Epic Skater Review

Epic Skater is a skateboarding game set in the style of a side-scrolling endless runner, as players compete with friends and online players for the farthest distance and highest score.

Since the board moves of its own accord, players simply need to initiate the grinds, flips, and tricks to secure that high score. They'll do this by holding and releasing the screen to ollie (automatically landing on a grind-able surface if there is one), before swiping anywhere to perform a maneuver. The controls are extremely responsive, and once players have a grasp on the duration of certain moves and the timing necessary to land them, they'll be good to go. More tricks become available as experience is gained, eventually leading to the unlocking of flips and spins, which are by far the coolest and most beneficial tricks to pull off.

Epic Skater technically has only one stage, and though the obstacles are randomly generated and the level design is bold and beautiful, a change of scenery might have been nice. Whether it'd be in the form of different locations or a more comprehensive career mode wouldn't matter, because the current "Career" option only provides upgrades, records, and a set of goals to accomplish.

The shop is reserved for in-app purchases for more coins, which seems unnecessary since the only things players can buy is early upgrades and more energy drinks (which function as revive tokens), both of which are hardly vital and can be collected during gameplay anyway. A few more characters wouldn't have gone amiss, but regardless, there's not really anything here that warrants dropping any extra cash on this game.

In the end, while Epic Skater looks great, plays well, and demands a few rounds thanks to its sheer playability, it ultimately lacks the content and variety needed to make it a mainstay on my iPad.