Skater XL - Full Review: Is it really worth $40 with nothing to do? 

UPDATE: I was playing on the Steam version for this review. I just bought the Xbox One version this morning, and the double flips are much, much, MUCH easier. I beat that challenge in two tries. In fact, every flip trick is faster. It may be a controller issue? I'm not sure.

When that skater falls it looks like he's completely giving up on life.

Shout out to my boys who played the skate 3 demo for hours and hours using the glitch to get infinite play time. One map, no story, no challenges.

My man's skating in them *NINTENDO SWITCH* shoes.

This game realistic AF!! When I mastered tre’s I lost my varials just like irl 😂😂😂

Nobody released a worthwhile skating game this whole console generation, then all of a sudden everyone releases one around the same time when its already about to end.

All i want is a Tony Hawks Underground Storyline with realistic physics.

Best part about this game for me is that I live and skate in LA so I’ve been replicating tricks I did in reality and recording it with the same angle it’s like I opened my third eye lmaoo

I love the game but I Skate goofy and there’s literally no point of me doing the challenges because they’re only in regular, what is the point of learning all those tricks in regular if I skate goofy? Wish they’d fix this in the future

It’s very buggy but I won’t lie addicting because you just want to get some tricks

My favorite thing about skater xl is it makes me feel like I do when I'm skating. There are times when it will take 30 mins to get a trick, and not because it's a hard game, but because the board is acting like it does irl.

Literally just bought the game today on Steam, and I love it, I love how one of the biggest parts of the game is finding a cool spot, lining yourself up and seeing what you can come up with, just like real life skating. Hope they release some more new maps soon, but really glad that the School and LA levels are so large, there's tonnes of things to do there.

I just noticed the game spells it "Noselide." Lol whoops

Grant Park is surprisingly accurate! They got the bridge going to the metra station and the skyline is pretty close to the real thing. The only thing that was missing was the statues without arms right behind where the player starts the level hahaha

so when i first started playing i also complained about the massive ollies in this game, especially when popping out of grinds and mannies. but one of this game's massive strengths is the modding community. there's a mod called XXL mod which includes in it an old mod called StatsMenu, which allows you to have granular control over stuff like that. you can increase the gravity, decrease manny and grind pop out individually, flip speed, scoop speed, and several other things. on top of this, the mod allows you to do new stuff like forward flips and one foot grabs, and even adds a third ollie height called baby pop which allows you to pop extremely low, which is nice for things like hopping up small curbs without jumping like 5 feet in the air. it's great for getting very realistic footy. you can also save your stats so you can quickly swap between presets you've created. what i do is have one preset that i use for more realistic skating, and then tweak it if it will help me make a particular trick i'm trying look believable.

"the game did not have that many glitches" ...we must be playing 2 different versions cause I ran into a lot of glitches lol. But it's definitely fun and I mainly bought the game to support the devs cause they seem like they actually care about the game and I'm pretty sure it'll be even better as more updates come out

FYI the challenges are only in regular stance, so it really excludes half of the audience, you probably didn't notice as you skate regular, that makes the game really bare for all goofy skaters

It’s a good game as it is right now on pc (with mods), can’t ask for too much since its very recent and this isn't a huge company to my knowledge. no story or multiplayer officially but I could spend hours hitting lines and spots while filming. such a great game to just relax with while listening to music and if you can mod it then it becomes even better obviously. for console its lacking ofc. if you dont mind having less features then its a cop, if you dont like that then its best to wait a little longer.

Dude that footage you recorded and edited is so good, i love the realistic hard tricks you picked to do and it had good style, and filming style. props

Hey man, I’ve been with ya for a while. I am SO FUCKIN GLAD YOU STUCK AROUND! You are starting to receive some respect in the bigger skate scene. I’ve heard a few big boys say some good things mate! Just wanted to say thanks man! This is a niche aspect of a niche space in life. Not too easy! But you are the man!

This review is SUPER helpful! I just bought this game on a amazon discount and it has not come yet. I was scared when I saw the low ign review (it was done by luke riely who is usually more credible than igns reputation) it concerned me. After watching this I can tell this game is appealing to skaters a lot more than gamers so I am excited to try it!

I love this game, but the gameplay as it is feels like an easy/learning mode. I really want a "hardcore" mode for it: lower pop, quicker flips and spins, manual catch.

Just found your channel and I love your videos man. Got me thinking about games I would've otherwise never thought about picking up.

