Skator Gator 3D

I played this immediately after playing the first Skator Gator, and I was looking forward to it after reading a few reviews that claimed it was far superior than its predecessor. While I did enjoy Skator Gator 3D, there were a few aspects I found disappointing, particularly in comparison to the original. One might think that the main difference between Skator Gator and Skator Gator 3D is the shift in perspective, with the original scrolling horizontally and the sequel scrolling vertically, but a bigger difference is that the latter includes a lot of 3D platforming and collectible hunting. While in the first game you are never not grinding pipes, in the second you'll spend about half your time running and jumping around 3D environments (even more if you plan to 100% everything). I felt this kind of hurt the flow of the game and also made it lose some of what made the original unique. In Skator Gator, all you do is press up and down, and the entire game is focused on incredibly tight and precise movements. In the sequel, the grinding segments feel almost like an afterthought. They are generally much more forgiving, and now you have a jump button that opens up more options for navigating the pipes, as well as a "dash" button. I enjoy 3D platforming and collectible-hunting as much as the next guy, but I did miss the focus on simple but demanding grinding the first game offered. Still, Skator Gator 3D has charm and is fun to play through, and you can still unlock a bevy of skins. The achievements are also a little more demanding and will have you re-visiting levels to pull of specific tasks. There aren't very many levels overall so the experience is not particularly long, but it's still worth playing.