After years and years of development and anticipation, Session: Skate Sim is finally here. It’s out now for PlayStation, Xbox and PC, and we tested the PlayStation 5 version of the game.
The skateboarding genre exploded with the arrival of the Tony Hawk franchise, which was somewhat recently successfully revived with Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2. The heyday of the genre seems to be behind us, and not everyone takes to the accessible nature of the Tony Hawk franchise. For those looking for something a bit more hardcore, we had the Skate games, but that’s been absent for over a decade and will return in a free-to-play form in the future at some point. For players looking for an alternative to Tony Hawk, Session was the title to look out for.
Developer Creā-ture Studios first showed off Session years ago, and now that they’ve released the game through Nacon console owners can finally see what their more sim-oriented approach is all about – something previously reserved for PC gamers who picked up the game in early access. It’s been a long wait, but we completely get why they tacked the term “sim” onto the game’s title.
Session offers a great deal of realism that’s especially apparent when looking at it next to a Tony Hawk game. And yes, that means it’s much harder to learn and get comfortable with, with a considerable learning curve for first-time players. It’s even tempting to discard it because of that, but stick with it and eventually you’ll get more and more comfortable as you learn and perform tricks that ultimately feel even more satisfying than the ones in Hawk, even though they’re less outlandish.
A lot of that is due to the time it takes to learn the controls and get truly comfortable with them. The left and right thumbstick each control a leg, and for a while that will make tricks feel a bit like tapping yourself on the head while rubbing your belly. Once you learn how to position and move your feet in order to perform even the most basic of moves, however, it’s a lot more rewarding than hitting a face button to jump and another to perform a kickflip.
What that ultimately boils down to is the fact that Session has incredible fundamentals that are extremely rewarding for those who stick with it, but it’s a little lacking elsewhere. There’s a story mode of sorts, but it feels tacked on. There are missions and objectives, but they’re not terribly diverse or exciting. In a way, the manner in which Session is tied to realism also holds it back a little, as do a few small technical issues. There’s a fun factor here, but unlike in other games it’s not easily found on a surface level, which we’re afraid will scare some gamers off.
Score: 6.7/10
Press Play Media 