Game Reviews

PureSkate 2

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iOS
| PureSkate 2
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PureSkate 2
|
iOS
| PureSkate 2

Skateboarding is one of those sports where you wonder how anyone gets to a point of mastery intact.

While you're learning how to play football, the worst thing that will happen is that the ball will bobble off your shin. While you're learning how to skateboard, you'll probably BREAK your shin.

Skating games tend to have a similarly precarious existence, because if they're not spot on from the get-go, any flaws tend to be both gapingly obvious and fatal.

PureSkate 2, unfortunately, is a bit of a novice. Its training is patently unfinished, and the parts of it that are nominally complete are full of technical faults.

Giving two fingers to traditional controls

There's a novel control system underpinning the game that holds much promise. You direct your skateboarder from a typical third person over-the-should view by laying your forefinger and middle finger on a virtual board, mimicking the placement of his feet.

Steering is a simple case of pushing your front finger in either direction, while initiating an ollie - the base of so many tricks - is a realistic case of lifting off with your front finger followed closely by your rear finger.

Various tricks and grabs can be initiated, depending on context, by swiping on and pressing in the quadrants outside of the virtual skateboard.

The trouble is, the movement of your character and the physics system that determines his interaction with the environment - various skate ramps, benches, rails and such - are extremely clunky.

Grinding a rail is a hit and miss affair, while you'll find your board snagging on bits of the environment and your boarder tumbling to the floor frustratingly often.

Off balance

The environments themselves are flat and lifeless, and there was only one available skate park leading off the drab hub world. More will follow, but only as IAPs, it seems.

That's not the only thing that's missing at release. The lack of an in-game moves list is the most baffling of them all, but there's also the fact that you can only select one skateboarder right now.

Despite the game's spartan feel, I experienced some pretty noticeable performance issues on my iPad Air 2, too.

All in all, PureSkate 2 just doesn't feel ready to hit the big stage. It's got some promise, but it needs to finish learning the basics and hone its technique before it can call itself a serious skateboarder.

PureSkate 2

Seemingly unfinished and with glaring technical issues, PureSkate 2 isn't ready for competition just yet
Score
Jon Mundy
Jon Mundy
Jon is a consummate expert in adventure, action, and sports games. Which is just as well, as in real life he's timid, lazy, and unfit. It's amazing how these things even themselves out.