Skater XL

Skater XL is a thrilling, frustrating, and overall fun experience for any gamers who want to know how to shred a skateboard through the controller. This exciting game is made by Easy Day Studios which is a relevantly new developing studio that pushes the limits of high quality graphics and unique controls. Don’t let the fact Easy Day Studios may be new to the gaming industry, because for a first game, you can tell that they’ve dedicated a huge amount of strenuous effort to make a first impression. Unlike other skate games, such as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or Skate 3, the controls are phenomenal.

Activities are way easier in video games than in real life. In this situation, skateboarding is for sure much easier in video games than in real life. Skater XL likes to portray the similarity of how difficult the activity is in real life. As to skating in real life, the main controls are both analog sticks each represented by your left and right foot. From there, you can already do various tricks depending on how you move your joysticks. For example, a kick flip would be performed by flicking your left stick down while you would have your right stick flicking to the right hand corner. For those who skate in real life, would truly appreciate the mechanics of the game because in actual skating, performing a kickflip would be popping the tail of your board and flicking your front foot to the side of the board. Personally, I do like the controls to this game and if I didn’t skate I would probably consider buying a board the more and more I play this game.

Additionally, this game stands out further because unlike the controls in Skater XL, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater isn’t as amusing or realistic. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater controls are not as intuitive and feel more "video-gamey." This game fully demonstrates the difficulty of real tricks in game. Unlike the two analog stick movement, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater relies pressing the X button (PS4) to ollie/jump. On the other hand, Skate 3 uses the analog stick movements, however you can only control the board with one analog stick. This makes controls more difficult because with one analog stick you can barely do any motion opposed to having both analog sticks to work with rather than using buttons.

In conclusion, Skater XL is no doubt one of the greater games to get on especially if you appreciate skating. With every trick looking different from the other depending on how hard you flick tricks, the minor details become important in learning how to skate. Just like in real life.