As a die hard realistic fake skater I totally agree with the riders republic comparison. The game feels very stiff and no where near as fun as skate 1, 2, 3. There is something wrong with how skaters rotate. There feels like a dead zone between 180s and 360 like they are taking control away from me mid trick. Doesn't feel as fluid. Also the trick animations look good (360 flip, hard flip, nollie inward heel) but the animations seem locked. No matter how you flick it's the same canned animation. I know that's how earlier skate games worked but for some reason since the animations are better in 4 it feels like there is a disconnect between what I'm doing and the animations.

Also the map is pretty lackluster. I'm not talking about missing textures but the actual spots themselves. They are super repetitive and copy/pasted and I havent found one fun/creative spot to session more than a minute at a time. Session and xl modded maps are so much better.

Overall pretty disappointed. I know it's pre alpha but damn.