Skate

Skate from EA Black Box was released in 2007 and fundamentally transformed the skateboarding game genre, which had until then been long dominated by the Tony Hawk's series with its button-based combo system and increasingly extravagant chained tricks detached from reality. Instead, the game relied on the innovative Flick-It control system, where tricks were performed by moving both analog sticks to mimic the actual foot movements on the board, giving the game a much more tangible, physical, and realistic feel of riding than competing titles.

Players could customize their character's appearance and equip them with clothing and gear from licensed brands, building a distinctive style within the community. Gameplay took place in the fictional open city of San Vanelona, where the player could freely discover skateparks, streets, abandoned buildings, and improvised obstacles, and complete tasks from photographers, sponsors, and other figures in the skateboarding community in order to build their own career and reputation. The emphasis on physically believable movement, falls, and equipment damage created a more authentic atmosphere than the genre's previous arcade-style approach, complemented by a soundtrack composed of alternative, punk, and hip-hop music from the bands of the era.

Critics and players alike received the game with great enthusiasm, and many called it a revolution in skateboarding games that for a time overshadowed the competing Tony Hawk's series and pushed it into its own experiments with more realistic controls. Skate influenced the direction of the entire genre toward more realistic movement and founded a successful trilogy that defined the following years of the genre. It is still praised today for its innovation, even though its control scheme required players a certain amount of patience and practice to get used to before the stick-based controls became second nature.

Why play it: For its revolutionary, if more demanding, controls and authentic feel of skateboarding, which for a time overshadowed the competing Tony Hawk's series and founded a successful, still-cherished trilogy.