The game design is remarkably simple - you guide a little skateboard with your fingers through a terrain park. There's a tutorial, a freeplay practice area, a competition arena, and a jam session area to practice your skills. The tutorial gives you the basics of gameplay, but plays like a video rather an interactive guide to teach you how to play.

As you win more competitions, you can unlock more decks to play with. Since the view is top down, you'll have to rely on the little icons on the corners of the screen to know when an obstacle is close. When the icon shakes, you know its time to initiate a trick.

Kickflips, ollies, grinds and other mainstream skateboarding tricks can be initiated by throwing your fingers in certain directions at appropriate times. There are no grabs because you're not manipulating a skateboarder, but the board itself. The game in effect cuts out the middleman.

The physics engine is very realistic, so you won't be counting your airtime in minutes and you won't be linking dozens of tricks in the air ala Tony Hawk Pro Skater. The tradeoff is that the game isn't very forgiving- millimeters can determine if the skateboard is turning or heading straight.

The learning curve is pretty daunting. Maybe you have more hand-eye coordination than this intrepid gaming reporter, but it took me a couple days to even master the ollie. But that's part of the game's appeal. The variety of stages and tricks isn't massive, but the difficulty is what will keep you coming back and trying again. So when you do execute a trick- like say actually grinding a rail and launching into a kickflip- you'll probably make an audible exclamation of triumph that will echo throughout your small magazine office.