I hear ya. Tony got goofier and goofier.
And I did love Skate at first. It just bothered me not being able to get off the board, reset, and start again.
I have high hopes for the Skate series. The majority of time on the first one was spent getting the controls right, I think. I understand what the developers were focused on, and they were right to do so.
Now they just need to make it more of a game. The game should get deeper as they layer stuff on top the controls.
But by itself, the first one didn't have that "fun" factor. It was an awesome accomplishment though for the developers.