The Game Festival is in full swing, and SkateBIRD demo is now live and playable.

I have been waiting to get my hands on SkateBIRD for quite some time now. Seeing as how the Tony Hawk franchise is all but destroyed, I have been waiting patiently for a game that has similar mechanics to the original games. Well, now I’ve played SkateBIRD and can say that this tiny hawk is poised to replace the champ of skateboarding themed video games.

How it all starts.

(Keep in mind that this is a demo, and the game will be in development until next year.) The game opens with a basic tutorial, easily skippable if you desire. If you played any of the old TH games, you are going to get the feel pretty quickly. All of the controls match closely to what we are already familiar.

I used a Playstation controller, so x to jump, square to flip trick, triangle to grind/stall, and circle to grab. It is recommended that you use a controller for the demo. I took a second to try out the keyboard style, and could see why the controller is strongly recommended. Skateboarding games aren’t too fluid on a keyboard.

Ready to shred the gnar!

After you get the controls down, you are ready to shred. The demo consists of a relatively small map composed of a few choice ramps and benches. The first thing you notice is that playing as a bird comes with a few benefits that humans don’t have. The wings come in to play as you are cruising from place to place, searching for the best combo spots.

I finally found a nice little enclosure of ramps and decided to go nowhere until I mastered the transfer over the entrances. With a little practice, I was easily gliding around the map and racking up points like an old pro. One thing that stood out to me was the over-ease of stalling. Once you reach a 14,000 point combo, the game starts to lose a little challenge. It seems a small detail that will be ironed out in the final product.

Final verdict.

I can say with 100% certainty that I will be purchasing SkateBIRD thanks to the demo! It is everything that I wanted to find in a new skating game. There are still a couple bugs to be worked out with certain tricks, but that’s why we play demos. Definitely check it out for yourself now, as it is currently available free to play on Steam until Saturday morning.

SkateBIRD Trailer