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A few months back we posted an article about what should be seen in Skate 2. As avidly blatant fanboys we got way to excited for the flood of information that EA have recently released and finally get to see what improvements they will actually implement.

Skate 2 now takes place in New San Vanelona that has been re-built after a disaster. We weren’t told but we speculate that this is the same disaster that strikes the city in the upcoming Wii & Ds game, Skate It. Your character from the original disappeared shortly after winning skater of the year. Now five years later San Van has been locked down from putting caps on rails so you can’t grind to putting “No Skating” signs everywhere. San Vanelona needs help to be turned back into the skate heaven it once was.

That might not be the most compelling story but it’s better than the original and the story isn’t the reason people played Skate. The innovative controls did that and it looks like they will expand further on that. Now you’ll be able to land hand-plants and nail lip-tricks while skating in a bowl. There was also a whole phenomenon of Hippie Jumps on the online community stemming from the original Skate. A Hippie Jump is where the board goes under the rail but you go over and this was achieved in the original Skate by the medium of a glitch yet now it will be pulled of a lot easier by simply pressing the feet buttons (A & X) while in the air. These tricks combined with the other one hundred that will be added to the game probably won’t reinvent the wheel but it will make it rounder.

Skate 2 will also allow you to ‘grab the world’. This lets you move around different obstacles, live in-game, to create your own custom line fully suited to your style or skill level. You can’t move around larger, stuck down obstacles but you can move smaller things that would realistically be movable to reach hidden challenges that would be on roof tops and higher, harder to reach areas.

Finally but most certainly not least, another addition is that you can actually get off your board now. In one of the additions we were most rooting for, you’ll now be able to climb up and over obstacles to then skate off them. The amount of times we’ve bailed when trying to get back onto the street was ridiculous so this is a pleasant and worthy upgrade.

There were loads of features rumoured like multiple session markers, Grab The World online and most promisingly the addition of Burnout Paradise style drop in drop out multiplayer. None of this is yet to be confirmed but they all make so much logical sense it would be dumb not to.

Visually the game has been improved while displaying a fuller colour palette, an impressive 60 frames per second frame rate and smaller camera tweaks such as the camera moving out to show a better angle when you are manoeuvring up stairs. None has been announced as far as sound or music goes but the original had fantastic sound design so I’d expect more of the same.

It appears that so far we correctly guessed four out of seven updates suggested for Skate 2. While custom skatewear, faster load times & a refined trick system all make for obvious updates that could be revealed at a later date. It seems that the whole thing about how good Skate 2 will be compared to the slightly flawed while brilliant original might turn out to be true if what we’ve seen is anything to go by.