Synopsis:
Coast through three iconic locations based off of real-world skate spots in Los Angeles, Oslo, and Barcelona. Pull off realistic tricks with ease and skate just like the pro’s. Hundreds of combinations are available, including flip tricks, grabs, grinds, spins, and manuals.
Complete over 100 challenges or chill out and ride at your own pace with Endless Skate.
Publisher: Snowman
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
Also available for: iOS, PC, PS4/PS5, Xbox One, Xbox X|S
Developer: Agens, Room 8
Concept, Designer & Developer: Daniel Zeller
Lead Game Designer: Peter Måseide
Creative Director: Kim Lid
Skate City was initially released on Apple Arcade in 2019 and has now made its way over to consoles. Thanks to the Nintendo Switch, you can listen to the lo-fi tunes and land a couple of kickflips either on the go or the big screen.
As a mobile game, it’s apparent Skate City was designed around small play sessions, and as such, that’s how I played it. Attempting to play Skate City for anywhere close to an hour, the monotony of the game wears itself on you.
Skate City’s side-scrolling levels are somewhat reminiscent of the OlliOlli series with a muted colour pallet and simple design. But the game controls much more like the Skate franchise. Each stick has to be flicked in a specific direction to pull initiate each trick, and the face buttons are to build up speed or stop. You can initiate some holds during grinds, but there’s no big ramps or bowls to perform mass-air melons. Skate City is focused on street skating in its purest form with sweet lines.
The worst thing in Skate City isn’t security guards, messing up tricks, or pebbles getting in your way… it’s the pedestrians refusing to get off your guard rails. Image captured by the author on Nintendo Switch.
There are only three levels in the game, which is relatively light as a fourth location was recently added to the iOS version of the game. You can choose to skate those levels in an endless mode or attempt to complete specific challenges. The free skate mode does have an almost Tony Hawk style list of things to try and complete, but you’re also free to skate and do your lines as you please. In contrast, the tailored challenges task you with races, tricks or scores to complete. Some of these can get frustrating due to the inconsistent nature of the sticks performing the tricks. Still, it’s straightforward to pick and perform a challenge before walking away again, and that’s how the game was obviously designed for iOS.
Those chasing something more than beating some pre-set challenges can chase leaderboard scores against friends or the wider world.
