I’ve never really considered myself to be ‘rad’ and I don’t tend to get called ‘dude’ very much.
But I’ve always been quite partial to a bit of skateboarding, at least in computer game form.
Unfortunately, with the exception of the fantastic Touchgrind, the iPhone and iPod Touch haven’t offered much to feed my thirst for some virtual ollies and shuvits.
As good as it is even Touchgrind is a tech deck game rather than an authentic skating experience so there really hasn’t been anything to get excited about.
That is until now.
Whenever Gameloft takes on a genre it usually does it bigger and better than anyone has done before – and that’s exactly the case with Skater Nation.
This is the closest thing yet to a Tony Hawk game or a Skate Park City on the platform.
It’s a vast free-roaming 3D arcade skateboarding game – and I’ve been having a lot of fun with it.
Skater Nation takes place in the fictional setting of Sandifornia and features 10 large open environments to explore, including skate park, beach, residential areas, factories and construction site.
There are eight characters to play as. Once you’ve selected which one you want to be you can choose from different boards, wheels and trucks.
All the male and female skaters look pretty ridiculous – all outlandish clothes, tattoos and daft hair styles. It doesn’t seem to reflect real skater culture. Well, maybe in California or somewhere glamorous this might be authentic but certainly not here.
There isn’t much difference between the different skaters and they don’t really have any individual personalities.
It’s a shame there isn’t an editor included for players to create their own characters, boards and accessories.
In free ride mode you have complete freedom to visit any of the locations around the city, performing snazzy moves on ramps, pipes and rails.
Since scores aren’t recorded the main purpose of this mode seems to be for practicing the 30-plus tricks available in the game.
Should you perform a particularly awesome aerial manoeuvre you can save a replay and upload it to YouTube.
If you want something more story-based then choose the career mode.
The aim is to win an annual skating contest. Along the way you will be set challenges by other skaters. These include performing a particular trick, getting around a course in a certain time and getting a target number of points against the clock.
The story should keep most players going for a good while but even when that’s finished the free play mode should then be enough to keep people coming back to the game for more skating fun.
Controls in the game are simple and complicated at the same time.
Reproducing the physical experience of skateboarding using virtual buttons on a touch screen is never going to be easy, but Skater Nation makes a good fist of it.
The controls are simple because there are only three parts.
A d-pad controls movement and navigation. Other buttons, A and B, are then used for jumping and grinding. At times you’ll need to balance your skater, and this is done by tilting the iPhone/iPod.
The controls are also complex because there are a lot of moves to remember involving using one or other of the buttons or combinations.
The controls take some getting used to, with fluidly performing tricks and learning to control your skater requiring some practice and some tumbles off your board.
Other than the occasional framerate blip and the odd awkward camera angle the game runs very smoothly. The animations are slick and the skating performs at a very good speed which adds to the authenticity.
So the skaters look good – and so do the environments. All the skating areas are vibrant, nicely detailed and feature a good mixture of designs. If you get bored with one then hopping across to another keeps the game fresh.
The only minor complaint would be Sandifornia could use more people and traffic to liven it up slightly. A few shuffling old duffers yelling at the young skaters as they go by would add a bit of atmosphere.
Overall, Skater Nation is a very enjoyable game. If you’ve been waiting for a full-scale 3D skateboarding with which you can show off to your mates about what your iPhone/iPod can do, your waiting is over.
Verdict: 8.5 out of 10 – The biggest and best skateboarding game yet on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Lots of action for skateboarding fans, and accessible for skaters novices.
Watch the Skater Nation trailer:
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