Black Box redefined what the skating-game genre could, and should be, with Skate It. Now they have come out with the long anticipated sequel Skate 2. This new installment features a lot more exciting and sophisticated tricks, an improved Reel editor, a deeper create-a-skater, and much more. Skate 2 is set five years after the events in Skate It, where many earthquakes had devastated the city leaving it in ruins. Instead of the skaters’ paradise that the city used to be, the new city dubbed New San Vanelona, has stepped-up security, thanks to Mongo Co., in order to protect the best parts of the city. This is the setting for you to rebuild your skate career and revive the city’s skate scene.

While the controls will be instantly familiar to fans of the previous game, there are loads of new tricks to perform. Skaters can now do footplants, crail slides and fingerflips. Or show off with a lip trick, an Ollie North, and the long-sought ability to Skitch (grabbing the bumper of a moving car) to gain speed. New to Skate 2 is the ability to get off your board and walk around. While on foot, players can move certain objects in the world, creating their own lines with nearly 100 different objects. Changes to the environment, big or small, will stay put in the game regardless of how long you play. Should you decide that you no longer like your giant stack of trash bins or some other madness you’ve set up, one touch of a button can return the items to their original position. This means gamers can create their own epic spots and challenges, which can then be uploaded, shared, and experienced by others around the world. And if you crash big enough, you’ll see a bail score pop up and increase as you take damage, culminating in the Thrasher Hall of Meat screen that tells you how well you’ve done crashing, and gives you an x-ray view showing your broken bones.

There are some drawbacks, though. Moving your skater around on foot is borderline terrible. The camera is jerky and your movements are so stiff and unnatural that you’re almost always fighting the controls to get your skater to do what you want him to. What we’ve wound up with then is a sequel that in many ways improves upon and even fixes elements from the first game, but at the same time doesn’t feel as fresh as it could. New players will love it but expert players could find it bit stale rather quickly. Overall, it is well worth the money and fun to play.

Available on: Xbox360, PS3