As we left the last installment of the Skate series it was clear that Skate 2 had seen the franchise take massive strides past Activision’s Tony Hawk’s games, the man who had called the skating game arena his own up until then. Developed by EA Black Box, Skate 3 sees the same treatment that EA has given to its other major sporting franchises, especially FIFA, one of consistently developing and refining the series.

This sees Skate’s brilliantly intuitive Flick-it control system remain, but now it’s joined by a circular visualiser to display where the control sticks are pointing. Or more likely, just how far you are away from pointing them where you want them to go. Also improved is the clumsy create a skate park feature, returning with full customisation and editing. Having already hit the big time, think Neo at the end of the Matrix, you’re saved the arduous task of working your way up through Career mode. Instead the mission you’re on is to build your brand and sell decks, with the help of your handy teammates.

Hitting stores on May 14th, Skate 3 looks set to be an intelligent and confident revision on the series’ winning formula, however the new variable difficulty, and accompanying control schemes may see even more running over to Skate 3’s glow from under the ever fading light of ‘The Hawkmeister’.