Apple Arcade: Skate City is dreamy and refined

At first, I thought Skate City had started with an impossible choice. Los Angeles or Barcelona? (Okay, or Oslo.) In truth though it was even worse. I could go to Los Angeles now, but I would have to unlock Barcelona! Still, what a line-up. What a selection of temptations.

Skate City is elegant and transporting. At the core of this side-scrolling trick-'em-up is a system that sees you triggering different moves by swiping in different directions. Push one button to move, and then swipe. That's it.

Except it's not it. From there you get a steadily increasing amount of complexity, never coming at the cost of confusion. It's a beautiful arrangement of swipes and taps that works well with a progression system that offers both challenges and a decent free-skate mode.

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