Designing games around a system’s strengths is always a good idea — and Skate It strives to strike a balance between understanding the DS’ limitations while making the most of its strengths. Solid controls, multiplayer options, and creation tools stand out, though some jagged textures and their frustrating side effects hamper an otherwise solid execution.

Bland textures cause the most problems with Skate It, as they tend to smear parts of the environment together, making it hard to determine when a curb turns into a sidewalk before it’s too late to avoid a wipeout (even brushing against small objects in the game results in the same undesirable effect). When compared to other skateboarding games that give the player a more forgiving margin of error, Skate It misses the mark. But despite being more difficult and unforgiving than it needs to be, Skate It’s controls do a good job of making up for some of those frustrations.

Click the image above to check out all the Skate It screens.

You control your skater — displayed on the top screen — by drawing lines across the skateboard deck on the bottom screen, which elicits different effects depending on where and how you swipe the stylus. You push off the skateboard by pressing your stylus to the right of the deck and turn your skater by using the directional pad with your left hand (left-handed players can flip this around), and you execute grabs by holding down the left bumper. Once you get the hang of those basics, more complicated stylus strokes result in increasingly fancier tricks, which are essential to completing events in the game’s career mode.

Single-player progression is similar to other skateboarding games: build your reputation by participating in events against other skaters in the world, eventually attain sponsorship, then go back through said events to boost your score…and that’s about it. It helps that most of the skate parks are well designed, but it’s the multiplayer features that keep the game from falling into monotony thanks to solid single- and multicard play. Additionally, any skate parks you create with the MySpot creation tools are shareable in either multiplayer mode, along with a logo-creation tool to customize your skater.

Skate It on the DS is a decent choice for patient skateboarding fans, but casual players may want to hold out for a potentially more refined future installment.

For Niko Bellic, fresh off the boat from Europe, it is the hope he can escape his past. For his cousin, Roman, it is the vision that together they can find fortune in Liberty City, gateway to the land of opportunity. As they slip into debt and are dragged into a criminal underworld by a series of shysters, thieves and sociopaths, they discover that the reality is very different from the dream in a city that worships money and status, and is heaven for those who have them and a living nightmare for those who don’t

Cell Phone Passwords

At any time during the game, pull out Niko’s phone and dial these numbers for the desired effect.

Please note that cheats will affect missions and achievements.

Map Locations

Enter the following password into the in-game computers.

Friendship Bonuses

By gaining friendship with the following people can benefit you in many ways.

Unlockables

The Heart of Liberty City

First, you’ll have to have access to Happiness Island. Once you’re able to go there legally, find the Helicopter Tours (which is directly east of Happiness Island) and steal a helicopter. Fly to Happiness Island and over the Statue of Liberty, then jump out of the helicopter at the statue’s feet. You should land on the topmost tier of the statue, which is basically a square platform with a door in the center of each side. Run around the platform until you see a door with a plaque on either side of it that reads, “No Hidden Content Here.” It may seem like you cannot go through the door, but you can– it doesn’t open, you simply walk THROUGH the door. Inside, you’ll find an empty room with a tall ladder. Climb it, and when you reach the top, look up; there is a gigantic beating heart, held in place by chains