so here's a pros and cons about skater xl vs session. at this point
skater xl
pros:
-nice flick control
-better control of body rotation
-grinds and slides seem more natural
-general controls to pop off are a bit more intuitive
-mod friendly means a lot of content by the community
-i think it has a replay editor now?
-pretty good board physics
cons:
-no powerslides, wallrides, slappies
-glitchy turning, hard to line up for grinds sometimes
-general pushing around is unenjoyable and wonky
-the game looks bland as fuck, that goes for most animations as well
-only 2 official spots to skate, community maps can be glitchy
session.
pros:
-it feels less realistic to flick tricks but the impact of landing them seems more realistic in session. (?)
-manuals feel a little better than in skater xl
-some trick animations look pretty cool compared to skater xl, i love doing bs flips, they look nate jones like
-the level you can skate is really big and has famous spots rebuild in it, like brooklyn banks, looks pretty good, too
-wallies work better in this game
-more in game options to customize skater and skateboard than skater xl
-in game replay editor that works similar to those in the skate games
-actual stuff to do via challenge list
-some aspects of the controls are customizable
cons:
-it's not as freeflicking as skater xl, you basically do the right flicking motion, then the game will play off an animation, whereas in skater xl you control your feet independently. in session. the longer you squat down the higher you pop off, the longer you wind up for a spin via triggers the faster/more you will spin, with no real way to slow down and a somewhat weir window that makes it hard for me to do nice fakie fs flips. it's kinda hard to just 180 clean, often the skater would instead spin more like 270 degrees. you can customize how the triggers work but i haven't found a setting that is intuitive and works for me.
-that's the worst thing about this game. kind of locks you into flip animations and i feel like in skater xl you have more freedom to a)flick that board how you like and let it do his thing in the physics engine b)catch the board at any point with any of your two feet.
playing session. it's kind of like a mix from the gameplay from skate and thrasher:skate and destroy