Skate 4: finally a first gameplay video, the ride is long

Game News Skate 4: finally a first gameplay video, the ride is long

The Lords of Bugtwon

Years after the golden age of a Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater† Electronic Arts was very strong in 2007 publishing skateboardinghis own view on the discipline: a real success thanks to a pronounced realism, an ultra-immersive camera and obvious fun. Enough to expand the franchise with two other sequels, the last of which dates back to… 2010. Since then it was dead silent, if not the death of a franchise that was adored by an entire community anyway.

But Electronic Arts, visibly determined to revive some of its favorite franchises (remember thata remake of Dead Space is in the works), had confirmed in 2020 that a new Skateboard was in preparation: on the other hand, there was no need to be in a hurry as the gestation was still in its infancy. Today, we’ve confirmed this since a very first gameplay session hit the web…and it’s a pre-alpha version, still having issues here and there.

skate winslet

It was Jeff Grubb, a journalist at VentureBeat and known for his repeated firsts, who quickly shared the video to the Internet: “These are pre-alpha recordings of Skate 4. It fits with what I’ve heard from some people about the current state of the game: they’re trying to get the right feel, which is probably the most important aspect of a skate game.”

And indeed, the site may be far from complete, but we’re already feeling the franchise’s DNA: a character able to get off his board, climb platforms on foot, do acrobatics, run aground with a certain realism… not to mention the return of tricks achievable with the joystick. Only the camera still seems a long way from the protagonist, but given the progress of the project, we can imagine that all this is not final yet.

Sadly, that’s all we need to devour right now, but one thing’s for sure: development is in full swing and this is great news anyway. We remember that “skating 4” (whose name isn’t really final yet) is controlled by Full Circle, a brand new studio founded by EA in Vancouver for the occasion. At the helm is Daniel McCulloch, the former Xbox Live general manager at Microsoft and then series producer Forza Motorsport†

The creative directors are Deran Chun and Chris Parry, no more or less than two claws of the Skate saga when it was designed at EA Black Box. Full Circle has and continues to recruit a lot, precisely to make this new Skateboard the best possible comeback for the brand. We believe in.