Ultimately, it all causes more frustration than fun. Camera angles also working against you whenever you try to go in a certain direction. Furthermore, these downsides are accompanied by multiple collision bugs that occur when you grind on a bar or ride up a ramp. Unfortunately, this jank often ends up robbing you of your hard-earned combo meter. Other times you try to turn a corner and your little bird randomly falls off the board. Sometimes you’ll find yourself miraculously landing an insanely difficult trick. The skating mechanic is janky, as you fall off your board too easily and without reason. SkateBIRD also suffers from gameplay elements that are unpheasant and hawkward – expect more bird puns here on out. With a lack of a trick list, gameplay tended to end with me mashing various buttons to see if I performed the correct trick in a particular mission. But my limited knowledge could only get me so far, and I had no idea what more advanced tricks were or what they should have looked like. Fortunately, I already knew what an ollie and kickflip were. New tricks are introduced via story missions but their tutorials often provide ambiguous controls and no accompanying video animation. As someone who is new to the genre, I believe SkateBIRD does a horrible job of introducing it. Unfortunately, while SkateBIRD’s level and audio design are, for the most part, fantastic, the same can’t be said for some of its gameplay. “ SkateBIRD also suffers from gameplay elements that are unpheasant and hawkward.” Lofi beats play as a radio host pours out interesting bird facts and your bird chirps away on that tech deck. The music and sound design are similarly excellent. You’ll likely encounter references to the skateboarding magazine Thrasher or discover the ability for your little bird to “screm”. The developers also do a great job of putting fun little easter eggs and details within the game. There is a myriad of different species of birds as well as clothing accessories to choose from. In-game ScreenshotĪdditionally, you also have a ton of options for customization. Basic tricks are mapped to button presses, which makes it slightly easier to rack up a few points here and there.

I found that the control scheme was simple to learn but hard to master. You are dropped into a decently sized level and must explore and perform tricks all while taking on missions. SkateBIRD minute-to-minute gameplay is similar to that found in your traditional skating game. It has been designed to perfectly encapsulate the feeling of being a tiny bird in a very large world. You’ll find plastic straws and old pizza boxes being used to make up the half-pipes and ramps in SkateBIRD’s adorably cosy world. Its level design contains a variety of settings such as a bedroom, a rooftop and an office building. It makes great use of colour to create a vibrant world that is bursting with style. Image Credit – Glass Bottom Games “ SkateBIRD has been designed to perfectly encapsulate the feeling of being a tiny bird in a very large world.”įirst and foremost, SkateBIRD’s art direction is phenomenal. Unfortunately, just like skateboarding games of the past, SkateBIRD failed to grip me and instead left me feeling a little deflated. But when I saw SkateBIRD, a game in which you play a bird in a big world grinding away on bendy straws, kickflipping over staplers and carving killer lines through mini skate parks, I was admittedly quite excited. While I’m fully aware of the significant cultural impact the incredible Tony Hawk games have had in gaming culture, it’s never been something that’s grabbed my attention. I’m relatively new to the skateboarding simulation genre.

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