Hobbies And Interests
Tricks
Practice simple tricks until you can execute them comfortably. Make sure you can flip and grab off a ramp, balance on a grindrail, manual across flatland and nail a lip trick at the top of a ramp. As you become more familiar with simple tricks, try to mix in more difficult ones. Spin onto grindrails, perform flatland tricks while doing a manual and master wall tricks and reverts. Perform tricks from your skater's switched stance to score more points. Perform a no comply or boneless jump to get a higher altitude, which will allow you to perform more complex tricks.
Lip tricks are easy to balance and can earn you lots of points. Make sure to stall on a ramp lip and switch tricks with the "Triangle" and directional buttons. Maintain your balance for the duration, and you can likely earn 500,000 points or more. At the end of the lip trick, make sure to jump, perform a flip trick and revert upon landing to score even more points.
Combos
In order to get high trick scores, you must string multiple tricks together into combos. The more tricks you perform during a combo, the higher your score multiplier will be. A simple combo would require you to flip off a ramp, revert on the landing, manual across flatland and hit a grindrail at the end of the combo. Perform the tricks quickly because the combo will end if too many seconds pass between tricks. Avoid crashing because a crash will wipe out all the points you had accumulated during the combo.
Perform high-scoring tricks during the combo to increase your score further. Trick scores diminish if you perform the same tricks multiple times during a combo, so mix in several different types of tricks to keep your score up. Hold grabs and flips as long as you can to increase your score bonus. Use reverts to keep a combo going after a big ramp trick, and use manuals and flatland tricks to continue a combo between bigger tricks.
Advanced Strategies
As you complete tricks, your special meter in the top left of the screen will fill. When the meter is glowing, you can perform special tricks, which are worth more points than regular tricks. Make sure you have enough room or altitude before attempting a special trick because these tricks take longer to complete than most regular tricks. A full special meter will allow you to enter the slow-motion Focus mode with the "L3" button. Use Focus mode to nail complicated aerial tricks or to string together a high-scoring combo.
In midair, press the "L3" and "R3" buttons simultaneously to enter Nail the Trick mode. This will also slow down gameplay, allowing you to control the skater's feet with the analog sticks. Release the sticks when the board is right side up to land safely.