You want to actually skate but you are too lazy to do so? Skate 2 doesn't feel like the real thing. But it's really fun!
But I am not going to compare. Just give you facts, my insight and what could have been better.
So the general story and plot is nothing exciting and very similar to the first Skate. Earn as much fame as possible, be in as many front pages of skateboarding magazines, earn as much cash as possible, basically, SKATE!
I enjoyed this game for many reasons. The ability to "teleport" (this is so not sci-fi) from one place to another comes in very handy. Especially considering certain places seem simply impossible to get to by yourself, such as "Top of the E".
Doing tricks is so smooth, it is so fun to do. Except when you are given specific moves to do in a certain way over a certain thing. It can be very hard sometimes, but all you have to do is master every tricks individually. Speaking of tricks, I would say there aren't enough. Where are the flat land tricks? Those would have been so awesome to have. If it could have had it's own competition, that would have made the game so much better for me. The tricks would have to be hard to pull off though.
Moving on with one of my most favorite thing to do, BAIL! For some morbid reason, it amuses me a lot to fall on my head from a very high altitude. I wish there could have been some gore. But it's a skateboarding game, not a survival horror game (although it would be great to have a guy skating away from zombies).
One thing I didn't like is that sometimes the graphics don't work so well. For instance, when the game loads at first, you can see your character do a blunt slide on a box. What happens is that you can see the wheels sort of entering the box. It is a tiny issue that doesn't really ruin the game, but it's there in other circumstances occasionally.
Also, it gets pretty hard later on. When the story is over, you have missions you can activate on the cell phone. Some, you have to be in a specific environment to complete them as you have a certain time limit to do them. It gets tedious.
Overall, this game is great. Lots of fun is to be had there. And it is cheap now! I say, buy this first, and save up for skate 3 if you haven't played this game yet. Playing with friends is even better. Even the solo mode!