For a kid growing up at the turn of the millennium, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was a must-have.
Landing at just the right time to capitalise on the revival of skateboarding and its adjacent cultures, the scuffed-up series offered a distillation of the era’s biggest trends.
The skaters wore baggy jeans, the soundtrack was a nu-metal and punk mixtape, and it shared the same reckless spirit as the Jackass TV show – and a cast member in skater Bam Margera to boot. It’s no wonder rebellious children and teens lapped it up.
Best of all, it delivered the rush of skateboarding without the steep learning curve. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t perform an ollie in real life, in the game’s virtual playgrounds and skate parks, you were a pro. With its simple, arcade-style controls, connecting flips and rail grinds for epic combos was a breeze.
Fast forward to now, and the team behind the Tony Hawk’s series are back with a new skateboarding game. It’s called Wrekless, and it sounds like a supercharged version of Pro Skater for a new generation of social gamers. A game that lives by the mantra, “heaven is a skate park”.
What is Wrekless?
Described as a massively multiplayer online game, Wrekless can apparently accommodate up to 50 players, who can skate and collaborate on new levels together.
The button-bashing tricks are back, complete with boosts for gravity-defying specials, but the real draw could be the custom-built skate parks.
You can build and modify these “city-sized” creations in real-time, according to developer Free Range Games. They’ll range from traditional warehouses to whacky “dreamscapes” with bouncy floors, portals, lava pits and meteor showers.
By making them on the fly, you’ll be able to assist or troll players in the moment. See someone dropping down a ramp? You can either give them a power-up for an awesome trick or drop a bus in their path for a laugh.
Is it better than EA’s Skate games?
With its cartoonish visuals, and multi-coloured skaters, some of whom are out of this world, the game looks like a cross between Fortnite and Tony Hawk’s. The DIY mechanics are also reminiscent of Roblox, which has built an empire on the back of sales of user-generated games and outfits.
Ultimately, Wrekless isn’t trying to usurp EA’s Skate series as the authentic skateboarding simulation game. Unlike that franchise, it doesn’t appear to boast real-life professional skaters, realistic environments, or lifelike physics. If that’s what you’re after, you’re better off waiting for Skate 4, a free-to-play game that’s due at some point this year.
When is it out?
Will Wrekless live up to the hype? You can find out when the game enters early access on PC later this summer. Expect it to land between July and the end of September.
