Early missions do a fine job of gradually tutorialising the tricks at your disposal, and there’s even a helpful toggle in the options to adjust gamespeed. As is a finicky and inconsistent physics. The camera’s tendency to get stuck on the geometry – an issue the developer is aware of and has promised to fix – is one of the culprits here. SkateBird asks: what if you weren’t an agile and fearless athlete, but instead a small, puffy bird that occasionally forgets that windows exist? And it absolutely captures this. Skateboarding games offer the fantasy of being impossibly skilled. It’s just the actual manoeuvring – the ‘Skate’ half of the ‘SkateBird’ combo – that can be endlessly fiddly. Some janky textures and an odd depth of field effect aside, the packaging is great fun. Missions involve you pulling off ever more complicated maneuvers, but they’re all given funny context as part of a surprisingly detailed story campaign. The second is a rooftop where you’ll plan a heist to save Big Friend from their boring job – a noble pursuit.
SKATEBIRD RELEASE MANUALS
So the first park is your Big Friend’s bedroom, which you’ll clean up by grinding around the rim of manky soup bowls and pulling manuals over carpet stains. I think you already know whether SkateBIRD’s humour appeals to you.īoth park and mission designs play into the…I want to say… lore? The deep SkateBIRD lore. Personally, I found the writing to be a hoot, but I’m also the sort of person who just made that pun. Each one is preceded and concluded by conversation, and progression in the bird’s quest to aid ‘Big Friend’. Around the stage are various birds, and chatting to them lets you kick off the next mission. Each stage functions as a free-roam park, letting you explore its sandbox to practise and find collectibles.
![skatebird release skatebird release](https://sportsaldente.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/cce9bd4f197cd9b936145f5a3440eb9b_original-770x513.png)
The conversations between birds that bookend each mission are also delightful.