TrueSkate Review (iPhone)

At their core, video games are supposed to be fun experiences that may or may not mimic real life. The key though, is for them to be fun and easy enough to use that people can actually play them.

When it comes to iOS games, that charge can be summed up even simpler: the games have to have a premise simple enough to pick up and play, but they have to offer enough depth and reward you for your skill enough to keep you playing.

TrueSkate is a great example of perfectly fine iOS game design. The premise is simple, you can skate around a skate park and try to join together tricks for higher combos or you can try to complete any number of missions to earn in-game currency to buy more skateboards or unlock new items in the game.

The controls are simple, you simply use your fingers to swipe at the skateboard and to steer its direction around the park while also using similar swipes to perform ollies and various tricks. You can also adjust the swipe sensitivity in the options menu of the game. Personally I adjusted the swipe sensitivity quite a ways up, but your mileage may vary

There are various ways to play TrueSkate, the most simple is to just skate around and perform combos to your hearts delight. Outside of that, you can play various missions which ask you to complete various tasks for an in-game currency reward. A few examples of this is a follow the leader mission where you have to follow a path to the finish, follow the leader and perform all of the same tricks, and there’s a time based scoring challenge at 15 and 30 seconds.

Currently there are several dozen missions to choose from on the base underpass skatepark, and each park has a similar array of missions to perform, which could keep you busy for quite awhile.

Overall, you can buy eight additional skateparks as of this writing at $.99 each. The game itself will run you $1.99, but the additional skateparks are actually not a bad deal at all if you are into the gameplay itself. You can also buy new deck images, unlock all of the missions in the game, and you can even unlock the game’s ‘cheating’ slow motion mode.

As if that’s not enough for a $1.99 purchase, you can also watch videos of other players and their combinations and more. The community aspects of the game aren’t fully fleshed out, but there’s real potential here for something special.

The game does offer a nice in-game tutorial and help menus. So if you are ever lost, you can certainly figure out what it is you want to figure out through them.

Final Thoughts

There’s not much to dislike about TrueSkate. As a $1.99 iOS game, you get incredible value if you love skateboarding. The two finger control can sometimes result in wonky situations, but the fun factor is definitely there. I have yet to feel completely out of control and, with time, I have begun to master many aspects of the game.

If you have been a fan of skateboarding games in the past, you should definitely check out TrueSkate on the App Store or on Google Play.

Score: 8 (Great)