

The camera often struggles to smoothly track the avian action onscreen, and there were plenty of occasions when I got temporarily trapped in 90-degree corners or other random parts of the level, sending the camera into a tailspin. There were a few challenges I did get hung up on for a few extra attempts, but the headache in these instances was mostly related to the jankiness of the camera and the controls. Unfortunately, this tends to make a lot of Skatebird’s challenges surprisingly boring, with collection closer to a formality than a challenge (except whenever some dodgy hit detection decides you didn’t grab an object despite literally banging it with your beak, or skating through it several times). Items and letters required for individual objectives are often placed quite close together in a single area of the map, but even if they’re more spread out an onscreen marker will lead you directly to them. The tasks are generally very easy, and the time limits Skatebird provides to collect stuff and build scores are mostly very generous. This meant I often found myself skating up to (and directly through) birds with no objectives for me while combing the map for the one that did. Also, sometimes the birds disappear after you’ve completed their mission, and sometimes they don’t – but there’s no distinction between the birds who remain on the map after you’ve done their mission and have nothing further for you to do, and the ones that do have a new task for you. They’re not hidden, but you do just have to coast about until you happen upon them. Unlike THPS4, however, Skatebird doesn’t highlight fellow birds with missions to assign you in any particular way, so skating around searching for the next mission can sometimes be a punishment. It’s very well done even the birds enjoy it, bopping along as they skate.
#Skatebird switch full#
The soundtrack itself is easily the most polished part of Skatebird, and it’s stacked with relaxing, skate-friendly earworms full of bird calls and samples of overzealous nature filmmakers from public domain documentaries. While challenges themselves are timed, the lack of a countdown clock on general exploring suits Skatebird’s relaxed nature – an atmosphere that’s served very well by its catchy set list of original, bird-themed tunes. Like THPS4, Skatebird doesn’t supply an overt list of challenges before each level and time every run you need to skate around the environment and find NPCs – or NPBs in this case, I guess – scattered around the map to discover the challenges you need to complete.
#Skatebird switch pro#
The key influence appears to be Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, where Neversoft dropped the iconic two-minute timer in favour of allowing players to cruise the maps searching for individual mini-missions. It’s also open world, so if you’re like me and easily get sidetracked just know there’s plenty to do.Developer Glass Bottom Games has obviously injected a boatload of bird-themed touches throughout, but the studio sticks largely to the Tony template. Whatever it is, there’s plenty to do in each level, and each level brings an array of creative challenges, setups, and environments.
#Skatebird switch manual#
Maybe it’s the different tricks I try to string together as I manual from one rooftop to another, or maybe I like the old cement skatepark feel of it. Another level that I enjoyed - and this goes back to the beta - is the rooftop level.

You and your bird will have to break in and destroy the server. There are five levels in Skatebird, with my favorite probably being the office.

It will take time, and finding everything is a challenge I’ve struggled to conquer. But, of course, you can’t just go to a new level and steamroll through the challenges either. The challenges aren’t too ordinary but add enough to the game to make each level worthwhile. Other challenges include grinding a juice bottle, doing a manual through water stains, collecting snacks, and so much more. Others may have you trying to accumulate 9,000 points, which isn’t hard when they give you nearly two minutes, and the score tallies up the total of your run throughout. This includes trick-specific challenges that you must perform at an appointed location.

Another thing I really like about the game is the challenges.
