#Skatebird release full

The tasks are generally very easy, and the time limits Skatebird provides to collect stuff and build scores are mostly very generous. This meant I often found myself skating up to (and directly through) birds with no objectives for me while combing the map for the one that did. Also, sometimes the birds disappear after you’ve completed their mission, and sometimes they don’t – but there’s no distinction between the birds who remain on the map after you’ve done their mission and have nothing further for you to do, and the ones that do have a new task for you. They’re not hidden, but you do just have to coast about until you happen upon them. Unlike THPS4, however, Skatebird doesn’t highlight fellow birds with missions to assign you in any particular way, so skating around searching for the next mission can sometimes be a punishment.

It’s very well done even the birds enjoy it, bopping along as they skate.

#Skatebird release full

The soundtrack itself is easily the most polished part of Skatebird, and it’s stacked with relaxing, skate-friendly earworms full of bird calls and samples of overzealous nature filmmakers from public domain documentaries.

While challenges themselves are timed, the lack of a countdown clock on general exploring suits Skatebird’s relaxed nature – an atmosphere that’s served very well by its catchy set list of original, bird-themed tunes. Like THPS4, Skatebird doesn’t supply an overt list of challenges before each level and time every run you need to skate around the environment and find NPCs – or NPBs in this case, I guess – scattered around the map to discover the challenges you need to complete. The key influence appears to be Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4, where Neversoft dropped the iconic two-minute timer in favour of allowing players to cruise the maps searching for individual mini-missions.