Demos are something the Skate franchise has done extremely well. The first game let you explore the Community Centre, a place so popular that they released it as DLC for Skate 2. While Skate 2 did not have the Community Centre, it had Slappys, a wonderfully well rounded park that had just about everything you could wish to skate.

Skate 3, however, has broke this tradition by giving you two connected open areas from the University district. The areas are good, featuring some interesting rails and one or two nice banks, but they are not as complete as the previous demo levels, and the screen fuzz and little warning that appears when you take the wrong turn only goes to make the demo feel small and constrained.

There is the option of skating Coach Frank’s – the character voiced by Jason Lee, he will teach you all the basics of the game, Coach Frank style – training area, either through the tutorials or just free-skating. This area is home to something the University district lacks: banks and pipes. As fun as grinding rails and jumping down steps is, some people like to get air; it’s more rewarding for amateur players, seeing their skater go ten feet in the air, grabbing the board in one hand and spinning round to hopefully not land with a face-plant. I just feel that EA have jumped the shark with this demo – quite literally if you have managed to glitch out the demo area, wink-wink – by not giving enough options for the player.

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