I've played skate - and I'm relieved to say it's so back

It's been 15 years since the last entry in the skate series. The games are loved for their unique controls with the right stick and the ability for players to get incredibly creative with pulling off insane stunts in a free open world.

skate's reboot is something a bit different from Electronic Arts (EA) in that it's a free-to-play title with microtransactions - developers have reassured these are purely for cosmetics and there is no advantage to be gained in performance from purchases but you can buy rewards you'd otherwise have to play for. No doubt there will be some exclusive cosmetics to microtransactions too.

From the outset, it's immediately apparent that the look of the game's characters and setting in San Vansterdam look something more like Fortnite than the more grounded and realistic aesthetic from the original trilogy.

In terms of visuals, the colours are perhaps not as vivid as you'd expect either and there are some rough edges here or there.

However the gameplay is undeniably a skate game - and from my time with it so far, it's just brilliant. After a decade-and-a-half, I'm relieved to say it's so back.

skate's San Vansterdam feels like such a dense and creative playground / EA

How do you get started in skate?

From the outset, you're given the option of which control set you want to choose - classic skate controls with steering and flip tricks with pushing and braking at the touch of a button, or streamlined controls for newer or less experienced players.

These controls feel as great as ever and it becomes thoroughly addictive very quickly trying to pull off the best combos and stunts you can. But more on that in a sec.

Vee is your virtual guide that accompanies you through San Vansterdam and she takes you through everything you need to get set up with along with important and helpful tips when playing.

A character can be created through presets before then fine tuning. There are not the most extensive customisation options ever seen in the character creation settings but the inclusion of skin conditions such as Vitiligo is a nice touch.

Once you've created your character, you start on foot and are shown parkour mechanics so you can climb the tallest buildings to pull off the biggest stunts. The tutorial can be skipped for those who already know what skate is all about. Players are given a rip card which shows and tracks progress.

A highlighted path is easily available in case you ever get lost or are trying to figure out where to go exactly. On a controller, the d-pad can be used to perform quick actions such as emotes, messages and quick actions.

Objective markers can be set with another so you don't have to climb the same structure over and over to pull off the stunt you're after but the best quick action by far is the creator tool.

It allows you to quickly place ramps and other equipment pretty much anywhere, which immediately makes San Vansterdam feel like an open playground with endless possibilities.

Want to put a half-pipe ramp somewhere? Go for it. Smaller ramp into a rail? Sure thing. A park bench to grind? Why not. It will be amazing to see the own creations players come up with to go alongside what the developers have set up in San Van.

It gives it much more of a feel of a platform than a game. It's great to see this level of customisation return to skate in terms of gameplay.

San Vansterdam has so many different possibilities to explore / EA

What do you do in skate?

The gameplay loop of skate is completing loads of different challenges which have varying objectives such as pulling off combos, achieving specific stunts, obtaining certain scores through a single combo or a time limit and more. The more objectives you complete, the better rewards you get.

Gaining rep is like the levelling system, which again is increased by completing challenges and achieving various other objectives. Higher rep means more challenges and sections of the map become available.

On the map, you start out in Hegemony then work to unlock the other districts, which are Brickswich, Market Mile and Gullcrest Village. It's not the biggest open world by any means but it seems to be very dense.

There are challenges such as line challenges which require skaters to get from point A to point B by performing different actions along the way.

These challenges earn rip chips which can be spent on product boxes where players get rewards from a collection of items, like a gacha game. A random item is dropped from a displayed collection and you can see what's in them but not exactly what you're going to get.

The more chips you earn, the more cosmetics you unlock. It remains to be seen fully if this loop is strong enough to keep players returning to try and earn more rewards aside from earning more rep to unlock more of the world.

However the options to customise your board are very extensive.

A spot is a place where unreal and outrageous tricks can be performed. You can own a spot by getting a high score or by doing the craziest tricks and sequences.

Usually, it's not possible to achieve all the objectives in one go or on the first run, so it's advised to put down objective markers so you don't have to make your way back to them.

They increase your rep in that neighbourhood and you get complimentary packages for completing them.

Spots like this can be found all over San Vansterdam / EA

There are crew challenges along with session challenges where players have to score points by creating lines of their choosing to earn rip chips. It's incredibly fun experimenting with different lines to see what yields the best opportunities to pull off tricks and these are easily the most addictive.

If stunts go wrong, your character will wipe out in quite comical ways. There isn't anything untoward here, they'll just bounce around a bit before eventually getting back up and straight to skating. skate feels more real in certain areas but not in any area that makes the experience less fun.

Once the tutorial and introduction to each of these kinds of challenge have been complete, you're off the leash, free to explore and take on different challenges in any order and way you want.

It really opens up after this point and this will be the charm of skate. When lobbies are full it will be great to see other skaters whizzing around and pulling off the most outrageous tricks in this open world.

The challenges are on rotation too. This will be where new challenges come up through live service. There will be fresh goals every day.

And if players just want to hang out in the space with friends online, pulling off their own stunts and creating their own storylines, they can do that as well. There's so much freedom in this game and that's what it's all about.

Players will be able to hang out at skate parks in the game as well as meeting to pull off more insane stunts from the top of buildings / EA

skate is quite simply an incredibly fun and addictive game to play from my time with it so far - and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.

There's so much to explore and do and I can't wait to check out more of the open world to see what insane stunts I can pull off with friends.

It remains to be seen if the different challenges can keep it fresh enough and how the reward loop of completing challenges to earn new cosmetics holds up.

But it's just a fun game and space to be in, especially with the options to build your own elements into the world on the fly. It's likely to click with existing and new skate fans alike.

Early access was played on PC through Steam on a Lenovo Legion 9i Gaming Laptop with Intel Core i9 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4080.

skate releases into early access on 16 September on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

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