Obviously that makes the whole speed/finesse aspect of the game even more annoying. This became increasingly tiresome and I avidly went out of my way to try and never come to a complete standstill. This means it throws you off your placement where you are on the map, immediately needing to reverse itself to continue going forwards. When you bring yourself to a standstill, by holding down on the left thumb stick, the camera jolts 180 degrees. The camera is also insanely jerky and the odd angles it delivers can be incredibly frustrating. Everything from then on feels the same in SkateBIRD. This minimal array of tricks gets old pretty fast and within 30 minutes I felt like all the variety had been seen. You can perform a small variety of flip tricks such as kickflips and impossibles, you can grind, stall and also grab your board, but because you don’t have arms you grab it with your beak, sadly limiting the amount of grabs at your disposal. I found I was having to reset again and again as I wildly flapped my tiny wings, not able to get over a ramp or not able to reach an area as my board kept getting stuck on the terrain, for reasons beyond me. Things can be adjusted slightly in the menu system, but I don’t understand why the game should even have this setting just slow the damn bird down. If you have a mission where some kind of finesse is involved, I wish you good luck. You see, in SkateBIRD you can’t seem to move slowly, instead left to blast full kilt in any direction. This makes navigating each area, frankly, beyond frustrating. You’re a lot lighter for one, but you also don’t push off the floor with your foot and you slightly glide/float. Playing as a bird/birb is different to that of a human. That being said, it’s currently on Xbox Game Pass, so if you’re subscribed, I’d recommend it to any Skate, Tony Hawk Pro Skater, or avian fans out there.No matter how long I played as a birb, I still found it difficult to understand the physics of SkateBIRD. There is a beautiful, original game concept here that would have been a very fun experience if only it had a little bit more development time. While fun was had, SkateBIRD is not a game I could on good conscious recommend people spend money on (at least, not at this point). The game is full of charm, bird puns, good tunes, and unlockables. I spent most of the release day playing SkateBIRD, so that might tell you right off the bat that I did have fun with it. Seeing what the team was able to come up with for the bedroom level, the roof left much to be desired. SkateBIRD’s second stage takes the birds to the roof, and in stark contrast to the game’s first level, the roof’s level design is disappointingly bland and boring. People with motion sickness might not have a good time with this. Getting the camera angled at the view I wanted became an arduous task that I had to perform more times than I would have liked. Being caught in tight places is one thing, but what bugged me the most was the uncontrollable camera. For instance, if you drive into a corner, getting out can be a very annoying process. Getting stuck wasn’t solely reserved to glitches, though, as poor game design contributed to a lot of awkward situations as well. What will mess with the gameplay are the handful of times my bird clipped into the ground or fell into some nook or cranny that shouldn’t really be there, prompting me to reset or quit out of the game to fix. While that won’t exactly mess with the gameplay, it’s not fun to look at. Oftentimes while performing a simple Ollie or Manual, the bird model will freak out for no reason. As I touched upon earlier in the review, while the game isn’t frustratingly difficult in and of itself, sometimes the game’s quality makes things more difficult than they should be.Īt times, SkateBIRD can be unstable. While the game is fun to play for a while, it does lack a certain polish. So while I have found the game fun so far, do I think SkateBIRD lives up to the hype? Personally, no. There was one song, a remix of bird sounds, which I enjoyed. The game featured enjoyable instrumentals as well. Luckily, part of the slew of unlockables you can find is new music. Speaking of collectibles, the game features some pretty cool music, but it did get old quick. SkateBIRD features a ton of unlockables from new decks, hats, customization options, and more. One of my favorite features of video games are collectibles, which adds replayability. The fact that it features cute birds is a bonus. The player is also given ample time to complete missions, making SkateBIRD a good introduction skate game for kids who might find THPS or Skate too difficult. The missions are often pretty simple, although at times challenging but not frustrating. The game has a generous difficulty level.
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