The title may have lost the 'Grind', but its addictive gameplay remains... Only for a few!
The skating physics are just that: skating physics, meaning there will be a brief delay before you can start rolling around at a comfortable pace, well into a more developed speed, carrying some momentum even when not pulling the analog stick, and breaking when you thought you could make a sharp turn. It´s sluggish at first, but nowhere near game breaking nor intuitive (What? You expected strafing? Get out!).
Jumping has a learning curve, but once you get used to its tricky nature (with a few minutes on the tutorial) you´ll find yourself leaping from rails towards walls, and off from them into another set. The initial response to the slightest of adjustments in the analog stick are far from accurate, but you can easily distinguish 3 or 4 kinds of jumps - the hands off the analog stick one (for rail jumps) and the skating/dashing jump by holding forward, the other where your input for air control comes after the jump, and another where you´ll jump sharply to one of the sides by holding a direction before you hit the A button - and then everything will be smooth sailing.
The collision detection and crashing probability, as well as the annoying effect when you bump into tagging and racing foes, are de-emphasized by smooth animations that give character to the game. The levels are hard to grasp, but filled with rewarding challenge of finding endless grinding and tricking loops, or other close enough combos. Skating backwards will play an important role in scoring and guess what? It´s also tricky to achieve, what with having to do a jerky motion before you jump. But it´s the kind of hard you´ll enjoy coming back to.
In everything else this game delivers, from visuals to audio to replay value, and if you are genuinely into challenging, yet rewarding game-play, then you should give this game a try. It´s not for everyone, and who wouldn´t like to look cool by appreciating and owning the gem? =P