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Just finished playing this demo a few minutes ago, not a bad game. I'm a Tony Hawk fan so it was interesting to play a non Hawk skateboarding game for a change. So most of my impressions will be comparisons between the two, i.e. challenger versus Champion of the market-share at the moment.
The demo starts out with a few quick tutorials to get you familiar with the controls. You use the triggers for grabs, left stick for spins and steering, the X and A for pushing off with your left and right leg respectively and the right stick for your ollies. Although in theory that sounds easy enough, pushing off 2-3 times for maximum speed, then swinging your thumb to the right stick to prepare for a jump will take a bit of getting used to, as you need to hold the right stick down when you do it. I well imagine a motion control alternative would be more practical. Not as easy to pick up and play compared to TH, only because of the pushing off that is necessary and the buttons used to do it. Grinds are automatic, as you only need to use an ollie to jump up onto it, then it's just a matter of balance.
Sound is fantastic, the wheels, grinds, jumps, all sound great and very realistic. graphics are good, though there was a bit of frame-rate stutter and pop-in that may be attributed to it being a demo. I wasn't super crazy about the camera angle, though maybe that will be another option added to the final build. It was a behind 3rd person off to the side a bit, like if you were 3 feet tall on a board behind the player following them.
Graphics are decent, but as it's a demo I won't judge them on that regard. If they remain the same for the final version it won't turn anyone's heads.
Overall I don't think either franchise will hurt one another. There's enough difference for both to co-exist. Though I will say the biggest drawbacks were the camera and the use of the right stick, both can be fixed with more options or the control with motion sensing.
Is Skate a sim or a arcade title? Well it doesn't seem to have the high flying crazy multiple tricks of TH, or the speed for that matter. It does take a lot more effort, timing and skill to pull off great moves. In my opinion it's a bit of both. This is one of those games that is hard to write about until the final version hits shelves but until then hopefully some of this makes sense.
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