SkateBIRD is capable enough to ensnare players looking for a game that encapsulates its simple, clever pun. Beyond that, however, is a passable skating experience that would have benefited from a touch more polish and a slightly more vibrant world.
SkateBIRD at one point reminded me of that strange, absurd joy I had playing Katamari Damacy the first time.
My tiny “birb” was serenely cruising through a human-sized bedroom on his skateboard, a greasy pizza box acting as a makeshift ramp towards higher sections of the room. Everyday objects like bowls and a chain of paperclips allowed for rails to grind and ramps to perform tricks off of. I imagined the tiny green Prince rolling his Katamari along with the bird, trying to sweep up the random junk in hopes of getting bigger.
Conceptually and technically, SkateBIRD is reminiscent of one of those wilder, obscure games from that era which, despite having a relatively thin premise, could still be found on store shelves for $50. Yet in 2023 I’m grinning over a perfectly pleasant experience that asks very little of me. And, unfortunately, after a few hours I wish it did.
SkateBIRD is certainly more than just a result of one of two developers coming together and waxing philosophical on how “skateboard” sounds just like skate “bird”.
My life is currently a bit tumultuous and I can’t say that a game encouraging me to “do my best” and having a tiny group of birds trying to help out their “Big Friend” didn’t hit close to home. Personally, a game can fail on a number of aspects and as long as it doesn’t lose its soul and earnestness, there’s a redeeming quality. SkateBIRD does not want to force traditional progression on players. It doesn’t even want to bog itself down with overly complex mechanics. Both are a detriment and a gift.
Upon booting up SkateBIRD, players can create a custom bird skater using a number of accessories and a baffling amount of avian types from owls to finches to starlings. Any keen gamer will know that opportunities for more cosmetic unlocks lie in wait over the course of the campaign and that certainly does provide a nice carrot on a stick, allowing increasingly personal, cute, or ridiculous skaters. But players are also told that following the game’s “campaign” will unlock new maps to skate in, or they can simply do a stage select for experimentation. Better yet, not all objectives in a given map have to be completed before the campaign can be progressed.
Glass Bottom Games wants this pint-size game to be as approachable as possible for as many players and that is a commendable goal. By not placing limits on players, SkateBIRD allows a relative amount of freedom to enjoy its core mechanics and environments and decide how far they wish to continue to excavate the game for further depth.
Aesthetically, SkateBIRD has difficulty delivering on its overall cuteness simply because the graphics are just not there. Whether from a lack of great textures or everything looking a bit too blocky, some charm is lost in this microcosm. I truly enjoyed how normal human environments are translated in the game but a few of the stages are just simply too bland. The second area players visit takes place on a series of rooftops with a handful of stark reds and grays that aren’t too appealing.
The main issue here is that SkateBIRD‘s worlds, while promising, can be lifeless. Sure, they are populated by tiny, helpful birds and at one point a large house opens up. But these environments are too static. While the game doesn’t need to be busy, it could have been more alive. Players will see “Thrusher” skating magazines as an ode to “Thrasher” magazine but touches like that are merely a still image on a surface.
Why not make populate the skybox of the outdoor level with more life and weather? Or throw some neon lights in the background? Plants could be littered around rooms with other creatures and bugs interacting on them. A bit of background noise would have elevated SkateBIRD‘s world, making those dated visuals have more style and ways to catch the eye.
Taking inspiration from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, SkateBIRD is more arcade than skating simulation. A few button presses and left stick movements are responsible for pulling tricks, grinding, and navigating. Visually, it’s an incredible joy watching a plump bird flap its wings during combos and touch a deck to its beak. The assortment of familiar skateboard tricks translate and animate well here, giving genre fans a familiar foothold.
Precision can be an issue, though, because SkateBIRD simply does not have the most accurate controls. It took me 30 minutes to an hour before I truly felt acclimated to the game’s physics and how the bird controlled. Even then, performing jumps and landing on rails or other surfaces didn’t always work out. Controls can be a bit loose, perhaps in an effort to not require precision on the part of the player but that also inhibits the skill ceiling a great deal.
Respite can be taken by lowering the game’s speed down to a more accommodating cadence, possibly cutting through the imprecision a bit. Regardless, the objectives in SkateBIRD rely on players becoming increasingly comfortable with the game. Other birds will task the player with grabbing objects from a hard-to-reach spot, completing specific tricks or collecting objectives in a certain amount of time.
For the most part, SkateBIRD‘s actual missions are by no means impossible. The game is usually generous with time limits but a few times, the clunky physics or questionable controls would exacerbate the difficulty spike. Moments where I had to complete a task without falling off the board or collecting objects within a time limit could potentially drive a few players mad.
Just because the game as a whole is kind doesn’t necessarily forgive the annoyances of less than incredible controls. And this attention to detail can also be seen in the game’s often frustrating camera. One of the first missions requiring me to collect a phone charger by getting enough speed and air off a ramp seemed simple. But the camera shifted in an awkward way when I was near the object, making it difficult to tell how high it was and where I had to line up the jump. Throughout the game, moments occur where the camera simply does not intuitively cooperate with the needs of the player, increasing frustration.
These annoyances truly detract from the magic of SkateBIRD. If its aesthetic couldn’t deliver full-force, the skating mechanics needed to. And unfortunately, the game just does not get there consistently enough. But that doesn’t mean potential isn’t there and rough edges couldn’t be sanded off for a future installment.
SkateBIRD just misses the mark in being a charming, technically sound twist on the skating genre. Clever word play and a whimsical premise simply aren’t enough to mask its mechanical and visual flaws. A game with a bit more lust for life and vibrancy would have excused passable controls. Similarly, its ease of use doesn’t make traversing the world less sparse. But under the messy surface, SkateBIRD can still provide warmth.