‘Skate 2’ a sequel with twice as many tricks

I have a game writers' secret to share. Now and then, some publicist for a game company sends me a freebie gift, which I guess is supposed to sway me into writing about the game. This week, I got a crrraaazy freebie in the mail: Omaha steaks.

Electronic Arts sent two slices of cow in a microwave-size Styrofoam box. I will eat them with appreciation, even though I don't love steaks. Is this ethical? Usually, I give freebies to Goodwill. But I don't feel like dropping frozen meat in the Goodwill bin. Also, there's a recession to eat through.

If it makes you feel OK about this, I typed up my notes on the steak-related game, "Skate 2," before the food arrived. At any rate, I'm a professional. Rest assured, gifts will not influence this game review.

So, "Skate 2" is the most awesome game ever! Ha, kidding. "Skate 2" is a pretty good skating sequel that comes with twice as many tricks as the first -- jumping off ramps, grabbing the board while you're in the air, flipping the board while you're in the air, or jumping straight up from the board then landing on it midride.

Between trick goals, you watch characters trade skateboard jargon, like: "Yo, my friend here just got out of the joint." And, "You know we had to come for the first sesh" (session).

If you pull off a stunt, the game might congratulate you by saying, "Nailed it, Nailer!" I like that "Nailer" sentence, although I admit I don't know what a guy means when he says, "I got some bangers." Isn't "bangers" slang for British pig or something?

What is good about "Skate 2": It comes with a big cartoonish city you can explore. It's called San Vanelona, and it looks inspired by San Francisco, Vancouver and Barcelona. The city helps drive the plot. Although "Skate" came out in 2007, the setting of "Skate 2" skips ahead five years. Disasters destroyed the city. It's been rebuilt into San Vanelona, a harder but bigger city to skate around.

You get points for skating well, but also for breaking your bones. That's fun. You can also go online to skate against other online gamers.

What's bad: Some choppiness of motion downgrades the fluidity. Also, lumbering around on foot is clumsy. The way your body moves without the board, it looks like you learned to jog from Quasimodo the hunchback. A lot of gamers will enjoy being able to rearrange ramps; that gets tiresome to me.

By the way, steaks may be the biggest, most random ancillary gift a game company ever has mailed to me. For "Halo 3," I got a toy helmet. For some Nintendo DS games, I've received tennis wristbands, as if I were John McEnroe. I suppose by sending raw meat, EA is suggesting ... what? I'm a lion?

("Skate 2" by EA retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3 -- Plays fun enough. Looks good. Moderately challenging. Rated "T" for alcohol reference, language, mild violence and suggestive themes. Three stars out of four.)

What do you think about all this? Write your thoughts on my blog (reviewjournal.com/elfman) or e-mail me (delfman@reviewjournal.com), and I'll post them. See you then.