Fuck the NDA, here's my 2 months pre-release review:
Alpha was fun, but nothing mindblowing. Ignoring the bugs (and that watermark), after you've explored the world I don't see it being fun like Skate was, the controls are pretty clumsy and although you can do off axis tricks like corks you don't really have much control.
I kept playing skate long after I'd completed it because you could do complicated combinations of tricks with a feeling of precise control.
If SNOW wanted to address their two major problems (controls and animations) it would be just as good a game.
I don't expect much to change besides performance changes (I averaged about 35 fps on an average rig) and bugs (lots of complaints on the forums, the only ones that bothered me was the way the skybox rendered about a second before the mountains and the way the turning seemed to be more 'on the spot rotation' than following a turning circle.
Summary: this is a £15 (I guess it's $15 now :'( ) game.
