Skate preview for Xbox 360

Think of a skateboard game, and the chances are you'll think of the Tony Hawk series - hugely popular and apparently unassailable. Until now that is - shortly to be released on the 360 is Skate from EA Black Box, a new contender ready to take Tony Hawk on at his own game. This month we've had a hands on preview of Skate, and we give you the lowdown in this issue - it's good, that's for sure, but is it just a Tony Hawk clone or does it take the genre in any new direction? Find out more in our Skate preview for Xbox 360 now!
Click here to read our Skate preview for Xbox 360 now!

Skate preview for Xbox 360
EA Black Box, developers of Skate, certainly have some balls. Think of a skateboarding game, and the name Tony Hawk immediately springs to mind. Neversoft's evergreen franchise is a colossus - it's remained popular almost since its inception, and is still bought by hundreds of thousands of fans, even as the incremental differences between each version become less noticeable. With the recent Project 8, the series finally had something of a revamp, and it was a hugely successful one. So to take on a genre master in his own backyard... as we say, it requires some huge cojones.

Yet it's not as if Black Box are happy with just churning out a similar game to the Tony Hawk titles, and riding its coat-tails to success. Instead, they've opted for something much more ambitious - a huge, open-world environment and a control scheme quite different from what hardened Pro Skaters will be accustomed to.

Click here to continue reading our Skate preview for Xbox 360 now!