‘Pocket Halfpipe’ Successor ‘Pocket Skate’ Launching this Thursday – TouchArcade

It always feels weird calling back to a game I enjoyed or covered on TouchArcade more than a decade ago, but that’s exactly the case with Pocket Halfpipe from Australian indie developer Peter Leary. The game first launched in early 2011 and as its name implied it offered up a really cool take on halfpipe skateboarding. While its trick repertoire was missing some key elements, like grinds and slides, it did offer a host of cool flips and grabs and a very satisfying simulation of vert skating. It did all this with tons of style too, and I very much enjoyed Pocket Halfpipe in my original review from way back then.

In fact I enjoyed Pocket Halfpipe so much that it has never left my iPhone, and over the years, despite never receiving many updates, I secretly hoped that it would be updated with new features like full screen support and the like. Sadly the game is no longer available on the App Store, though it does still work just fine on my current iPhone, but the developer is actually doing one better than releasing an update for Pocket Halfpipe by releasing a sequel called Pocket Skate. While the original game was focused on halfpipe skating, Pocket Skate is a full-blown street skating game complete with cool environments and seemingly a greatly expanded list of tricks. Check out the trailer.

One thing that does seem to carry over from the original Pocket Halfpipe is the tremendous sense of style. The game is colorful and full of life, with environments that appear to be based mostly in reality with small touches of fantastical elements. It’s kind of like watching a skateboarding cartoon, and I dig it. Another thing carried over from the first game is the extremely painful looking slams, which is always a fun thing when you can experience it in the safe confines of a video game as opposed to slamming in real life. I’m so thrilled that Peter Leary is continuing to develop a skateboarding game because the bones of Pocket Halfpipe always felt so solid and ripe for expansion. It may have taken over a decade but I’m excited to see that potential (hopefully) realized with Pocket Skate. It’s launching on iOS this Thursday for $4.99 with no ads or IAP, and an Android version will be coming soon too.