Altered Skateboarding

The are quite a few online skateboarding games out there. I decided to try out as many as I could find and see how they stood up. Most of them, as it turned out, were horrible. Anything on this list that rates below a 3.0 really isn’t worth trying at all. Out of all of these games, the only three I’d play again are the three that scored the best.

Game Gecko - 1.5 / 5.0
A simple and boring game.

Thrash N’ Burn Skateboarding - 1.5 / 5.0
Lots of glitches here. The controls and camera angles are bad, making it hard to enjoy.

California Skateboarding - 2.0 / 5.0
This is more like an interactive flash movie than a game. Might be worth checking out once, but the game part of it isn’t good.

Stan Skates - 2.0 / 5.0
The controls are easy to learn. The gameplay is boring and repetitive.

Yard Trix - 2.0 / 5.0
I read the instructions several times but I couldn’t get the pumping to work properly. After a couple runs back and forth I’d slow down and get stuck on the flat bottom. The game looks well put together. If you figure out how to get some speed it might be fun.

Rooftop Skater - 2.5 / 5.0
The learning curve is a little hard. A nice thing about this game is you can pick up a lot of speed and really get going. Lots of tricks and combo possibilities as well.

Skate Park - 2.5 / 5.0
This game is a little bland, but the game play seems solid enough. It’s not full of glitches, and you’re don’t fall every two seconds.

Skate Or Die - 3.0 / 5.0
The classic Nintendo game. Freestyle is the most fun. Press A and B quickly to get speed (I think).

Etnies Street Sesh - 3.0 / 5.0
This game can actually be fun for a bit. The downside is it’s too easy to fall on the stairs, there aren’t very many tricks, and there’s only one level.

Etnies Downhill Jam - 3.0 / 5.0
Similar to Etnies Street Sesh. The goal is to collect shoes while skating down a hill. All you can do it ollie, so it gets old fast. If they had a few more trick it’d be fun.

Gmax - 3.5 / 5.0
A fun and challenging little half pipe game. Probably the most popular online skateboarding game.

Skateboard Jam - 4.0 / 5.0
Skate Jam is similar to Etnies Downhill Hill, but it’s better. There are multiple levels. To progress to the next level you have to get a certain score. Each level is the same course, but with obstacles in different places. So far this is the second best free online skateboarding game I’ve come across.

Street Skating - 4.1 / 5.0
This game is hard, but once you get the hang of it it’s fun. The levels are designed in a way that you can flow through them perfectly. Watch the in game demonstrations to see the ideal path. Tips: Remember to grab your board when in the air. You don’t always have to ollie off the ramps. Let them launch you naturally and it’ll work out better. Sometimes you do need to ollie though. Usually it’s right at the last second to give you enough air to land on a far away rail. EDIT: This is now my favorite online skateboarding game. Out of all of the games on the list this is the only one I’ve gone back to play. I bumped up the score a little to make it the clear winner. If there were more levels and tricks available, I’d probably make it a 4.5.

Know of any other that are worth mentioning? Post them in a comment.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 5th, 2007 at 12:03 am and is filed under Video Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.