Skateboarding games are in the midst of a small resurgence as of late with Skate City being one of the newest to hit consoles and PC. Originally exclusive to Apple Arcade, Skate City made a splash on mobile games with its easy-to-use interface and enjoyable art style, coming off as more realistic than classics like OllieOllie but not as detailed as Tony Hawk Pro Skater.
Skate City will have players taking on different challenges throughout the three cities offered: Los Angeles, Oslo, and Barcelona, along with an endless free-skate in any of the cities. Los Angeles and its challenges are available right away while the other two cities need to be unlocked. Challenges range from simple high score runs to slightly more complex trick-lines. With the completion of each challenge, players will earn in-game currency that allows them to unlock skater skill points, new clothing options for their custom skater, and the other two cities.
There is a bit of a learning curve with Skate City, especially with console controllers. Maintaining speed is done through a button press while ollie tricks are performed with the left-stick and nollie tricks are done using the right-stick. Manuals and grinds are accomplished automatically with just a simple balancing game using the left and right triggers. There is nothing overly difficult here, and once players are used to the controls they'll be whipping through the challenges in no time.
This is where Skate City comes up short compared to other skateboarding games, however. There just isn't enough content to keep players engaged, with only three cities and 30 short challenges in each city, the game ends quite quickly. The free skate mode is enjoyable but each city loop feels small and the actual gameplay isn't challenging enough to really warrant that 'one more play' mentality that other high-score games can offer.
The art style in Skate City is beautiful, with a simple cartoon-style reminiscent of Untitled Goose Game and animations that flow smoothly from trick to trick. The day/night cycle creates an overall dreamy look to the game, while the shadows and background textures enhance the modern-indie style. The game also provides a picture mode and players can easily keep their favorite runs with the save video option at the end of any level.
The game itself, although short on content, is a joy to experience and creates a nice pick-up-and-play game for in-between bigger more challenging games. Skate City clearly fits into the casual game genre and brings a nice chill day of skating into player's homes.
Skate City is available on Apple Arcade now and Xbox X|S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, and PC on May 6th.