Skateboarding video games have a storied history. Reaching critical mass with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater in 1999, the genre has experienced twists and turns that include the likes of Thrasher: Skate and Destroy to ESPN X Games Skateboarding on the PlayStation 2. EA Black Box’s Skate opened a new chapter for tired skateboarding-flavored games by introducing an innovative, mind-bending analog stick-based trick system and realistic physics that complimented the believable environments, bucking the ever-intensifying wild and ridiculous style trending in the Tony Hawk titles.

As someone who struggled comprehending the ankle-level camera angle of the Skate series after years and years of Tony Hawk games, Skate 3′s option to change the camera to a behind-the-back view was a welcome opportunity. Lining up my customized skater to the appropriate angle for a grind or ramp became much more forgiving and enjoyable. My frustration level eased further with Skate 3′s subtle auto-corrections while landing a grind or jump. As a non-skater, my ignorance to proper skateboard placement and positioning was nullified thanks to these inviting accessibility improvements over the original Skate.

There’s a clear motivation in Skate 3 to abandon the often drab and sparse “realistic” environments of the previous games; many skating venues consist of 100-foot long half pipes and big-ass ramps. The result is a zany, hilarious and cringe-worthy opportunity to pursue the game’s main draw: the Hall of Meat. Tasking the player with various character-destructive challenges, the most sought-after accomplishment in Hall of Meat is simply breaking as many bones as possible, complete with a high score after all of your pieces have fallen to earth.

After the dust has settled and your character’s bones have begun to knit, you can capture, edit, and upload a replay of the poor guy’s femurs entering his neck. There’s also an online integration that allows for Halo 3-style PC-to-console download queues, leading to endless time-wasting at work that will continue once you make it home.

Skate 3 wholeheartedly abandons the tradition of integrating a storyline into your character’s existence, gracefully yielding to an optional goal of selling as many of your team’s signature skateboards as possible. The more boards you sell, the more exposure your crew gets and you can recruit more customizable AI skaters to join your squad. Additionally, you can create a team and invite your online friends to join you to complete a bevy of challenges that count toward your offline progression. It’s a welcome and rather impressive feature that I would love to see implemented into other mission-based open world games (Red Dead Redemption, I’m looking at you).

Several clipping glitches and random physics errors are rather prominent within the skating areas and are made more apparent due to an outdated graphics engine. Character models look a lot like Skate’s and environmental textures often appear flat. Thankfully load times are quick and relatively painless, which makes for a neat and tidy streamlined skating romp around the game’s three main areas.

After taking a break from the Skate series following the first game, Skate 3 offered me a welcoming and relaxing return to the franchise. The stress and frustration factors present in the original title have been almost completely eliminated and the online functionality has been streamlined to near-perfection. Despite an aging graphical engine and frankly bizarre glitches, Skate 3 is a fun and enjoyable experience for skaters and non-skaters alike.

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Things We Liked: New camera angle options. More forgiving grinds and landings. Hall of Meat challenges. Fantastic skate parks and venues. Lack of a forced storyline.

Things We Disliked: Strange physics and visual glitches. Rapidly aging graphics engine.

Target Audience: Skateboarders. Non-skaters. Fans of cooperative and competitive online games. Sadists (seriously, Hall of Meat is fantastic).

(Skate 3 – Developer: EA Black Box. Publisher: Electronic Arts. Available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – PlayStation 3 version reviewed. Unfamiliar with CFD!’s review system? Read our newly revised explanation here.)