Fast forward a year, and once again, Black Box is looking to make the simple things count. Granted, such was Skate’s impact last year that we’re unlikely to see its sequel have such a dramatic effect when it’s released next year. But while Skate 2 is clearly more evolution than revolution, those little changes are adding up nicely. Of course, many of these changes are the usual refinements you’d expect from any sequel. The graphics, for instance, show the usual signs of improvements. The frame rate has been increased from 30 frames per second to 60, the animation is slightly smoother, lighting, reflection and shadowing effects are more refined and your character will now display things like cuts and bruises if you take a tumble.

The game world is much bigger, and the story different. Skate 2 takes place five years after the events of its predecessor, where San Vanelona has been rebuilt following a natural disaster. In gameplay terms, this translates into a bigger game map, with new areas and moveable objects offering vastly increased scope for variation. A prime example of this is the mountain area. With its harsh gradient, six kilometres of narrow, twisty roads and ample supply of shortcuts, it’s not much cop for the usual trick based stuff – but is perfect for high speed death races.

Not only is the world you occupy on a much grander scale than before, it’s also more dynamic. As Black Box puts it, “you’ll be able to move anything that’s not bolted down,” and it’s something the studio has taken full advantage of in Skate 2. By positioning objects, you can now string together jumps and grinds much more freely. Not only will this look good, it’ll also add a strong puzzle element to Skate 2. For instance, you may see another skater waving to you from on top of a building, but with no way apparent way of getting up there. Yet by expertly positioning a selection of moveable objects you can then jump and grind your way up to them.

But the most profound change is the revised control system, which allows you to take one or both feet off the board at any given time. Indeed, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that Skate 2’s as much about what you do while separated from your board as much as when you’re on it. By allowing you to part company with your board, Black Box has opened up a whole world of new possibilities. For one, it irons out some of the few annoyances that were present in the first game. Instead of gracelessly smacking into a wall, you can now simply jump off your board to save face. Likewise, negotiating those troublesome areas, such as stairs, hills, etc is considerably easier.

It’s once you start incorporating the new foot system into your routines that its true depth becomes apparent. The system is simple enough – each foot is mapped to a face button, enabling you to lift a given foot off the board – but the effect it has is considerable. Approach something like a picnic table, press both buttons at the right moment and you’ll ‘hippie jump’ over it (that is, jump off your board, run over the table as your board passes underneath it and land on it on the other side). Adding it to the usual array of flips and grinds also boosts the trick count considerably. Indeed, with the other new tricks that are available – which ‘include a grab the world’ button and the option to add finger flips and grabs to grinds and suchlike – Black Box reckons it’s been able to double the number of tricks available to you.

While our hands-on session wasn’t quite long enough to put this claim to the test, it was enough to reassure us that Skate 2 offers a near-perfect blend of familiarity and novelty. Because Black Box has kept the number of new control inputs to a minimum, the controls remain as instinctive as ever; yet because they vastly increase the number of possible tricks, they greatly add to the depth. And of course, the weighting of your character feels as spot on as ever.

Throw in a vastly expanded Hall of Meat mode – which now features 75 different challenges and logs a greater selection of variables to measure how much damage your character has sustained – and it seems like Skate is well on its way to making the transition from on great game to top-line series. In fact, the only disappointment of note is the release date – the finished article is not due to ship until next January, meaning that we’re in for a bit of a wait. But we’ve got a funny feeling that it’ll be totally worth it.