3 has mustered out the strength to give gamers a little more to play for — complete and utter control through the analog sticks. Skate 3 offers a unique control system that is dominated by the analog sticks, allowing for the gamer to have much more interaction and feel while achieving and completing massive combination tricks.

What may seem as an “anti-Tony Hawk” game, Skate 3 offers a lot more control over the movements of the character, but it comes at a price, it’s not insanely perfect. The left analog stick will be used to control the skater movement, with the right being the control of skateboard flips. The triggers are used for various grabs, and in the end, as much interactiveness may come from the unique controls, it does make it difficult to replicate certain tricks. Considering many tricks are very similar in base, this may cause some challenges when trying to pull off a specific trick in a competition. Though it can cause a level of frustration for the gamer, a little practice and perfection will surely ease the pain and allow you to become a true master of the board.



With the unique control design, the gamers biggest challenge off the bat is mastering various grinds. In real life, skateboarders must perfect the heights of their jumps to nail certain rails, and in Skate 3, this is no different. The game is all about timing, so if you demonstrate a level of grace with the analog sticks, the gamer will quickly catch onto the art of ollieing. At times this may become different because of the camera angle, but lining up your grinds will come in time.

The career mode can offer some challenges, like really knowing your city and skate zone. Certain objectives can only be completed in certain areas depending on the criteria, so being familiar with the area is definitely a huge plus. Along with this you’ll complete challenges that may be point, trick or time based. Overall, there are many different aspects to the career mode so it’ll take practice to master everything.



You can travel around the city exploring different spots, and even open up hidden spots such as X Games areas, which is pretty cool. The loading times are fairly quick unless you are attempting to warp to specific areas. It’s not a big deal unless you are trying to achieve the same objective over and over again.

Because of the significance of timing in the game, the online mode really suffers. Playing against users with a slower connection than yourselves highly damages the game play because of the glitchyness of the timing. Personally, though, this isn’t a game I’d get just to play online.

Overall, Skate 3 offers a unique gaming experience and is definitely a move in the right direction for the franchise. With enough tweaks, this game could easily become the king of the skateboarding game industry, and is definitely worth the benjamins to pick up a copy.



8/10

If you’re looking for a well-rounded action packed game with killer graphics and game play, the much improved and anticipated Mass Effect 2 will be right up your ally being released January 26, 2010. Featuring 3 classes, and most notably, the Soldier class, Mass Effect 2 offers a substantial increase in game play due to it’s class differences. Though I’d love to cover all three, this article is strictly meant to advertise the Soldier class, also known as the games weapon master.



The Soldier is able to use all ammo types in the game, which means the weaponry arsenal is pretty big, offering ways for the gamer to customize weapon types to destroy any and all enemies. Along with it’s increased health and adrenaline fueled boots, the Soldier is an extreme warrior who’s offense matching their defense. The possible weapon damage is off the charts in comparison to other classes, and matched with their defensive capabilities, the Soldier acts as a one man army fit to annihilate the opposition.

Another plus to the Soldier class is that it is accompanied by a Soldier-exclusive weapon, the light machine gun, and if you want to use it, you’ll have to be a Soldier. The combat mastery exclusive class rank for the Soldier also offers options once the rank has been maxed. You can side with either the Commandos, which will increase your damage and overall weapon attributes, or the Shock Troopers, which will propel your agility skills to the next level.



So why is the Soldier class the feature of Mass Effect 2? Because it undoubtedly was the biggest improvement in the game. Instead of having to “level up” your mastery of armor and weapons, in which case you usually ran out of points, the player now starts with full mastery, which propels the gamer to much more realistic game play as the Soldier. Mass Effect 2 is a lot to look forward too.