The best entry in the Skate series, featuring an addictive physics engine and well-designed cooperative modes. Deep customization and a rich open world make it essential for any skateboarding fan on PS3.
Your verdict
Category
Sports4 players12+
Description
Sequel by EA Black Box extending skate franchise with skatepark creation and team cooperation. Published by Electronic Arts, released in May 2010 in Europe, Australia, Asia, North America and Japan. Anonymous skater joining new Mongocorp team in fictional Port Carverton city to build a legendary team, open world reproducing Port Carverton with downtown and residential districts, simulation gameplay with signature Flick-It Controls on analog stick, Skate.Create mechanic to build own skatepark and share it online, local split-screen cooperative mode for up to two players and online Team Mode for up to six players, over fifty team career objectives, over a hundred avatar and board customizations, English voice-over with pro skater voices including Eric Koston.
Skate 3 review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
2/5
Story
★★★★★
"Classic"
The edition opens the building of places to the player. A skatepark editor lets you lay ramps, rails, curves and modules piece by piece, build your own ground and then film your lines on it. The city of Port Carverton is thus doubled by wholly hand-designed spaces, and the game shifts attention from performance to layout. The art direction makes the skater an architect of his own spots.
Hip and authentic, the licensed selection blends hip-hop, indie rock and punk to match the culture of street skating. Each session pulses to the rhythm of cool, laid-back tracks, perfectly in tune with the ride. This musical identity, polished and credible, gives the game an irresistible urban soul.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Pulling off tricks with the analog stick, mimicking the skater's real motion, delivers a handling of rare finesse and expressiveness. The urban sandbox invites you to chain lines and combos without end. A pillar of skateboarding simulation, it retains a control system so spot-on that no successor has ever truly dethroned it.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Skateboarding with a realistic, permissive approach, where the sticks reproduce the movement of the feet to land tricks and figures in an open city. The satisfaction of landing a fluid combo after several attempts delivers an authentic pleasure. Cool, creative and fiercely convivial, a riding game that bets on freedom of expression and sharing, ideal for having fun among friends.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Easing each trick with the stick to chain a combo without setting a foot down sets up a demanding glide where the urge to land the perfect trick endlessly renews the attempt. Customizing and filming your exploits in an open city reward creativity. Its feel puts you off at first, but the freedom of the spot and the satisfaction of the mastered move hold you for the long haul.
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
Everything revolves around a sprawling urban sandbox where you chain challenges, perfect lines and tricks you can refine endlessly. The career mode stretches across solo and team goals, yet it's the park editor and online sharing that push the horizon back forever. Players keep returning for the mastery of motion, a craft the skate community still celebrates today.
The Japanese version of Skate 3, EA's skate simulation, a release less common than the Western editions on a market little inclined to the genre. This edition appeals to fans of Japanese runs of a Western cult favorite. Its interest lies in this local run rather than strong value.
Better with friends
A skateboarding game of demanding simulation, where stick-based trick control rewards patience and creativity over button-mashing. The competition plays out in the elegance of lines and a trick one-upmanship, each trying to top the other with a more stylish combo. The original online leans on uncertain servers, but tackling challenges together stays a convivial, inventive rivalry.
Is Skate 3 still worth playing in 2026?
Skate 3 is the culmination of the series, and remains for many the best skateboarding game ever made. Its physics engine, of exemplary realism and precision, delivers an incomparable riding feel, where each trick is built and savoured. The deep customisation, the open world of Port Carverton and above all the co-op modes, which let you build and share your lines together, open a near-inexhaustible playground. The laid-back tone and the total freedom sustain a constant pleasure. For the skate fan as much as the curious, this genre peak remains fully recommendable today.
