Skate 4 Launches to Mixed Reviews, But Its Gameplay Sure Looks Like Fun

15 years after the release of Skate 3, Electronic Arts has reignited buzz within the skateboarding community by launching Skate 4 – stylized by the devs as skate. (yes, lowercase and with a dot) – in Early Access, with the new title seemingly echoing Fallout 3's story by delighting new players while leaving many old-school fans of the 2000s' originals disappointed.

Simply by glancing at Steam reviews, one might easily assume that Skate 4 doesn't deserve any attention at all, with the game currently sitting at a Mixed rating with only 46% of its reviews being positive.

Looking a bit closer at the reasons behind the thumbs-downs paints the picture of a let-down community of OG Skate fans, who blasted the new entry for missing features and game modes from the originals, lacking a story mode, using an "AI corpo robot" voice for the tutorial, and adopting a Fortnite-esque art style many found unappealing. The main criticism, however, repeated across many reviews, is that the new installment doesn't represent skateboarding culture the way the older titles did.

As easy as it is to understand fans' disappointment – the Fallout 3 comparison above is there for a reason – it's just as hard to deny that the game's charm, sometimes unintentional, has also won over many players, who have seemingly enjoyed Skate 4's gameplay, traversal mechanics, and even some of its bugs.

The chance to pull off insanely unrealistic stunts, like skateboarding down a skyscraper, physics that often don't make a lick of sense, moving faster without a board by front-flipping, the ability to fly for brief periods of time, ragdolls – social media is filled with clips showing off Skate 4 in action, and truth be told, they do look like a lot of fun, especially for those who don't hold nostalgic memories of the older titles or aren't deeply tied to skateboarding culture.

Here's a small sample, you can judge for yourself whether these gameplay snippets look fun or not:

That said, it's also important to highlight that the game is currently in Early Access and available for free, which means some of the missing features could still be added in the final release, offering a bit of relief for old-school fans. In the meantime, you can try out Skate 4 and see for yourself whether it's your cup of tea by clicking this link.

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