EA's Skate series has two main goals (apart from diverting market share away from Tony Hawk): give players unique ways to perform tricks and create the most realistic skating experience around. In other words, make skating with your hands feel as exciting and creative as skating with your feet in a game designed for real skaters -- not posers. Skate It for the Nintendo DS succeeds on both counts, which should grant the game a sizeable following. However, the limitations of the DS do show up from time to time.

The "Flick It" system is alive and well on this version of the skating franchise, with exceptional results using the stylus. The directional pad controls your direction and spins, the left and right shoulders are for grabs, and the touchscreen handles pushing and all tricks. Drag the stylus across the skateboard that lies diagonally on the bottom of the screen to perform tricks -- from back to front to pull off an Ollie, vice versa to Nollie, and sideways for flips and Pop Shuv-its. Using the Stylus is similar to "Flick It" controls on the other consoles in that it takes away the button-pressing aspect of pulling off tricks, but in a much different way than the analog sticks or the Wiimote.


As was the case with the console versions, Skate It for the DS takes place in San Vanelona. S.V.'s a ghost town, just like on the Wii, but there isn't a post-earthquake storyline this time. When you start the career mode in this version, you take a short version of the tutorial and off you go. No frills, plenty of spills. The career mode moves quickly with challenges that bounce your character all over the game's fictional city and occasionally off to real cities across the globe. None of the challenges are horribly easy, but the game still moves at a rapid pace. Even the advice from your cameraman comes on the screen quickly – look away for a second and he's already onto the next line.

The plot might not have gotten a lot of attention in Skate It, but before starting your career your character can be customized in a number of ways, including a pretty large group of facial renderings. Of course, none of the faces looked realistic or even halfway attractive. We decided to put a beard on our character, mostly because the face we chose looked as if it were created by an Etch A Sketch. Choices in clothes and gear are numerous, provided you win enough challenges to unlock all the special goodies.