Video Game Awesomeness Final Post

The other night I watched the Z-boys documentary which made me want to just surf and skate all day, so I thought why not play a skate game since right now skating is all I can think about. My friend dug up his Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4 for his playstation 2. I was stoked he only had a playstation because there are less buttons involved and the controller fits in your hand better. I was able to pick the identity of Bam Margera, which I was super stoked about because I've always wanted to know what the day in the life of Bam would be like. I noticed that knowing who my virtual identity was made me way more into succeeding in the game. I was Bam Margera. The game had so many subdomains I should have totally started out this project playing this game. There was a practice level and a free skate level, so you don't even have to play the career mode until you've got some moves down. In the practice subdomain every trick you perform amounts of cash pop on the screen, which I found out is super useful later in the game because you need cash in order to unlock certain levels. There wasn't really a guide on how to do tricks except for the instructions from my friend, so there was a lot of discover learning going on while Bam was in the air.

Something I noticed was that since this game resembled a subculture that I could relate to, I was way more into it. I wanted to do well, and if I fell I would cringe and say ooooo like I could feel Bam's pain. While playing career the game did a really good job of telling me where to go and what to aim for by a stranger on the street that came up to me right away. The career level I played was called college and you got to pick between different cities to skate in! It is really easy to complete your goal, but the more you skate around and practice your ticks the more money you see pile up. Each time I would go up to someone with an arrow on their head, which was my goal, I would collect a letter because to pass the level I had to spell the word skate before time was up. Then they would tell an extremely quick story line instructing me what to do next. The time limit doesn't really give you the stress free freedom to learn how to do trick, but thats why there is free skate and practice subdomains. This game is simple, there isn't enough time to worry about a huge storyline. It's al about skating. I loved in for some reason way more than skate 2.