Skate 2 is a rather unique experience, especially in the current trend of gaming. This is not necessarily because of its aberrant and health-complication-causing difficulty, or even a control scheme that wears the little nubs off of 360 analog sticks worldwide. No, the thing that stands out about Skate 2 is its complete and intentional lack of a traditional narrative.

Alri- Hm. This was not what I was expecting.

This seems very odd when contrasted with every other triple-A title that has released in the last year. Every game with large enough budgets comes with the assumption that it needs some sort of story, even if the story isn’t relayed through or even marginally related to the gameplay. Gears of War, Mirror’s Edge, and Metal Gear Solid 4  all have stories that are only ancillary to the gameplay at best. One might be tempted to say, “Big deal. So the story doesn’t really matter, just ignore it and move on.” That’s all well and good from the player’s perspective, but there’s a good deal of waste on the developer’s side they could trim out of the cost of development, if only they knew.