Typically, early game footage is leaked without the actual consent of the development team. But this is an entirely different thing, as the devs themselves have released the so-called "pre-pre-pre-alpha" footage of Skate 4.
skate 4 logo
As reported by IGN, the sneak peek into the early development of EA's upcoming skateboarding title came out in the form of an actual gameplay trailer they humorously titled, "we're still working on it." The trailer showcases the game's physics and a bit of its open world, as you can see below:
The trailer itself is stylized in a way that pokes fun at the game's early development struggles. You'll see how the player characters are hitting the game's geometry in hilarious ways, as well as how the animations play out (which we'll assume is mo-capped). But in the other parts of the trailer where the animations play out the way they're supposed to, the game looks amazing.
Each trick performed by the skater avatars felt like they had weight, and had realistic-enough movements aside from a few obviously outlandish tricks. Aside from that, the team at EA also acknowledged how fan feedback has been crucial to the development of Skate 4 so far.
To close things off, the trailer showcases a few other things that players could do in Skate 4 aside from... you know, skate. It looks like the game has some sort of a map or skatepark creator/editor where players can go crazy with the obstacles and such. It seems like parkour mechanics are also a part of the game, which will reportedly allow players to reach places they can't go to on their skateboards.
skate 4 parkour
There also looks to be an online multiplayer component to Skate 4, punctuated by lots of player avatars rolling down a street. And at the end, EA actually revealed that they're looking for playtesters, with signups already open at https://skate.game.
Before you sign up as a playtester, however, Kotaku says it requires that you create an EA account. Aside from that, there's no definitive date for when the playtest begins, so anybody who does sign up and get admitted to the insider program will have to wait. If you're one of those folks who just signed up, keep a close eye on your inbox.
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The Revival Of The Skate Franchise
Pray tell, when was the last time you heard of a triple-A skateboarding game releasing? If your answer was "I don't remember," you're right to feel so. That's because the Skate franchise was last seen way back in 2010 with the release of Skate 3.
When that game came out, it was relatively well-reviewed. Released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 generation, Skate 3 scored an 80 on Metacritic based on 65 critic reviews, with most of them praising the game for improving on a lot of the aspects of the game that came before it. One review from GameInformer said that while the game itself doesn't take many risks, it still works for the genre: one where you just play without goals or objectives.
IGN's review wasn't as kind, though it was still given an "Impressive" 8 out of 10 score. It was praised for the variety of cool tricks you can perform, as well as its fun online multiplayer content. The only problems they had was with its tried-and-tested formula that felt "stale," as well as its problematic physics.
It remains to be seen just how EA plans to improve on that with Skate 4. But so far, the game looks like it's going to be a fan-favorite based on how much feedback the dev team takes into account.
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This article is posted on GameNGuide
Written by RJ Pierce