Skatebird

What if Tony Hawk was an actual hawk? Well, here's SkateBIRD which is a delightful new skateboarding game with an all-avian cast.

The avian action sports game SkateBIRD from Glass Bottom Games has just landed. The title features an endearing story along with many adorably cool birds, referred to in-game as birbs. Tackle 5 different skate parks with their many different objectives to help your human, known as Big Friend, do his very best. From bedrooms to rooftops, you’ll love this impeckable and owlsome skater game — so jump on your board and become the very next Tiny Hawk!

If you love cute birds and skateboarding, this one is for you! Grab your friends and your tiny deck and pull off some sick combos in the one and only SkateBIRD - a game about trying your best, no matter how big or small you might be.

While SkateBIRD has plenty of frustrations, there's enough fun here to make it worth your time. Just don't expect Pro Skater levels of polish and you'll probably be fine

“Skatebird's rough skating mechanics are offset by its charming internet-age humor.”

SkateBIRD is a charming game with fun writing and a great soundtrack, but can’t strike a good balance between offering precision boarding and silly physics chaos.

It’s just overall not that well executed. The physics and gameplay are not where they should be. The levels are just okay. The goals are rarely entertaining. But you’re here for the birds, right? There are definitely skateboarding birds, I can guarantee they are in SkateBIRD. I’m not even being sarcastic, the birds are absolutely great. Just try to focus on that and nothing else.

A decent skateboarding game with an entertaining theme and quirk. The physics and visuals imperfections hold it back for sure, but there's still enough there to have a good few hours of fun.

It feels like forever since we all saw SkateBIRD shown off in 2019. Those cute little avian creatures riding around on skateboards were a surprise of the show for me, and I have been waiting to get my hands on Glass Bottom Game’s adorable take on Tony Hawk. Time to see if this was worth the wait.

In an odd way, then, Glass Bottom Games has captured the truth of the situation; contrary to its mission of cuteness, it has made a game that feels hollow-boned, caged by unflattering mechanics.

There a lot of elements of SkateBIRD that are great. The birds are fun, as is customizing them and finding more things with which to dress them up. Their little adventure is also fun, the soundtrack is excellent, and the levels are fun miniaturized takes on the normal skatepark fare. It’s just that there is so much dragging these charming elements down, the most noticeable of which is the actual skating and the physics involved with it. SkateBIRD might be fun to experience for its premise and cuteness, but those looking for a good technical skate game experience will likely find their expectat...

My experience with playing Skatebird was largely a frustrating one, mainly thanks to technical issues and floaty controls but despite the game’s issues I was very charmed by it. The birds are cute and fun to customise, the soundtrack is fantastic and catchy, and the environments are a joy to look at, leading to vibes that are, as the kids say, chill. While I wouldn’t recommend buying Skatebird until some patches happen. However, if you have Xbox GamePass, it’s still worth a look even just to create your own skater-bird while vibing out to the soundtrack.