Whether you are an old hand at Tony Hawk series or are new to the whole skate boarding genre of video games, whether you’ve never set foot on a deck in real life or have been skating for years, Fuchal from NextGEN Gamers shares some tips which will see you go far in EA’s fantastic skate.
#1 -Filming your video challenges
Much of your career mode time in skate will be spent completing video challenges (thus getting your exposure meter up for those all important magazine shoots and pro challenges). Many of the challenges are pretty straight forward, especially the early ones. But the later ones, and in particular the Thrasher ones, can prove difficult at first glance. But by thinking laterally and exploiting the game, you can make the hardest challenges the easiest. Here are two examples.
By far the one I thought was the hardest was the grind for 10 meters (30foot) total, get 12 seconds of air total, and flip trick to grab to grind. My first impulse was that it needed to be done on a big vert section like the X Games or Plan B warehouse, due to the 12 seconds air requirement. And whilst I spent an hour at the X Games trying to get my air and grinds and special grind, I failed to realise I was spending half of the allotted 30 seconds going from one side of the half pipe to the other. Then I got to thinking, why not try doing this all on a street section? So I went to an area which had a long piece of metal to grind that was just off the ground. I rolled up with two pushes, did a kick flip to grab to grind onto the metal (thus fulfilling the grind for 10m/30ft and the flick to grab to grind requirements) and found I had 24 seconds left to get 12 seconds of air. I simply stayed still and did 12 consecutive ollies (12 x 1 second ollie = 12 seconds of air). What could take you 15+ minutes, 60 tries and a lot of frustration on one section, can end up taking 3 tries and a minute and a half on another.
Even the challenges for the ‘no skate zone’ are relatively easy. Many people try to do these in ‘no skate zones’ which don’t have many security guards: like the Matrix Plaza’s bottom or top levels. However, did you know that the City Hall Plaza in Old town is all a ‘no skate zone’? Sure, there is the middle section which appears red on your HUD map and is patrolled by a guard. But on either side of the Plaza buildings it is still a ‘no skate zone’, despite it not showing red on your map and despite the ‘no skate zone’ super not appearing on your screen. The guard won’t bother you, and you will have massive uninterrupted run-ups with stairs for grinding which are over 100m/300ft in length. All of a sudden, these have become the easiest video challenges in the game.
So my tip? Find the easiest spot to record your films. The first choice is not always the best. Think laterally… or head to our forums and ask me.
#2 – The minimal approach to winning S.K.A.T.E.
The S.K.A.T.E. challenges can often prove a little prickly, especially when you face the endless high ranked pros in the single player mode, and even seasoned humans on multi-player. Whilst it would seem that learning all those inward nollie variable and laser kick 360s is important, which it is, its always good to remember the simple tricks. And by simple I mean a plain ollie or nollie.
When you get the chance to set the trick, don’t feel that every trick has to be the hardest one with a 360 or 540 tacked on. When I was battling the harder pros in single player, and especially human players who were better than me, I found that I would often do several simple tricks 5 or 6 times in a row. Roll up and do an ollie. Then when everyone has copied it, do a nollie. Nothing fancy, just plain tricks. Ollie 180, Nollie 180, Heelflip, Heelflip 180, etc. Just remember to not repeat any of the tricks whilst they are showing up on the list of already completed tricks (which is maximum 3). After each trick, the oldest trick on the list gets bumped off by the new one and you can do that older trick again.
“But, Fuchal” I hear you say, “those easy tricks don’t set a challenge for really good players. Shouldn’t I be trying to fool them with 540 pop shove its?” Whilst it is good to throw in a 540 now and again (and bear in mind that the pro BOTs can’t do 540s at all), I often find that by lulling your opponents into a belief that you can only do easy tricks, you can catch them off guard. And I find that even the best human players (and I’ve battled some of the top ranked global players) will miss a simple nollie around 10-20% of the time. Because they think it is an easy trick, they sub-consciously switch off from time to time and end up pulling a nollie heelflip – the difference between performing the two tricks being a slight movement. What is more, when they fail at such a simple trick they get very annoyed and start to question their abilities. Then you can throw a 360 Nollie pop shove it 540 (which you have been practicing in single player mode), and all of a sudden the pressure is on them. I have come back to defeat three much better players all with out letters (whilst I am on S.K.A.T.) with this technique. What is more, after they fail to land the really hard trick, you go back to a simple ollie 180.
