The 3D worlds in EA's newest skateboarding title, Street Sk8er 2, are actually very well rendered. In fact, the smoothness of the textures is incredible. The characters are a bit cartoony, and somewhat blocky, but still very nice looking. There are many kickin' background music tracks to 'ollie' to while playing, including music from the Deftones, Ministry, Shootyz Groove, Static X, Showoff, Citizen King, 8stops7, Chick Magnets, and Del the Funky Homosapian (or is that simply 'Holy Funky Bandname?'). Nevermind the names, the music rocks!

very, verY, veRY, vERY, VERY ... get the point? ... ADDICTIVE!!! I found myself saying 'One last skate before bed' an awful lot! Simply put, you hit a lot of buttons to perform a lot of tricks. At first glance at the trick list, you may be overwhelmed. But fear not, young Skywalker, you will defeat the dark side that is the controller. The object of Street Sk8er 2's 'Competition' mode is simply to score as many points as you can, and reach the finish line before time runs out. With up to 4 players (2 split-screen at a time OR 1-4 single skate), you and your friends will be in for some high flyin' action! Compile that with the Skate Park Editor, and replay value increases tenfold.

There are three difficulty modes in Street Sk8er 2 to satisfy all levels of gamers. After learning a few moves, you should be able to fairly easily work your way through the 5 skating destinations (and bonus parks) in the first two levels of play. Difficulty increases only in that you need to score more points the further you get in the game. However, in the hardest mode, those points are nearly doubled, making it extremely hard to complete them. After all of your skating, you should be working on combo moves, as this will be absolutely necessary to beat the game (which I have not been able to do yet!). Although button combinations in Street Sk8er 2 seem to be overwhelming, the basic scheme is to hold a direction on the controller, and press buttons...not that hard to perform simple moves, but hard enough to become an expert! In short, the difficulty of Street Sk8er 2 is perfect!!!

Work your way through the game by scoring points for tricks. Watch out though, cuz if you happen to fall face-first on the pavement, not only do your points disappear, but you will actually LOSE points! This is one of the greatest (and most frustrating) features of Street Sk8er 2. Inevitably, it comes time to compare this game to one of the best games I have ever played in my life, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater...and I declare a tie! If you loved THPS, you will easily fall in love with Street Sk8er 2's gameplay and many options. Happy skating!!!