What the hell, EA?

Skate. Skate was a game I was really looking forward to, and the demo was a nice gauge at the Flickit controls, and to an extent, they work really well. However, the game itself is far too hard to grasp, with infuriating goals. It takes almost 20 times longer to make a gap and combo than it would in Tony Hawk because: the Flickit controls get CONFUSING when you're in the middle of a grind/manual/grind/air sequence, AND the fact that it takes almost a full 10 seconds if you bail and want to start over. The idea for not having your character reset, or an easier way of getting back to the starting position is based in reality, that you cant just warp back to the start point if you fuck it up, but it gets to the downright stupid point when the spot you WANT to nail is up some stairs, with a 2 minute skate around to get back up there. Why can I not just GET OFF THE DAMN BOARD AND WALK UP THE STAIRS? Like I would if i was doing it in real life! I'm not in a race to beat this game, but the lack of a simple and easy way to get back to the starting position is very demeaning in my honest opinion.

Secondly, when you start a challenge, WHY are you pointed in (sometimes) the COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION to the gap you need to hit? I can understand needing to tweak the run-up to the jump, but a full 180 degree turn? No thank you!

Third, Points on the challenges are ALWAYS the thing to catch you out. I have nailed a gap that was particularly hard, and could only do it once out of the 20 times I tried it, only to be told I didn't have enough points to complete the task.

Fourth, the lack of information for the challenges. Its all well and good for the superstars of the game to lend there voice to say "Hi, I'm a famous skater" but when they lend their voice for a challenge I'd EXPECT them to describe the task at hand, or at least demo it so I can get a feeling for the timing, at LEAST 10 or so attempts at the jump first time round could have been prevented.

I'm not saying "Hey, Skate is shit because it's too hard", I'm saying Skate is going to make you angry as all hell, and after MANY years of the THPS controls, I'm kinda used to it, and I'm kinda used to the feel and the plain fun that you get out of THPS. This game is something else. This is a SIM game. This needs serious hours of attention, and MANY attempts and possibly a lot of controller throws (thank god our new controllers are wireless, eh?). Overall, this game isn't for me, many will love it, many will hate it. EA did a good job, but not enough to stop Tony Hawk, Not by a longshot.