With the original game leaving the genre wide open for improvement, it was no surprise that EA decided to follow up and make Skate into a full-blown series. Though you will curse at the camera and argue that you “totally landed” the latest bail there is plenty of room left over to explore the new city and have fun grinding on and flipping over every bit of what it has to offer.

A plot does exist, though it serves as little more than a vehicle to get you introduced into the game world before letting go of your hand and letting you flow through your own path. Technically speaking the game takes place in the same city as the first, but only after five years have passed and the entire city of San Vanelona was almost leveled by earthquakes. The city, now renamed New San Vanelona, is quite varied with highways flanked by wooded areas up north near the dam that are perfect for death races while the sleepy suburbs and bustling downtown areas both have plenty of choice skating areas.

You create your skater using a selection of gender, face types, head structure sliders, hair and skin colors, and hair styles. Your skater can further be decked out with authentic apparel and accessories, letting you make the skater you want down to if you want a hoodie or headphones. Many of the major brands make their presences well known as well, both in apparel as well as in the skateboards, wheels, and trucks. All of these are cosmetic changes however, as there is no difference performance-wise from any of the skateboard parts and your bails will be just as spectacular whether you are wearing a helmet or not.

After the first few minutes the plot becomes almost completely transparent, letting you progress through the events and spots of the city in pretty much any order. Though with few exceptions events based on the plot or the others such as the races and jams have a linear progression you can mix up trying to woo sponsors with participating in a death race or owning a pool jam at will. All events show up on the challenge map as well as the minimap when close enough, and though you can skate to them the map also allows for a quick teleport when you just want to get there fast. Other activities of interest such as spots to own by landing a big enough combo in a designated area or happening upon a photo shoot pepper the landscape as well.

Controlling your skater is still just as easy to approach, with the left stick handling your movement while the right stick is used solely for tricks. It is essentially the same mechanic as the original—updated with new tricks for the sequel but also carries over many of its flaws. For instance, when you are playing a game of S.K.A.T.E. which requires you to perform the same trick as someone else the game can often misinterpret what you wanted to do, making you perform the wrong trick and failing the challenge. This is an extreme example as for most of the time you are landing flip tricks like a crazy fool, but the trick control still doesn’t have the granularity that it occasionally needs and it does lead to frustration.