Skater XL Review

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Skater XL is one of the freshest skateboarding games up to date! Skater XL got released in July 28th, 2020 and received an amazing response from the community for the effort put into making a proper skateboarding game! From playing the game, I couldn’t agree more! Everything you would want in a good skateboarding game can pretty much be experienced in Skater XL. Even though there are some things missing, I am still positive that you will enjoy this fun and relaxing skateboarding experience!

Like most skateboarding games, Skater XL is lacking with the story. Being a sandbox skateboarding game, I really don’t think it needs one! But before we get started, I would like to mention that you must own a controller in order to play Skater XL. The main reason for that is the controls being too complex for the keyboard to handle due to certain moves within the game. You must own one of the following controllers in order to play Skater XL: Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 or a PS4 controller. You will also need a graphics card that supports DirectX 11! That being said, let us cut right to the chase!

When you first start to play Skater XL, you will be greeted with a tutorial that will teach you the very basics of the game! It is there you will be able to learn how to accelerate, brake and turn around. As soon as you are done learning those things, you will be placed in a proper map that will have obstacles scattered around. The obstacles can be anything from a ramp to a rail in which you will be able to grind on with enough practice. Basically, it’s a place for you to mess around in and making yourself more comfortable with the controls. That is pretty much how you get started with Skater XL! But it is more in depth than that!

If you now take a look at the pause menu, you will see a decent amount of options that will give you a hint on what to do next. Besides all the casual things you would usually see in a pause menu, such as the settings and the exit prompt, you will now be able to customize your character, practice and even decide on what map to play! In the current state of the game, there are only a few maps available. Although there might only be a few maps available, please do put in mind that the maps available are beautifully made! If you are familiar with the skating culture, you will notice that some areas within the game have actually taken inspiration from spots in real life! Getting bored really fast? Skater XL has mod support for maps! Because of the game being released quite recently, there may not be as many maps currently available for download.

For the character customization, it really isn’t anything special. It has a pretty solid selection, but nothing out of the ordinary! You can choose your gender and pick a hair colour and one of the few hairstyles within the game! You can also customize your skateboard and the individual pieces! The most interesting part about the pause menu must be the tutorial part in which there are multiple categories and difficulties of tricks you can perform. The tutorial will be in the form of different challenges that you will have to complete in order to be confirm that you have performed the trick properly. It will be there, you will learn the rest of your tricks from now on! In each challenge, there will be a shadow doing a certain action while a prompt of a controller is being displayed on a smaller portion of the screen. This will allow you to learn and observe the different moves performed by the shadow and repeating the sequence yourself! If you do so, the challenge will be completed and you will be able to come back anytime in the future if you forget how to perform a particular move!

What I really like about Skater XL is that you will have to practice in order to get good! By that I mean really practice and memorize the tricks and perform them in the appropriate spots! I wouldn’t be surprised if you could get comfortable with the controls within the first hours, but it is almost guaranteed that it’ll be a lot more fun if you have more knowledge about Skater XL! It is just an overall relaxing experience, especially combined with the soundtrack. It has gone from a funkier vibe from the 90s into the era of MP3 in the earlier years of 2000! Just put your playlist away! You won’t need it!

When it comes to the looks of things, I really feel like that Skater XL could have done a bit better. I generally think that the game looks pretty good. I think the environment has been beautifully crafted! The only thing that bothers me quite a bit is the character model and the main reason being that the model doesn’t feel alive. When you turn and jump, the model feels really stiff. Other than that, Skater XL is really enjoyable and I could easily spend hours playing around!

At the end of the day, I think that Skater XL is one of the best skateboarding games for PC! What really makes me coming back for more is the joy of learning new tricks as well as just messing around and coming up with some insane stunts! If you are a fan of skateboarding, then I would highly suggest picking up Skater XL for the ultimate experience!

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary PC code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.

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Skater XL Review
  • Gameplay - 9/10
    9/10
  • Graphics - 7/10
    7/10
  • Sound - 8/10
    8/10
  • Replay Value - 7/10
    7/10
Overall
8/10

Summary

In the end, I really think that Skater XL is fun and really addicting! I can’t wait to come back for more in the future!


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