Screenshot: SkateBIRD
SkateBIRD is a game I’ve seen at a few festivals over the years
, and it has always drawn a crowd. It’s obviously adorable, and a game concept that is easy to latch onto. And while it’s not hard to see that
SkateBIRD might not be
Tony Hawk, it certainly takes inspiration from that series. But as cute as it is,
SkateBIRD has a few issues that really clip its wings.
SkateBIRD is a skateboarding game with one significant twist: you’re a bird! Instead of using your feet to propel your board, each skate birder flaps their adorable little wings. Based undoubtedly on videos of birds skateboarding,
SkateBIRD is a great concept for a skating game. Unfortunately, gameplay-wise, it’s a little rough around the edges. Don’t get me wrong, it has all of the skating moves you would expect in a game like this, with open stages that allow you to mess around finding collectibles, or complete missions to unlock the next stage. As the bird your goal is to help your “Big Friend.” See, he’s missing, and hasn’t had as much time to play with you as you’d like. So your job is to skate and meet new winged friends all on a quest to help your Big Friend. But a skating game is all about the skating, and
SkateBIRD had me frustrated.
Screenshot: SkateBIRD
I’ve played a lot of skating games over the years, and
SkateBIRD gives a good first impression. You can customize your bird in a wide range of readily available looks, and then you get right into skating. While
SkateBIRD doesn’t have the best feeling skating in the world, it’s certainly playable and even fun taking your tiny bird around various full-sized environments. Unfortunately, I had massive issues with
SkateBIRD’s camera. There is a gauge called the “fancy” bar that, once filled, allows to you go higher up pipes and walls. To fill up this bar I would gain momentum on a few ramps—but the camera never seemed to know what it wanted to do, always spinning in a nauseating fashion. While annoying, it wasn’t as egregious as all of the bugs I encountered. There were many times when my bird would stop grinding, losing momentum instantly somehow—or the camera would become detached, and force me to restart the game in order to have it follow my bird around again. It’s a bummer, because otherwise,
SkateBIRD is pretty okay.
While
SkateBIRD won’t win awards for its skateboarding mechanics, it does have a lot going for it. Its skate “parks” are fun, often made of cardboard, magazines, and straws—exactly as if a human was creating a skate park for birds. It also has a pretty good original soundtrack that sounds exactly what skateboard game music should. And you’re a bird that you can dress up in lots of adorable outfits, which is always a plus. There is obviously skateboard customization too: you can change the look of the board and the wheels. And with even more collectibles to unlock in levels, you’ll have more outfits and skateboard options if you take the time to collect them.
Screenshot: SkateBIRD
While being a bird doesn’t really change much, there are some functional differences between skating as a bird versus skating as a person—though they’re mostly cosmetic. For one, you don’t have legs long enough to reach the ground and propel, so your skateboard moves forward with little wing flaps. Also, most tricks involving grabbing the board is adorably done by the bird dipping his beak down and grabbing the board. Did I mention this game is cute? Well, it is. However, skating as a bird also allows you to sort of double jump, and even glide after jumps. You won’t get a lot of air by flapping your wings, but it allows you to pull off a few stunts that featherless skaters couldn’t.
SkateBIRD is a bit of a novelty, and that is all it seemed to aspire to be. It doesn’t have the chops to compete with the classics, unfortunately—so don’t expect a bird-themed skateboard revival anytime soon. But it’s a pretty mechanically competent skating game that is undone by a few glitches.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4aIuu0a4Fw&t=2s
SkateBIRD is
available tomorrow on Steam and for
Nintendo Switch.
A Steam key was provided to us for the purposes of this review.
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