So my tip? Practice the really hard tricks (that is a standard), but also ensure you have your simple tricks down pat. Never switch off, and try to psych out your human opponents! It is always fun to beat a better player with the easy tricks!
#3 - Sponsorship.
Very early on in the game you will be given the opportunity to earn your first sponsor. You have to perform a certain trick set by a pro at a certain spot in order that you can unlock their company as a potential sponsor. But once you choose a sponsor for a certain piece of equipment, you can’t change the sponsor for that equipment.
Thankfully you can view all the decks, trucks, wheels and shoes (as well as clothing), even though you haven’t unlocked them. And since all the equipment performs the same, it really comes down to a visual aesthetic. So have a look at the artwork of all the deck companies before you choose a sponsor. Have a look at which decks they have as pro decks (these will earn you even more money when you win events with them). Then go out and defeat the pro who rides for the company whose pro deck you like the look of best. Defeat them, then sign up. And remember, just because you have defeated a pro don’t feel you have to choose their sponsor as your sponsor. You can just view their video once you defeat them, and go with a different sponsor.
So my tip? Spend 5 minutes at the start of the game, going through all the shoes, decks, wheels and trucks that are in the game. Make note of the ones you like the best and aim to defeat the pros who ride for those companies. And, yes, you can have four different companies as sponsors for the four different pieces of equipment.
#4 – Medical Milestones
If you are wanting to complete the medical challenges (break 100 bones in your body & break each bone 10 times), then find a nice high place and set a marker. The best two I have found are from the second level at Matrix Plaza down to the bottom level, and (my favourite) around the back of the Zen Plaza (see video below).
Clip courtesy of Xiao Snake.
From a high spot like this, you can break bones easily. Moreover, the three hardest bones to break in the game are your left and right femurs (thigh bones), and your pelvis, and at these spots (especially the Zen Plaza spot), you can break ‘em easily. Either ride up and trip over the ledge like in the video above, or ollie over them and perform a Christ air 180. When you perform the Christ air 180, it will have you landing feet pointing down and with your back to the direction you are travelling. You will break all the bones in your legs, and the momentum will have your arse crack straight after, thus shattering your pelvis.
So my tip? Find that high point and spend some hours breaking stuff!
#5 – Ensure your best clips and photos last for ever
The great thing about skate is that you can save your replays whenever you want. You don’t have to trigger them like in Hawk, you can just hit pause and review the last 30 seconds of gameplay whenever you want (God bless you, EA). And not only can you edit awesome clips with cool camera angles, speed changes and colour pallets, but you can take photos from them and upload them to the net to share with others.
Unfortunately, but understandably, EA only allocate you with 3 video slots and 6 photo spots on their servers. This means that you face the dilemma of having to sacrifice a great clip for a newer clip. When you have more than 3 great clips, it can really suck having to decide which one to save and which one to lose.
Until now!
Thanks to Ben from chemlab.org (aka undert03 on Xbox Live), you can now convert your videos from EA’s servers into a video file format for download (MPEG, AVI, Quicktime or WMV): Click here.
Once downloaded you can edit massive clips together and/or upload them to Youtube or GoggleVideo, where they last for ever. And thanks to Ben, this is much faster than the EA site, and is all completely FREE! That’s right, Ben provides a way to donate, but in the spirit of the internet he has provided this quick, reliable and high bandwith service at no charge. I sent US$10 and bestowed a blessing for a long and fruitful life on him, so maybe you can throw him a $1 as thanks?
And, of course, with photos you can just right-click them at the EA site and save them to your hard drive… pretty easy, hug?!
So my tip? Get really creative and make some awesome videos. Download them to your hard drive and with some cheap or free video editing software, make big clips with your favourite music and upload them for all eternity… or until the world blows up!
