Skate 2 could have been so much better, but sadly it falls short.
Now here's a case of "That's not what happened"
Skate 2 delivers in terms of pro skaters, licensed music and skateboarding trademarks. The locations are usually pretty although sometimes kind of all look alike.
The graphics are somewhat of a letdown compared to its predecessor in terms of novelty, but still, they are acceptable compared to other recent video games. As said earlier, the soundtrack is pretty sharp, with different styles of music including rock and some hip-hop tracks.
The total letdown is the gameplay.
At best, we could describe it as sketchy. Some may say that the 'flick it' concept is revolutionary and a great leap forward. I find it annoying. It was acceptable in Skate 1 because it would often time give you a chance. In Skate 2, there are practically no room for mistakes. Especially during Challenges. Let's say you need to to do a tweaked hand plant on a rail above a pool or a quarter pipe. Well, in order to get it done is to get enough speed somehow, flick'it at the top of the vert and then press the right bumper while playing with the right stick to tweak the hand plant. This may or may not sound simple, but in practice it's very hard to achieve. Sometimes you don't get launched properly and get ejected from the vert. Sometimes you don't. Sometimes you will grind the rail instead of doing the handplant. Sometimes you will just make a flip instead of a simple ollie and fall and bail.
Sometimes during challenges, you can bail with no consequences, sometimes you can't. (It completely restarts the challenge). You get stuck in small indentations in the world and I found that however hard (or lightly) I hit a car, I always bailed. These are like autobails.
I found myself swearing and shouting very often at the controls of this game. While I think the flick'it thing is interesting, it does not offer enough on terms of playability. I don't feel much more immersed if I'm flicking the control stick or if I'm pressing a button (like in Tony Hawks).
Another thing worth noting is the impossibility to modify your character's traits. Sure you have the "possibility" but it seems that wherever you put the slider it doesn't seem to change a whole lot. It wouldn't be as bad as if the character didn't look like a stupid baboon. There are a lots of clothes to choose from, though, so it's not so bad.
All in all skate is a definite rent for me.
It is not the game I was hoping for, especially compared to Skate 1, seeing as EA could have done so much more with it.