![]() However, with its increasingly frustrating physics, repetitive challenges and bland graphics, it’s ultimately a poor copy of other better skateboarding games. It is super fun to create a bird (I’m not calling it a birb anymore) and the level design is definitely fresh. The music is also a pretty fun touch a mix of chilled jazzy vibes as well as some ska, often overlaid with soundbites of old nature shows celebrating different birds. There are five levels to choose from in total too, so this definitely manages to keep the variety up. It is one of the clear positives of SkateBIRD in fact, especially for someone familiar with old tech decks and the chance to relive those imaginary skateparks. It’s things like this which are appreciated. You are smol (let’s get in the spirit of things) and find yourself grinding pencils and keyboards, riding up soiled pizza boxes and folded up “Thrusher” magazines as quarter pipes. ![]() There are some good things though, and the level designs are pretty fun. In fact, some of the challenges forced me to genuinely rage quit, take a little breather and come back with a clear head not because they are particularly hard, but that the terrible control system and off kilter physics make some of them so difficult to actually pull off. ![]() It made me remember how many insanely creative and fun challenges there have been in other skating games I’d played before. This is however both a blessing and a curse. It is definitely able to inject some great feelings of nostalgia, reminding me how many hours I’ve sunk into those iconic skateboarding games. The missions themselves are reminiscent of early Tony Hawk games collect a certain number of items, find this/that, hit combos, do tricks and the like. Obviously that makes the whole speed/finesse aspect of the game even more annoying. This became increasingly tiresome and I avidly went out of my way to try and never come to a complete standstill. This means it throws you off your placement where you are on the map, immediately needing to reverse itself to continue going forwards. When you bring yourself to a standstill, by holding down on the left thumb stick, the camera jolts 180 degrees. The camera is also insanely jerky and the odd angles it delivers can be incredibly frustrating. Everything from then on feels the same in SkateBIRD. ![]() This minimal array of tricks gets old pretty fast and within 30 minutes I felt like all the variety had been seen. You can perform a small variety of flip tricks such as kickflips and impossibles, you can grind, stall and also grab your board, but because you don’t have arms you grab it with your beak, sadly limiting the amount of grabs at your disposal. I found I was having to reset again and again as I wildly flapped my tiny wings, not able to get over a ramp or not able to reach an area as my board kept getting stuck on the terrain, for reasons beyond me. Things can be adjusted slightly in the menu system, but I don’t understand why the game should even have this setting just slow the damn bird down. If you have a mission where some kind of finesse is involved, I wish you good luck. You see, in SkateBIRD you can’t seem to move slowly, instead left to blast full kilt in any direction. This makes navigating each area, frankly, beyond frustrating. You’re a lot lighter for one, but you also don’t push off the floor with your foot and you slightly glide/float. Playing as a bird/birb is different to that of a human. Voicemail: matter how long I played as a birb, I still found it difficult to understand the physics of SkateBIRD. SkateBIRD is exactly what it sounds like: a skateboarding sim where you play as a little bird on a skateboard. I backed it in 2019 since I though the concept was really silly and creative, and I haven't kept much tabs on it since then. Games Discussed: SkateBIRD / Shakes on a Plane / Tormented Souls / Catlateral Damage: Remeowstered SkateBIRD was a cute project that I forgot I had backed and was pleasantly surprised when I received an e-mail. I can't begin to express how much I appreciate each and every one of you. Complete all the missions in Bringing It Home. Thank you for taking the time out of your day to consume any of the content I make and thank you for being a fan. View all 12 achievements worth 1000 gamerscore for SkateBIRD on Xbox One / Xbox Series XS / Windows 10. If you're feeling extra generous, you can become a patron, donate a little something, or subscribe to show your support for the site, the podcasts, the streaming, the videos, the art, and everything in between. Do you know what season it is? Still summer, though I wish it was fall. In addition to crapping on SkateBIRD like birds crapping on StreetCURBS, Marc talks about a Resident Evil wannabe that gets one thing right, but everything else wrong, and a game where you make shakes on a plane that's surprisingly plain. Marc breaks hearts this week speaking the hard truth about SkateBIRD-spoilers: it's not good.
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