SkateBIRD

My honest first thought booting up SkateBIRD was that the premise alone should carry it: you are a small bird, you are on a skateboard, and your ramps are made of three-ring binders and pizza boxes. That setup is genuinely delightful. The bird-sized levels built out of household junk, straws as grind rails, cardboard halfpipes, staplers as obstacles, give the whole thing a Borrowers-meets-Tony-Hawk energy that no other game in the genre can claim. You pick your species upfront, from pigeons to ravens to owls to budgies, dress them in hats and capes and beanie accessories, and then drop into a structure that will feel immediately familiar to anyone who put hours into THPS in the early 2000s: level-based parks, timed missions, collectibles, and NPC birds handing out objectives. The control layout follows that THPS blueprint closely, one button for ollies, one for grinds, one for grabs, and there is a neat bird-exclusive wrinkle where you can ollie a second time in mid-air, giving you a kind of double-jump the genre rarely sees. There is also a "Fancy" meter that works like the special gauge from older Tony Hawk games: land combos to fill it, fill it to unlock higher speeds and bigger air. Landing a trick and rolling keeps your combo alive without needing a manual in between, which is a small but satisfying design choice. The "screm" mechanic, an aggressive chirp that counts as a momentum builder and can extend combos in a pinch, is absolutely the silliest and most fun button in the game. Here is where I have to level with you, though. The controls are loose in a way that critics have politely called "floaty" and less politely called "janky." The camera wobbles and occasionally spins on respawn. Missions are timed, and falling off a table edge mid-run usually kills your attempt entirely. The level design, charming as it looks, has real stretches of empty space and grind rails that seem to lead nowhere useful. Sensitive collision detection means brushing a wall will send your bird tumbling, which, combined with the time limits, shifts some missions from breezy to genuinely annoying. Metacritic sits at 68, and that gap between the warm Steam user reception and the critical average tells you something: players who lean into the goofiness tend to enjoy it, while anyone chasing tight, rewarding skating mechanics will hit a wall faster than their bird does. For a solo session, SkateBIRD is best approached like a chill afternoon rather than a skill challenge. The original lo-fi bird-hop soundtrack, a blend of jazz, funk, and SoundCloud-influenced production with birds literally singing along, is genuinely great background music and one of the game's strongest assets. You can collect mixtape secrets scattered through each of the five stages to unlock more tracks and build a custom playlist, which is a small touch that rewards exploration. The story, centered on helping your "Big Friend" whose corporate job is making them miserable, is light and funny, with NPC birds whose dialogue includes gaming references and one mission involving a kingfisher named Sam and a blowtorch. It does not take itself seriously for even one second, and that saves it from its own rough edges most of the time. From a co-op or party standpoint, SkateBIRD is strictly singleplayer with no split-screen, no online, and no local multiplayer at all. Passing the controller around in a "top score" format could work as a low-stakes bit of fun, but if you are buying this expecting a four-player Saturday night session, look elsewhere. This one is a solo comfort game for the player in your group who also owns a collection of bird-themed stickers. If you go in knowing the controls carry a noticeable jank tax and the mission design can repeat itself, there is a genuinely warm and weird little game underneath. Just do not expect Pro Skater precision, and you will probably have a good time.

Riley · Scout Team

Sports & racing

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