It’s about time someone challenged the Tony Hawk skate monopoly and EA has struck hard with Skate. At the heart of Skate is a control system dubbed ‘FlickIt’, which feels realistic thanks to the total lack of button mashing.

Flick It removes the 500m long grinds and 30+ flip tricks thrown into a single button-based combo that plague the Tony Hawk series. Instead you get realistic control of the board’s motions with the right stick and the player’s body with the left. For example, by pulling the left stick down the skater starts to crouch, let go and he ollies with a strength dependent on how low he got. If you flip the right stick while in the air, he does a trick. It all means simple tricks are more intuitive, realistic and ultimately more rewarding.

Another great feature is the Skate Reel feature. This allows you to record and edit a portion of the past minute or so worth of skating. We found this great fun for not only enjoying the sensational motion capture, but also to relive the hilarious bone crushing, ligament snapping and ultimately devastating bails. Clips can also be uploaded to the EA Skate Reel servers to share.

The game captures the motions and movement of a skater not only accurately but exceptionally. The flip tricks are so accurately represented, it’s like watching a ‘How to skate’ video.

The whole game is based around a fantasy city called San Vanelona modelled from three skate Meccas: San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona. The highly detailed urban landscape translates into what skaters truly live to enjoy (ledges, stair sets and picnic benches) and bemoan (cars, security guards and pedestrians). There’s no Tony Hawk-like quarter pipes replacing office building walls but things like corporate sculptures do the same job.

Music within the game is awesome: skaters of different generations will not be disappointed. There’s still room for improvement: for example the ability to walk back up the steps you’ve just hurled yourself down.

But for a first time effort and with influence coming from some top skateboarding pro’s and the world’s skate community it’s a fantastic game for skate fans and casual gamers alike.