Cheers man. Appreciate the vids from over here in London. Gna download now skate rat!

Def worth it. (For the double nollie heel and double flip challenge, I feel like when you hold both sticks up to get that extra height it makes the rotation on some tricks slower. So for double flips or heels I usually do normal Ollie/nollie instead of the high pop. I do hope they make the difference between how you do 360 and 180 flip tricks more clear because it’s very inconsistent imo.)

Great video. Try letting the kicking foots analog stick go to the center briefly before flicking for the double flips. Instead of going from the crouch position directly to the kickflip position. Also for the double tre flips. Just flip it like a varial flip.

Great great review, I hope that the devs see this and work on the points you mentioned. One thing I noticed is that the skater often doesnt really touch the board when catching the trick, which looks weird because the board just magically stops :)

I picked this up on the whim (I had been playing Session as well) and I've been very much enjoying it; it honestly reminds of playing the first Skate and just attempting to do lines and constantly attempt to pull off the best one possible. While I do think the game is somewhat limited (and the fact that the challenges can only be done in regular stance is annoying) and that people who are looking for Skate 4 may be disappointed, I do believe that anyone who just wants to skate around a level and do lines will more than likely have a good time with it

I absolutely love this game and have certainly already gotten my money's worth, and yet that doesn't blind me to the fact that they really could've and probably should've spent a few more months in early access. The UI in particular is just kind of ridiculous and amateurish for a forty dollar game in the year 2020.

Seems real floaty in the air. And for a 'sim' it looks too easy to land tricks with a bad landing

So glad you posted this! I didn't know it had came out.

Really good review, Rat! I like it for messing around on and I can go for quite a while but I am hoping they give us more tricks and maps in the updates and hopefully some better solutions to the problems you outlined.

"My man Chad Muska" Lmao

This game needed to be in early access for more time. I have it for PC and love it with all the mods and stuff but id be pissed if I bought this on console...

I did double tre flip 2nd try on flat xD. I'm playing it and watching the video. Sweet review!

I think what makes thps so good is the little Easter eggs,secret unlocks,and secret levels. The music is also a plus,I’m excited for the remaster version next month.

Even with the glitchiness and shortcomings, I’m actually hooked. The difficulty makes it so satisfying when you finally nail a trick or a line you’ve been trying. And the replay editor has personally sold me lol. You can get the most amazing clips, it’s crazy. Can’t wait to see what they continue to do with the game going forward. 🙌🏻

That part that took you an hour to do. You were still holding up on the left stick

Hey! Nice video! To do double flips you can put your front foot's stick to the right before you pop, it helps A LOT.

I think what your problem was with your nollie double heel and nollie double flip was more your timing with when you flick left or right on the right stick after you let up on your left stick. I've experienced what you were going through through the beta and found that timing practice cleaned up my double flips to not go completly dolphin on me. Once you get the timing down, it all relies on how long you hold the right stick out for the double hell or flip to happen. Hope that helps you out. Loved the review!

considering all the time i've gotten sucked into while trying to perfect my 3 trick lines on a game i spent 20 bucks on for early access, yes this game was very worth the investment. this is the skateboarder's skating game, the others are good but are more for the general market

really excited to get this game!! Great video

I have it and love it, looking forward to everything they add moving ahead with patches and dlc’s

The one challenge that took me a minute was on the Chicago map, you have to start off with a kickflip noseslide on the hubba, then kickflip fs tailslide front 270 out, when I finally got it, it was so satisfying, now I do em all the time.

I finished my 2 hours on Session and I can’t decide if I should get the full. I really like the control scheme, it’s just annoying falling over everything you touch by accident

None skater here: XL is a little rough around the edges but I’m confident the devs will support the game. I think it will really take off. XL makes me want to learn to Skateboard 🛹

The west la courthouse is not in downtown so that's why its a separate map. Pretty cool to see that they added that spot 👌. I live down the street from it!!!

Nice! Those were the cleanest lines I’ve seen on this game so far. Thank you for explaining that a skateboarding game only needs to let you do one thing: SKATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think I have to get this today.

Nah 40$ aren't worth it at at all, There are no goals or Story mode you get bored easily. It would be good it were 20$. But 40$ no way I wish i could take my money back:/ I bought on console by the way.

i think Session's physics are better because everything looks like slow motion in this

Great review. I would love to see some of the air and vert air physics improved so they are more realistic.

