Skate 2 is a solid attempt at a sequel but it has some issues that are impossible to ignore.
There's a live action video that starts out immediately after you choose that you want to play career mode. I don't know if the developers had intended it to be gritty and serious but I found it to be hilarious. You play as a nameless skater who's just gotten out of prison after spending five years there. You'll find out that an organization called MongoCorp has been busy while you were locked up. They've taken over the city and have put metal bolts across some of the best skate-able spots. It's your job to take back the city for the skaters, or something like that. You're never clued in as to why you of all people have to do it.
It sounds good enough on paper but the story never goes anywhere. It's virtually nonexistent after you get past the first half hour mark. The story could've given the developers a reason to introduce unique challenges like vandalizing MongoCorp buildings or doing some side missions for the cops which would in turn allow you to convince them that MongoCorp is corrupt. EA did a very lazy job with the story of Skate 2-- they wasted a perfectly good opportunity for a story driven game a la Tony Hawk's Underground.
The gameplay at least makes up for the story and that's not a surprise. Skate 2 builds upon Skate 1's unique controls by giving you a whole mess of new tricks. The analog sticks will still be used for your body and board; flicking the right stick down and diagonally upwards will do kickflips or heelflips, and flicking it down and to the side will result in pop shuvits. Some of the new additions have you using the right shoulder button to do handplants, using the X button to do one-footers, holding down a trigger and using the A button to do a boneless, and more.
If you've played Skate 1 then you'll feel right at home with Skate 2's controls. Newbies will probably be happy to know that there are some optional tutorials at the beginning of the game. Those who are new to the series and unwilling to use the tutorials aren't left out in the cold either. You'll get more than enough time to get familiar with the controls because Skate 2 is a surprisingly long game; it'll take you around 15-16 hours to get through the career mode if you're not in a hurry.
Some of the activities that you'll be doing in the career mode include getting sponsored, competing in the hilariously named 'Tranny contests', trying to get on magazine covers, downhill races and more. The fun will inevitably come to a screeching halt at certain challenges, though.
The bonus challenges from Danny Way are universally stupid. Without spoiling too much, dropping in from heights beyond 100 feet is no fun because it doesn't at all fit with what skateboarders would do. They might as well be known as sky diving challenges. There are also some challenges that force you to do very specific tricks in succession; some of them are so bad that they'll require at least 15 retries before you get it right. Thankfully, these sorts of challenges are rare.
Skate 2 has an expanded video editor that you can use to upload footage of yourself falling 50 feet and landing on your nuts, or whatever other video you might have recorded. There are much better options for camera angles this time around because you now have full control over where you want to shoot from.
You'll meet a lot of pro skaters in the game which have all been voiced by their real life counterparts; Eric Koston, Rob Dyrdek and Danny Way are probably the most famous ones. The voice acting delivered by the pros is decent at best. John Cardiel does the best job out of all of them, while Mike Carroll delivers the enthusiasm of someone who hasn't slept in a week.
It's also worth mentioning that your photographer [named Reda] has what I like to call 'Fable 2 dog syndrome'. This disease is diagnosed to video game characters that are supremely annoying. Reda constantly spews unfunny quips after you wipe out. Thankfully, the sound effects and ambient sounds are much better than the voice work.
When you're finished with the career mode you can hop online for a much improved multiplayer experience. There are the standard score based modes, downhill races and a new mode called Hall of Meat. In Hall of Meat you'll win by having the nastiest wipe out. If you've played a game called PAIN then you'll know what to expect; your wipeout is given a point total that's determined by a number of different things such as the number of bones you broke and the distance that you traveled. It's a decent diversion but it pales in comparison to the trick based modes.
You might not see much of a graphical leap from Skate 1 to Skate 2 just by looking at screenshots, but that'll be because you haven't seen enough of the environments and animations. The trick animations are incredible and as far I can tell, there have been some animations re-done (such as the Method grab). There's a much bigger variety to the places you'll be skating in this time around; you'll get to explore a waterfront district, a mountain, a dam, a downtown district and more.
That's brought down a bit by some unfortunate blemishes, though. Skate 2 contains, hands down, the worst foliage I've seen in years. That may sound like nitpicking but it really isn't. The hideous foliage stands out more than it normally would because the main districts are so nicely done. The only other eye sore is a weird frame rate issue. Sometimes the game will run just fine but other time's it'll completely freeze for a least one second at random intervals. I don't know if it's just a problem with my console but it's at least worth mentioning.
The thing that surprised me the most about Skate 2 was its soundtrack. It has one of the best line ups in the history of sports games, in my opinion. It features some punk, metal and hip hop heavyweights like Judas Priest, Motorhead, Suicidal Tendencies, The Clash, Nas and Public Enemy. There's also a song called S.K.A.T.E by Korrupted Hoodlums which has some references to Skate 2 in the lyrics, which is pretty neat.
I'd say that Skate 2 is a great value for what you're paying for; the career mode is lengthy, the video editor is good and the multiplayer is a ton of fun. Skate 2 introduced a lot of new elements but it didn't improve upon most of the problems in Skate 1. It's a bit of a disappointment but you're still likely to enjoy yourself if you're a fan of the extreme sports genre. Thanks for reading.