off<\/em> the board. Unfortunately there aren\u2019t any grab controls, but even without them I was regularly turning my hands into pretzels trying to make tricks.<\/p>\nThis isn\u2019t a bad thing per se; it\u2019s just very challenging. However, the complexity does feel likely to be too much for some, such is the steepness of the learning curve here. I\u2019m not confident that a lot of non-skaters or casual skateboarding fans would stick it out to crash through that initial barrier, though Session doesn\u2019t necessarily do itself any favours in that regard. There\u2019s actually a pretty long list of smart gameplay tuning options that can make things noticeably more manageable, but the initial tutorial doesn\u2019t really point any of that out. The most helpful one for me was the option to change the mapping of the sticks from left foot\/right foot to front foot\/back foot \u2013 purists may scoff at this concession, but all the controls being in reverse when riding switch was absolutely cooking my brain. But there are many, many more \u2013 pop height, grind alignment, hell, even the gravity can be adjusted. None of this truly turns Session into an arcade skating game, but it can make it a little more friendly.<\/p>\n
That said, it is <\/em>very rewarding \u2013 in its own stern way. I\u2019ve once again found myself swept up in the loop of an unforgiving street skating simulation (unfortunately there\u2019s no proper vert skating or grabs) simply because I love to seek out unassuming staircases, ramps, and rails and bust tricks (and presumably digital bones) for no particular reason, until I get bored and move somewhere else. <\/p>\nIt should also be said that the list of other places to move is impressively long, with dozens of authentic urban maps and spots of varying sizes spread across three cities: New York, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. With time of day effects and plenty of grimy, granular detail, the maps look excellent \u2013 especially at night, lit by the bright lamp of the chase camera. They are a little static and lifeless, though. For instance, piles of lightweight cardboard boxes and wheeled shopping carts are rooted to the ground and completely non-interactive, and there are no moving vehicles despite being set in the hearts of three of the most bustling cities in the US. Also, while NPC pedestrians can<\/em> be turned on \u2013 an \u201cexperimental\u201d option Cre\u0101-ture has partially buried in a menu for unfinished features \u2013 there are no NPC skaters to add a bit of atmosphere.<\/p>\nTrick Tok<\/h2>\n
Cre\u0101-ture has put plenty of work into Session\u2019s replay editor, and it can produce genuinely great clips. There\u2019s an impressive assortment of camera types and filters available to create some properly cool skate videos with Session\u2019s tools, although it really makes zero effort to teach you how to use them.<\/p>\n
Unlike Skater XL, Session boasts an actual career mode, with tasks assigned by guest pro skaters scattered throughout the maps. Despite the fact most of the enjoyment I gleaned from Session\u2019s skateboarding sandbox came from simply coasting around the maps and making my own fun, there is <\/em>something to be said about having some overt objectives to conquer, especially since there\u2019s no multiplayer. These objectives are not always particularly well explained, though, and instructions can\u2019t be repeated if you miss something. This makes for some really annoying moments if you miss a tip, or forget it after returning later, because the mission log text doesn\u2019t explain any extra criteria. It also has an annoying habit of sometimes not crediting the tricks it wants us to complete, even if it appears we\u2019ve pulled them off. One early challenge to manual across a pad refused to detect the required manual despite multiple attempts. It adds a second layer of trial and error on top of an experience that is entirely<\/em> built<\/em> on trial and error, and it isn\u2019t welcome. Turning on the trick names is a slight help (Session has trick names off by default) but it doesn\u2019t solve everything.<\/p>\nThis is actually part of a whole layer of weird bugs that undermine Session overall, from sudden and inexplicable bails on flat surfaces to ugly board clipping, and janky on-foot navigation (especially ascending and descending stairs) to seriously odd moments of limb spaghettification, like your skater is about to be sucked through a black hole. These are a real shame considering some of the awesome attention to detail elsewhere. For instance, I really love how the boards themselves slowly accumulate realistic wear and tear as we thrash them with grinds, and the sound design is genuinely excellent. There\u2019s a wealth of subtly different audio cues for every situation, and everything from the hiss of free-spinning wheels to the clunk of steel on steel sounds spot-on. The soundtrack is a bit downtempo and dreary, though; Cre\u0101-ture has pitched Session as a tribute to the golden era of \u201990s skateboarding but there\u2019s nothing about the fistfuls of 21st century chillhop here that helps makes it sound like one.<\/p>\n
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