Trying to pull off a kickflip on a touchscreen usually ends in pure frustration. Most mobile skateboarding games give you terrible, cramped controls that make your thumbs cramp up after five minutes. But Skateboard Party 2 actually gets it right. Whether you are avoiding the rain in a London flat, killing time on a Toronto subway, or hiding from the afternoon heat in Brisbane, this game drops a genuinely deep, console quality skate experience right into your hands.

GRINDING THROUGH EIGHT MASSIVE LOCATIONS

You aren’t just stuck skating up and down a single boring halfpipe.

The developers built out eight completely unique, massive 3D environments that look surprisingly crisp on a high res screen. One minute you are launching off ramps in a gritty trailer park or an abandoned army base, and the next you are tearing through a massive shopping mall, a sun drenched funfair beach, or even a snowy ski resort. If you want to just chill and lock in your muscle memory without a timer screaming at you, jump straight into Free Skate mode. But if you want to actually prove you have skills, the Career mode throws over forty brutal achievements at you to help unlock fresh gear and level up your skater.

LICENSED GEAR AND SQUAD CUSTOMIZATION

Nobody wants to ride a generic plank of wood.

You get to choose from nine totally different characters, but the real hook is the customization. The studio actually went out and secured licenses from legendary real world brands. You can trick out your setup with authentic boards, trucks, and wheels from massive names like Powell & Peralta, Bones, Golden Dragon, and Tork Trux. Grinding for experience points lets you aggressively upgrade your favorite skater’s core attributes so you can jump higher, spin faster, and actually land those massive, gravity defying combos.

CONTROLS THAT DON’T HATE YOU

This is where the game absolutely shines.

Instead of forcing you into a terrible default button layout, the control system is entirely customizable. You can drag and drop buttons exactly where your thumbs naturally rest. Are you left handed? No problem, just flip the entire UI. You can even mess with the literal tightness of your virtual trucks to dial in your steering sensitivity perfectly. And if you absolutely hate touchscreens, just connect a Bluetooth game controller. It plays flawlessly.

THE MULTIPLAYER HUSTLE AND PUNK SOUNDTRACK

Skating alone gets old.

When you have finally mastered the 40+ unique tricks and figured out how to string together crazy combo sequences, it is time to take it online. You can challenge your actual friends in multiplayer or sweat it out against random riders on the global leaderboards. Oh, and the soundtrack is completely on point. It is loaded with aggressive, fast paced tracks from punk and alt bands like Voice of Addiction, Sink Alaska, and We Outspoken to keep your adrenaline spiking while you ride.

Stop playing games with terrible touch physics. Adjust your trucks, pick your deck, and see if you can actually land a decent run.