If there were ever a time when we needed a reminder of how great video game skateboarding can be, it's now. Last year brought us the immensely disappointing Tony Hawk: Ride, a game that relied more on gimmicks than fundamentally sound design. Fortunately, Skate 3 is miles away from that disaster, bringing a lot of stuff that worked in the previous two games and introducing some new modifications that make it the best one to date, even though it's still not perfect.

 You'll start the game with the option of going into Skate School. In  case you feel like skipping this, there's a good reason you shouldn't: Coach Frank. Yep, Jason Lee appears in ridiculous tennis garb, talking up a mean skateboarding game and teaching you the basics of grinding,  speed and numerous tricks. Some are easier to perform than others (darkslides take a while to master), but Frank has a lot of patience and even makes a few wisecracks. "Git, git, yeah!"

 After you master these moves, you'll hit Port Carverton, where dozens of challenges await. These events include street races, skate challenges, photo and video shoots and Hall of Meat. The last one, where you  simply set out to do as much damage to yourself as possible, takes away from the realism of the game, but it works.

 The two things you'll want to take advantage of, however, are team building and park creation. With team building, you'll create members of your crew, or meet up with friends online and form a clique.  Together, you'll compete in a series of races, including tag-team events and skate challenges. It's more fun to involve your buddies in these events, since the artificial intelligence comes up short. It's somewhat competent, but there were times when we lost races because our computer controlled partner screwed up. The online play, thankfully, works very well, and finding crew members, even newcomers, is a simple process.

 As for park creation, Skate 3 features a robust set of tools where you can make ramps, rails  and all sorts of cool trick areas to chill with your crew. You can even select a location, whether it's a small warehouse-like building or a huge stadium, chock full of skateboarding opportunities. Better still, you can share them with others, and see how much your friends have goofed off there while you were away. This is a wonderful addition to the series.

Skate 3 has one of the best soundtracks we've heard in a while, filled with everything from alternative rock to groovy rap beats (Mobb Deep's "Put 'Em In Their Place" has found a permanent place on our iPod) to Neil Diamond. Don't laugh, his music fits surprisingly well. Besides, sometimes you just have to be a little old school.

 Visually, Skate 3 is solid. The city of Port Carverton is a huge area to explore, from the back streets to the high-end Chan Center to the craggy, demolished park areas. You'll find no shortage of challenges, locations to own and places to try your luck against friends and rival crews. However, there are times when the frame rate tends to drop, especially  if you're in the new behind-the-skater view. Granted, you get a better perspective of what's around you (other than your feet), but game occasionally stutters as a result. (Don't worry, the default camera view is also available.)

 It could've used better visuals and artificial intelligence, but Skate 3 lives up to the hype. It plays well, offers a lot to do both  online and off, and its team-building and park creation modes will keep you busy. Plus, any game that features Coach Frank automatically earns cool points. If you say otherwise, he's bound to demand some push-ups.

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