Best breakdown video by far. Good job

“real life spots aren’t that fun”?! I don’t understand how they can be too easy when you can do endless lines on anything

Im soooo addicted to this game n it's only the beginning

I took garrets gaming advice and changed my settings to make it super realistic and I like it it makes even a board slide challenging

Your comment regarding the school challenge, I don't remember it giving me any trouble at all, now the 360 double flip to 360 nollie double heel on the Streets map on the other hand..

I guess Skater XL put itself in a weird spot, especially coming out a whole year or two before Session (or more, since it's still in pre-alpha as of the writing of this comment). I guess everyone can understand and appreciate that it's for skaters, by skaters, but that ultimately alienates a non-skater audience that's very much interested in a game that pushes the genre forward. But that audience would probably need more than what 1.0 has to offer, which is one of the reasons why there's so much complaining about the price. Even a lot of people who bought it in EA agree that $40 is steep for what's in the package. Had it come out close to Session or afterward, perhaps there wouldn't be such a heated discussion around its lack of content cuz Session is aiming to be that content-heavy skateboarding game everyone expected from Skate 4 before EA said it was happening not that long ago (if it's Skate 4, which I really hope it is). Of course, they can always add to it, but that would probably bring up the question as to why they didn't keep the game in early access for longer when those supposed core features that everyone wants right now (e.g. native online multiplayer) are implemented. And why hike up the price when it still feels like beta? Are they THAT short on money? Who knows in what state it will be when Session comes out of early access, but looking at the two right now, it seems like SXL is perfect for those who just want to free roam and do what they want while Session is going to have a story and missions and whatnot, much like Skate. And the next Skate game might as well come out in the same window as Session, which, as a fan of Session, I think will be a very interesting situation.

It's 100 percent worthwhile hours of fun honestly...

Im glad you brought up how frustrating the manual system is. Its def what i struggled with the most

to do double flips and flick hard you have to do this. 1. Pop the board. with one or both sticks 2. let go of the stick that you kick with. 3 flick it to the left or right fast. do NOT pop the board and then kick the board in one motion. you have to let go of the kicking stick and then flick it fast. this is how you do double flips , triple flips or fast flips. like you would do in real life. if you wanna do a high fast good looking kickflip, kicking the board the second after you pop is not the way to go. you have to do it ollie. so drag your foot up the board, like you would do when doing a ollie. when your kicking foot is almost at the top of the board then you kick out. ollie kickflip. not just a kickflip that gets no air at all.

Why do none of the reviews for this game talk about how bare bones the customization options are? There are practically no gameplay options. You just have to deal with it. Session has an insane level of depth to deciding how you want to control your skater.

I honestly have had so much fun with this game, is it worth $40? For being the best skate game on PS4 I would say yes but its up to you! I surely don't regret my purchase.

Hey Aaron, thank you for the review. I absolutely agree with you, the gameplay and physics are absolutely great. But it is lacking content, and I don’t mean a story (maybe some more challenges). I haven’t even discovered everything yet, but I am already noticing the flow of the maps aren’t as good. I’ve played skate 3 one and a half times, because I never play the story at all, I just skate around the entire time.

nice review my dude! very honest and not just hating on the game. Keep up the good work :)

You really think it's the most realistic skateboarding sim ever released? I'm honestly having a hard time considering it a "sim." Coming from Session, which feels much more "sim" to me, I'm really enjoying SkaterXL as a more casual experience.

Before writing this, let me just say that I know I’m in the minority with this opinion. When I play a skateboard game, I don’t want to play a sim where I’m doing tricks in the game what I can almost do in real life. Obviously I’m not a pro and can’t do everything, but still. I find games like the Tonk Hawk Pro Skater series much more entertaining because they represent, for lack of a better term, the fantasy side of skateboarding. Skate XL looks great and plays great, kudos to the developers, but I’m much more looking forward the release of THPS 1+2 coming out soon.

Wow, very thorough and great review. Hopefully the devs see this because there's a lot of good comments and feedback here.

The chime sound when you land a trick is the same sound WoW uses for crafting something. I kept thinking I had WoW open.

It's really nice seeing him review something that's not bad for once

I have the PS4 version and when I try to do challenges, the frame rate drops and the game lags. Anyone else experiencing that or is that just me?

to do the double flips you have to move your stick to the opposite direction, so when would you like to double flip you will move it to the right and then flick from right to left as fast as possible. It is very consistent.

