There are a lot of pre-release scenes about Ice skating 4 out in the wild right now you’ll think it’s my kitchen sink! That’s right, gameplay clips for the next entry in EA’s skateboarding series, which don’t have a release window, appear to have leaked once again. So far, the game looks great—like, “Oh no, this is going to eat up my time” is awesome.
In the late 2000s, Ice skates dominates the skateboarding game scene thanks to its commitment to realistic tricks, controls, and physics. For a decade, the series lay dormant, its main development studio, Black Box, shuttered by EA a few years after its 2010 release. Ice skating 3. Then not E3 2020, EA announced the revival of the series.
In the next official announcement Ice skates game — colloquially known as Ice skating 4 but monstrous ‘better to be titled Sk4te or my co-worker, Jeremy Winslow and I will cry – EA hasn’t released any footage or details. However, earlier this year, a 30-second clip about extremely rudimentary footage of doing the rounds. EA tried to suppress echo in its song, so apparently, it did more rounds. (Note: Who here has heard of Barbara Streisand?) The final EA, official this time, published a few minutes of the “pre-pre-pre-alpha” gameplay scene last month, to encourage players to register Sk4teupcoming technical tests.
All of those are small potatoes compared to this week’s leaks. Yesterday, an anonymous individual uploaded four videos to Google Drive (via Reddit). They appear to show gameplay footage from an earlier build of the game, which is coarser than the moments shown in EA’s official trailer. It’s also important to note that this footage has not been officially verified, so things are subject to change. An EA representative did not respond to a request for comment.
But speaking as a die-hard fan, having played hundreds of hours of the series, this new shot is super fun. Here are some points to note:
- The first video shows a fictional, apparently California-inspired metropolis called the “Fun City”. (I bet they have a great outdoor dining and pedestrian policy.) However, EA’s official trailer does mention “San Amsterdam,” so the name of the setting may have been misleading. change during development. Either way, Sk4te looks set to take place in a different California cityscape. While all properties are still placeholders, it bears a stark resemblance to the sunny Port Carverton scene in Ice skating 3.
- Sk4te won’t be lonely. The multiplayer component seen in the official trailer certainly looks like a mainstay of development; In many leaked clips, you can see a large crowd of athletes in action, all chopped up and crashing into each other — not quite. Riders Republic but certainly more than any number before Ice skates game.
- Off-board transmission has been much improved over poor, inaccurate controls of Ice skating 3. For example, you can slide and do somersaults indefinitely. All in all, it sounds like you’re actually controlling a human avatar listening to you, rather than a limbo mess that records heads five seconds after you send them.
- The player in the clip doesn’t seem to have a firm grip on the controls (sorry!), but the tricks certainly seem more inaccessible than in more casual games Ice skating 2 and Ice skating 3. One moment shows the skater stacking a skate that I’ve come to consider a “bolt,” the popular skateboarding term for a perfect trick. They fell.
- There are two control programs. “Classic” is the traditional control scheme, requiring you to swipe your right thumb to perform sequential actions, flip tricks, and the like. “Simplify” makes it possible to perfect with just one button on your face, THPS-Style. If that feature is fully released, brace yourself for some community disturbance!
- Don’t worry, the essential film “sees yourself from the perspective of a friend filming your sickest scene” Ice skates The camera angle is still there.
Throughout all the newly leaked footage, one thing is unmistakable: This version of Ice skates seems to really understand what makes the series work. It’s been 12 long years. If that means the developers are still happy and treated fairly, I’d be happy to wait for 12 more. But based on what I’ve seen this week, I don’t think I need to.
