Skate 3 (PlayStation 3, Blu-ray disc)

Too much to detail here, that’s for sure. But there are new tricks to master – notably darkslides and underflips, both of which are very cool indeed. Underflips are when you catch a flip and flip it the other way, and in darkslides, you grind rails with the board upside-down – see you need to flip off the rail in order to land them. Also new is Skate.School, which lets you hone your skills before hitting the streets (under the tutelage of Coach Frank, who looks like a tennis coach but doesn’t sound like one). Skate 3 is massive, meaty and amazing to behold, and there’s no doubt that the immaculately conceived and constructed Port Carverton (if it really existed, nobody but skaters would want to live there) takes centre-stage. The two-stick control system is as smooth and intuitive as ever, as you would expect. But one aspect that really stands out is the game’s impeccable mixing of the realistic and the fantastic – its tricks are believable and flow naturally from your finger-movements, and thanks to the new online team elements, you really can lead a vicarious virtual skating life. But then there are the aspects which are simply better than real life, such as the hilariously masochistic Hall Of Meat or the huge ramps and vertical drops which let you take advantage of life-threatening amounts of air. Whether you spend half your life on a skateboard, or just dream of doing so, you will love it.