New Skate It Trailer + hands on

Skate It takes place in San Vanelona, five years after the events of the original game. A series of unspecified disasters has rocked the city, leaving it in ruins and almost completely devoid of human life. Almost. You’re one of the last people left in the once-great city. Why? Because all of the destruction has created a new landscape–one perfect for skating. One day you’re skating around a school when Reda, the photographer from the first game, spots you. He breaks out his camera, you do a few tricks, and the next thing you know, you’re gracing magazine covers, earning sponsors, and traveling the world.

Before the whole “traveling the world” thing, you’ll need to create a skater. Using the game’s deep character-customization tools, you’ll be able to make pretty much any crazy-looking guy or gal you’d like. (You couldn’t make female skaters in the original.) Once you’ve got their faces just right, you can dress them in a wide array of clothing, much of which is name-brand, as are the skateboards. There’s plenty of stuff to choose right from the get-go, but you’ll unlock plenty of gear as you progress through your career in case you want to freshen up your look.

You’ll also need to pick your control scheme, of which there are three available. The most basic uses only the Wii Remote; you tilt it to steer and flick it to do tricks. If you’re looking for a little more control, the second option lets you plug in the Nunchuk, which is used to steer the board while tricks are relegated to the remote. The third control scheme uses the Wii Balance Board and the remote. Given that we had previously covered both the first and third control options, we chose the Nunchuk-and-remote combination. Right off the bat the game puts you through a tutorial to help you learn the controls. We started outside what was once a school, skating from point to point without having to worry about doing any tricks. Tilting the remote slightly forward or back let us easily perform manuals. As soon as we showed that we were capable of remaining upright on a moving board, it was time to move on to some tricks. You can ollie by flicking the remote upward, and you can nollie by flicking it down. Add a twist left or right and you’ll be able to perform kick flips. You hold the B button while in the air to perform a grab. We struggled a bit while trying to grind rails in the tutorial, but it wasn’t too long before we embarked on our career.

[GameSpot]

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