There are many reasons why Skate 1 is better than Skate 2.
The graphics on 1, surprisingly, are better than the graphics on 2. Things look more realistic, especially the wheels and griptape. The griptape in 2 looks washed out and you can hardly tell it’s griptape. This is hard to believe, but it’s true.
Tricks are better on 1. Sure, 2 may have more tricks, but they’re way too easy to pull off, especially grinds because of 2’s magnetic rails. Tricks require a lot more skill on 1, rotations are harder, tricks are harder to do and with less tricks, there is a reduced chance that you will do one trick instead of another one by accident.
The city feels better on 1. The city on 2 is way too big. This by itself may not seem like a problem, but it is. The city is so big you are likely to never be able to hit the same lines again, and not be able to hit the same gaps. The city on 2 seems rushed to me, it doesn’t look as good, and it doesn’t feel as put together as the city on 1. 2 also has too many skateparks, 1 has 1 major skatepark, whereas 2 has 5-6 skateparks, which feels too much for a city in my opinion. 2 doesn’t really even feel like a city, it feels more like a country that’s how big it is.
2 tries to have improvements, but they just end up making things worse. For example, they tried to make it easier by only having a goofy stance being the default and no way to change the default stance to regular. For people that like goofy, this isn’t a problem. But for people like me that hate goofy, this is a major problem. Another example is the addition of running. You can’t run where you’d think you’d be able to, and you can barely jump over any obstacles at all, such as tiny ledges. The last example of this is the ability to move objects. The idea is great, but the implementation of this in skate 2 is just god awful. First of all, when you move a rail and try to grind it, 9 out of 10 times you will knock it over and bail, or just miss it and move it out of position. You should only be able to move an object to make it snap in place, or at least have an option for that so it doesn’t move all over the place.
All in all, 1 feels better to me than 2 for various reason, although I enjoy both and I’m glad I have both 1 and 2. Even with some of the flaws that BOTH games have (1 has no walking), they are still way way better than the Tony Hawk series, but that’s not to say I don’t like Tony Hawk games, I do, my favourite Tony Hawk skateboarding games are American Wasteland (for pc) Underground 1 (for console) and 2 (for pc) for various reasons which I won’t list in this post, but the Skate series feels better than the Tony Hawk series to me.