I was specifically waiting for your review before deciding to pick this up. It's the exact kind of game I want right now while I wait for Tony Hawk. Thanks for doing an awesome review. Btw that Go Go Hypergrind game you reviewed in the past is crazy expensive now. Looking forward to your future content.

It looks like Skate but dull, lacks charisma and everything feels empty and lifeless.

This is literally the part of the game you get to play while the full game is installing but sadly there is nothing else to it.

Tip for landing in manual start pulling the stick back before you land as long as it’s not all the way back it should land each time if your stance is right

Speaking of the double heelflip/kickflip situation, you dont have to pop high, meaning you dont need to press down on both sticks to complete the two flips or if you do, just dont hold the back foot stick after you start flipping so it doesn't manipulate the board.

Regarding your "pop out" comments. It just seems like you're popping way too high on everything. For a game where you just record footage on a couple aspect seems meh. Like you easily nollied over a picnic table longways.

all the console kids in the comments who don’t understand how far this game has came and that it’s not being developed by a big company lmao

Solid review, game is not bad, but hard to shake my EA skate habits. A lot of the stuff you say can only be done in this game is also done on True Skate for mobile. Like nosediving or manipulating angle of the board in air, for blunts. I'm a huge fan of that game and it has a lot of these same board control mechanics.

That Nollie Double Heel to Nollie Double Flip. As a few others have commented, just hold up on your front foot only. Even though the preview tells you to hold both sticks up, just do your front foot... The challenge that took me forever was the BS 540 Mute off the Qtr. That shit gave me carpal tunnel.

It’s 100% worth it in my opinion. Multiplayer will come later, and I’m sure the physics will get way better and customizable. It’s the beginning of a great game.

I just hate how everything looks so slow and floaty.

Fantastic review my dude. Will you be reviewing THPS remastered? I can't wait for that.

To do a double flip move your flicking foot to the heelflip position bofore you pop then pop and flick a kickflip,have your foot more on the otherside of the board allows it to spin faster

$20 on Steam, at least a few weeks ago . Definitely still in development , it will get better! so go ahead and get this game 👍

It just feels Incomplete, and definitely not worth 40$. :(

8:12 I think I figured out how to air this quarterpipe ''smoothly'', you just have to air more to the side and do a high jump. Sometimes it sends the character to flat but at least he doesn't clip on the coping. idk if it was helpful or anything but it works for me.

For the double heel and flip, you just pre flick your tricks. What I mean is if you were to do a kickflip, bring the stick to the opposite side (heelflip) before you pop, and then flick it hard

looking back at this video this game has gotten way better importing mods to console and releasing a mp in the month or so

I don’t like this game to much glitches don’t like how grant park looks don’t like the camera angle the list can go on I’m waiting for Tony hawk & skate 4 coming out

To flick hard and do double flips, pull the left stick to the right and as soon as you Ollie pull it to the left to do double kick flips. Reverse the directions for heel flips. I got that difficult challenge first try using this technique.

Thank you for this helpful video

The answer is: No Saved you 23 minutes.

“Nothing to do” 😂skate! Plenty of spots..

Skating transition in this game is as fun as trying to stroke an angry bull.

I landed the nollie double heelflip/ nollie double kickflip challenge first try! I saw this vid and wasnt sure if i remembered it wrong, but i went back and landed a nollie double kick/double heel on flat first try. All muscle memory and the speed/direction of the flick

"nothing to do" lmao what? it's a game about skateboarding. you skate. that's what you do. kids these days need 'achievements' to be motivated to play the game, rather than just having fun with the game mechanics... you skate, find spots, shoot videos, just like in real skateboarding. granted, I admit $40 is a bit steep for the console version in particular. on PC, the limitless additional content of mods makes it a much better value. vert does kinda suck, but almost nobody actually skates those kind of ramps in real life anyway outside of the olympics and xgames skaters. all this said, the game is only barely in "1.0" which is really more like it's still in early-access.

SKater Xl is NOT the most realistic game. Session is.

The keyframe thing confused me so much for the first couple days... and I'm a video editor in real life. The Keyframe off/on thing is so confusing. Other than that, I really dig the game!. My only other wish is that there was a way to get more community maps. Maybe in the future?

There still are tricks missing(hippie jump, impossible, no complie's etc.), also they have to add a multiplayer where you can play a game of skate, or introduce a point system. So you can play against your friends on the couch and some more maps would be nice too